The most magical stage of the season was set under the floodlights of Singapore, as it was time for the 10th Singapore GP. Statistically, Singapore has always suited the red cars extremely well and everyone considered Ferrari the favourite to take pole at Marina Bay. In Q1 Mercedes came out on the ultra-softs, and the Silver Arrows seemed to behave quite restlessly on track. On the contrary, the red cars' pace seemed excellent on the pink-walled hyper-softs. Red Bull showed top form as well, with Ricciardo topping the timesheets. In Q2 Kimi was stamping his authority on the streets of Singapore, the Iceman being the fastest man on track. Red Bull's Verstappen was shining as well, although the Dutchman had suffered from engine woes in the free practice sessions. However, something happened in terms of Hamilton's performance in the decisive last segment. The Briton's Mercedes came alive in a magical way, and the quadruple world champion set a lap time, which was 3.5s faster than last year's pole time! After the first run Verstappen was second, three tenths down on Hamilton. Sebastian was third, already six tenths down on his title rival. Bottas was unable to match his teammate's pace, and the Finn was fourth. Kimi was 5th, 1.3s down on Hamilton. I couldn't understand where did Hamilton's phenomenal pace suddenly appear from. He had driven quite a slow out lap; was that the secret behind the magical lap? The second run didn't change the order of the top five. Hamilton claimed his 79th career pole in a way, that left everyone speechless. Where had Ferrari's performance disappeared?
During these ten years Singapore GP has always seen a safety car episode. This year's race was no exception. The start was clean in terms of the top five, and Hamilton held on to his lead. Verstappen drove into Turn 1 as the runner-up, followed by Sebastian and the Finns of Bottas and Kimi. Going into Turn 2, there was a crash in the midfield. The Force India duo of Perez and Ocon hit each other, and the contact threw Ocon into the wall. The Frenchman's race was over, and safety car was deployed. Only a fraction before the safety car signal Sebastian had squeezed it past Verstappen and moved second. Everything looked brilliant for Sebastian.
Hamilton took an excellent re-start and managed to pull a small gap to Sebastian. Verstappen had still an issue with his gear box, but the Dutchman was still third in the race. Bottas was fourth and Kimi fifth. Sebastian was the top driver, who opened the pit stop roulette on lap 15. The German switched to the purple-marked ultra-soft Pirellis. The Mercedes drivers pitted shortly after Sebastian, but they both opted for a fresh set of soft compound. So did Verstappen, who came in four laps after Sebastian, and managed only just to make it ahead Sebastian! After his pit stop, Sebastian had got stuck behind Perez, which cost him the position to Verstappen.
In spite of the ultra-soft compound, Sebastian's lap times were quite modest. In addition to that, Sebastian reported on the team radio that he didn't think those tyres were going to last till the end. Kimi was taken in on lap 23, and the Iceman was sent out on the yellow-walled hardest compound. After the pit stops the pecking order of the top five was the same as at the start. Hamilton had a four-second gap to Verstappen. The lapped cars caused drama for the race leader Hamilton. Haas' Grosjean and Williams' Sirotkin were battling for positions, which enabled Verstappen to close the gap to Hamilton, as the backmarkers were ignoring the blue flags. It was extremely close; Verstappen would have gotten a chance to try an overtaking move on Hamilton. Having got past Grosjean and Sirotkin, Hamilton immediately opened a gap to Verstappen again. Some laps later Grosjean was handed a 5-second time penalty for ignoring the blue flags.
With ten laps to go, there was no battle for podium places. Hamilton had a dominant lead, Verstappen was second and Sebastian third. However, there seemed to be a fight for P4. Kimi was only a second down on Bottas, and Ricciardo was lurking right behind Kimi. However, following another car within DRS distance was extremely difficult, let alone getting past! So in the end, the Singapore GP turned out quite a boring race with no tension within the top five. I found it absolutely shocking that, when crossing the finish line, Sebastian was massive 40 seconds down on Hamilton! The ultra-soft tyres had clearly been a wrong tactical call. In spite of opting for the soft compound, Kimi was unable to make it higher than P5. I was absolutely flabbergasted about the result. Where had Ferrari's competitiveness disappeared?
Thanks to Hamilton's superior win, he extended his championship lead over Sebastian to 40 points with six races to go. The red team are now 37 points down on Mercedes. That is a bit worrying, I have to admit. In terms of the rest of the season, Ferrari can't afford making any mistakes. Sebastian and Kimi can't afford making any mistakes, either. However, anything can still happen. Miracles don't happen, they are done. Setbacks and difficulties can be turned into success and glory. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
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