Vettel fury Ferrari driver angry with team after Hamilton is handed victory
Sebastian Vettel last night pointed the finger at his Ferrari team after a strategy error cost him further ground in the championship to Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel passed Max Verstappen on the opening lap of yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix, but then fell behind the Red Bull driver following a curiously early stop.
The German was the first of the leaders to pit for fresh tyres, but rejoined in traffic and behind the Force India of Sergio Perez.
Vettel finally passed Perez, but he had lost time to Hamilton, and Verstappen, who had yet to change
tyres. When the Dutchman did come in, four laps later, he had pulled out enough of a gap to leapfrog the Ferrari car for second.
Unlike his rivals, Vettel was also put on the less durable ultrasoft tyres by his team, which meant he had to tip-toe to the flag.
“I said before the weekend that we can only beat ourselves, and we didn’t get everything out of our package,” Vettel said. “I wasn’t convinced we would make it to the end of the race. The way we raced we didn’t stand a chance.”
After cooling down, Vettel said he would never lay the blame at his team’s door, but his remarks following the heat of battle were telling.
The race in Singapore should
have represented a chance for him to reduce the deficit to Hamilton. Instead, Vettel knows he is running out of time to stop his rival from galloping towards a fourth championship in five years. He is 40 points behind with only 150 on the table. “Lewis said he didn’t expect to come here and gain 10 points, and we didn’t come here expecting to lose 10 points,” he added. “But there
is still a long way to go. Our car is working pretty much everywhere, so there is no need to be afraid about what is coming.”
A handful of moments of excitement involved leaders and backmarkers. The moment of greatest concern came when Hamilton and Verstappen were about to lap Romain Grosjean and Sergey Sirotkin, who were in a fight of their own.
Sirotkin had already been involved in a prolonged battle with Perez which ended in a collision, but his fight with the Haas continued, despite Hamilton closing in.
It nearly gave Verstappen an opportunity to take the lead. Luckily for Hamilton, he escaped unscathed and retained his lead.