Vettel and Ferrari bounce back as Mercedes hits the skids
Surprises in Singapore as Vettel overtakes Senna’s tally of wins
SEBASTIAN Vettel reminded everyone why he has won four world championships on Sunday by soaking up the humidity in Singapore and everything that Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo threw at him.
The German’s third success of the season for Ferrari took him one ahead of the legendary Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 victories, establishing him as the third most successful driver in F1 history in terms of wins, trailing only Michael Schumacher (91 wins) and Alain Prost (51).
It also leaves him only eight points behind second-placed Nico Rosberg of Germany in the drivers’ world championship standings.
On a bad day for Mercedes, Rosberg could manage only fourth place behind Vettel, Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, while the points leader Lewis Hamilton failed to finish for the first time this year after suffering loss of turbo boost.
In a race interrupted by two safety-car interventions, one for a collision in turn three on the 13th lap between Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg (for which the German received a three-grid place drop for Japan this weekend), and the other on the 37th lap when an inebriated British spectator trespassed on the track, Vettel played nip and tuck with Ricciardo.
Neither could believe it when they saw the interloper on the track. “I had to look again, I was not sure whether I had a problem with my eyesight,” Vettel said. “He took a photo, and I hope it was a good one, in focus! But it was pretty crazy. We approach that corner – near the Anderson bridge – at 280, 290 clicks. But fortunately nothing happened to us or to him.”
Ricciardo was a little less benign. “That brought out that second safety car, so thanks to the guy on the track. I really appreciate it. I was tempted to swerve but, of course, I couldn’t!”
Police later confirmed that a 27year-old man had been arrested.
Raikkonen was 17 seconds behind his team-mate Vettel, while Rosberg was an equally distant fourth in the hitherto dominant Mercedes after the team struggled all weekend to tune their car to a notoriously tricky circuit. Last year’s world championship runnerup closed from 53 to 41 points behind Hamilton, who was running fourth when his Mercedes began to slip into eventual retirement with sudden power loss from the 27th lap.
Hamilton, who had tried unsuc- cessfully to reset his engine, said he thought that he had had the pace to challenge for victory, despite Mercedes’ problem finding sufficient grip in qualifying.
Besides Vettel’s authoritative return to the dominance he enjoyed in his Red Bull days, Ricciardo’s gallant challenge, and a splendid drive by the rookie Max Verstappen from last place to eighth, Mercedes’ sudden and astonishing fall from grace was the talking point of the weekend.
Ahead of this week’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Hamilton said that answers were needed to explain the unexpected problem he and Rosberg had faced.
“We definitely have to work out what it was, before we can begin to understand why,” the defending champion added.
Drivers’ standings
1. L Hamilton (GB) Mercedes GP 252pts 2. N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 211 3. S Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 203 4. K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 107 5. V Bottas (Fin) Williams 101 6. F Massa (Br) Williams 97 7. D Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 73 8. D Kvyat (Rus) Red Bull 66 9. S Perez (Mex) Force India 39 10. R Grosjean (Fr) Lotus F1 Team 38
Manufacturers’ standings:
1. Mercedes GP 463pts 2. Ferrari 310 3. Williams 198 4. Red Bull 139 5. Force India 69