I had a dramatic Singapore GP weekend, which is the reason for writing my blog post not until today. My son's cancer treatments were over already four weeks ago, but last Friday he suddenly got a fast-proceeding infection, which caused low blood pressure. My son was taken to the ICU in a poor condition. I did watch the qualifying in the parents' room, but I actually missed Q2, as the doctor came to talk to me about my son's situation. Luckily my son got out of the ICU on Sunday, but my thoughts were very much with him and I hadn't slept properly for four nights...
Now after two well-slept nights I can look back to the Singapore GP weekend. The floodlights at the magical Marina Bay Street Circuit set the most perfect stage for the round 15. Statistically, Singapore has always suited the red cars extremely well, and Ferrari were the clear favourite for pole. The top three teams -Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull- seemed quite evenly matched, as the qualifying got underway. Mercedes sent their drivers out on the purple-walled ultra-softs, whilst the two other top teams opted for the pink-marked softest compound. Mercedes seemed to behave quite restlessly on track, whilst Ferrari proved extremely competitive especially in the first sector. However, Ricciardo in his RB14 topped the timesheets at the end of the first session. The second session belonged to Kimi in his SF71-H, and the Iceman was the fastest man on track. This time Verstappen was the better-performing Red Bull, as the Dutchman was the stunning 2nd. Bottas in P3 had the upper hand on his teammate Hamilton, who was left fourth. However, tables turned dramatically, as the decisive Q3 got underway. As Hamilton started his first run, the timing screens all lit up purple. What a magical lap time the Briton set! His lap was 3.5s faster than last year's pole lap! I couldn't understand, where Hamilton's unbelievable pace suddenly came from. Hamilton had driven quite a slow out lap; was that the secret behind the phenomenal lap? Verstappen was second, three tenths down on Hamilton. Sebastian was surprisingly only third, massive six tenths down on his title rival. Bottas was fourth and Kimi fifth, over a second off Hamilton's pace. The second runs didn't change the order of the top five; there was absolutely no beating Hamilton's super lap, which brought the 79th career pole for the quadruple world champion.
On Sunday the lights went out for the 10th time at the fairy-tale-like Marina Bay Street Circuit. During these ten years there has always been a safety car episode during the race. This year's GP was no exception to the rule. The start of the top five was clean, and Hamilton held on to his lead. Verstappen managed to dive into Turn 1 as the runner-up, but at the straight Sebastian squeezed it past the flying Dutchman, moving second. The overtaking move looked utterly stunning, as there were sparks flying from the rear of both cars. However, there was an incident in the midfield, going into Turn 2. The Force India duo of Perez and Ocon had contact, which threw Ocon into the wall. The Frenchman's race was over, and safety car was deployed. Luckily Sebastian had made his move a short moment before the safety car signal.
Hamilton took an impressive re-start and managed to pull out a small gap to Sebastian right away. Sebastian opened the pit stop roulette on lap 15. He switched to the ultra-softs and re-joined the track in P7. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas pitted on the following laps, both opting for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. Red Bull's Verstappen pitted from the lead on lap 18, also for a fresh set of the hardest compound. Sebastian had got stuck behind Force India's Perez when exiting the pits, which proved costly for the German Ferrari ace. Verstappen managed to only just squeeze it ahead Sebastian, when the German re-joined the track! It was a bitter disappointment for Sebastian, who lost the second place back to Max.
Sebastian was suspicious, whether the ultra-softs would last till the end. Degradation wasn't his only concern, as the lap times on the ultra-softs didn't prove competitive enough. Teammate Kimi pitted on lap 23, and the Iceman was sent out on a fresh set of soft Pirellis. Ricciardo pitted not until on lap 28, for a similar tyre choice to Sebastian. After the Australian's pit stop the order of the top five was the same as at the start. Hamilton had a dominant lead, Verstappen was second and Sebastian third. The Finns of Bottas and Kimi were P4 and P5.
There was no on-track battles for the podium places. However, the backmarkers caused drama for Hamilton on lap 38. Haas' Grosjean and Williams' Sirotkin were having a battle of their own, and Grosjean ignored the blue flags. Verstappen benefitted from Grosjean's and Sirotkin's battle and managed to close the gap to Hamilton. For a moment it looked like Verstappen was going to have a chance to overtake Hamilton. But as soon as Hamilton got past this fighting couple, he opened a gap to Verstappen again. Some laps later Grosjean was given a 5-second time penalty for ignoring the blue flags.
With ten laps to go, it seemed that Bottas, Kimi and Ricciardo were going to have a battle of their own for P4. Kimi was a second down on his compatriot Bottas, and Ricciardo was lurking right behind Kimi. However, following another car proved extremely difficult, let alone making a successful overtaking move. Bottas was stuck behind Renault's Hulkenberg, who was a lap down. However, Bottas had a bizarre problem, as he was unable to get close enough, so that the German would have been shown blue flags.
Hamilton was in a class of his own in the night of Singapore. He took the seventh win of the season and extended his championship lead over Sebastian to 40 points already. Verstappen was the impressive runner-up, which must have felt almost like a victory, after all the engine woes and gear box issues during the weekend, race included. Sebastian completed the podium, but unbelievable but true, the German crossed the finish line massive 40 seconds behind the race winner Hamilton! Where had Ferrari's competitiveness suddenly disappeared? Bottas finished fourth, followed by Kimi and Ricciardo. In the end this year's Singapore GP turned out quite a boring race.
A 40-point lead is quite remarkable, with just six races to go. Many people are saying, that the ability to handle pressure is a weakness for Sebastian. That he cracks under pressure and makes mistakes. He has the rest of the season to prove the critics otherwise. I'm confident that he'll be able to turn the tables in the championship battle. He has done it before; let's not forget, what happened in 2010! Sebastian is a driver, who is capable of making miracles happen. Ferrari are 30 points down on the Silver Arrows in the constructors' standings, but the Red Team still have the chance to win the title! Taken into consideration, how extremely convincingly Kimi has performed this season, nothing is lost yet. Sebastian, Kimi and the Red Team have my support. Onwards and upwards, towards Sochi! Forza Ferrari!
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