What a race the Singapore GP turned out! And not in a positive way! Not at all! I have absolutely no words for my emotions right now!
It started to rain about half an hour before the start. The sky was covered with black clouds and there were flashes of lightning. The top three teams all opted for the green-marked intermediate tyres, whereas Renault and Force India for example opted for the full-wet Pirellis. I knew the start was going to be extremely crucial and exciting.
My heart almost stopped beating, when the lights went out! Sebastian only took an average start, opposite to his closest rivals Verstappen and Kimi. Kimi took a magnificent start, the best of the top three. Sebastian knew Max was going to challenge him into Turn 1, and the German naturally decided to defend his position. But defending his line, Sebastian moved significantly to the left, which lead into contact between the top three. In spite of the contact Sebastian drove into Turn 1 in the lead, but due to the contact Kimi lost control of his SF70-H and ended up crashing into Verstappen and taking them both out of the race! Sebastian had significant damage in his car as well, as the cooler of his SF70-H had seriously damaged. In Turn 3, due to the damage, Sebastian lost control of his car and hit the wall. There was an absurd moment, when Sebastian was driving on reverse, trying to continue his race. But his race was inevitably over. This was the first time ever in Ferrari´s history, that both cars were out of the race due to a first-lap incident! I was absolutely shocked. I couldn´t believe, what had just happened. I was convinced I was having a nightmare! In a heartbeat all my three favourites were out of the race. And Hamilton had been given the greatest gift of all -the lead in the race!
Safety car was deployed due to the collision. Red Bull´s Ricciardo was second in the race and Renault´s Hulkenberg was third. Perez in his pink Force India was fourth and Bottas in his Mercedes was fifth. Who would have predicted that to happen, especially Hulkenberg in P3? On lap 5 the safety car came in, and the race was back on. The rain had stopped, but there was still spray coming from the cars, which made the visibility poor. The full-wets turned out to be the right tyre choice at the re-start, and Bottas lost his fifth position to Renault´s Palmer, who was driving an excellent race.
The second safety car episode took place on lap 11. Toro Rosso´s Kvyat lost control of his car in the slippery conditions and ended up in the barriers, nose first. As safety car came out, Ricciardo pitted for a fresh set of intermediate tyres. The Australian re-joined the track in P3, so he lost one position only. Both Force India and Renault reacted to Ricciardo´s pit stop, and Perez, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Palmer were all called in to the pits. A switch to the intermediate Pirellis was made for all of them. Both Hamilton and Bottas stayed out, and due to the rivals´ pit stops the Finn had already made it up to P3.
The second re-start took place on lap 15. Hamilton held on to his lead, with Ricciardo second and Bottas third. Haas´ Magnussen was the first driver to pit for slicks on lap 25. Four laps later Ricciardo and Bottas also pitted for the dry tyres; Ricciardo opted for the red-marked super soft tyres, whereas Bottas switched to the ultra soft compound. Race leader Hamilton pitted a lap later for a fresh set of ultra soft Pirellis, similar to his teammate.
By the halfway point of the race Hamilton had been able to build a 10-second gap to Ricciardo, and Bottas was already 16 seconds down on the Australian. But there was one more safety car episode to come! Sauber´s Ericsson crashed into the barrier on lap 38, and his car stopped dangerously on the track. So safety car was deployed for the third time! Meanwhile, Renault´s Hulkenberg, who had been driving a superb race in P4, was hit with an engine issue, which dropped the unlucky German down to P10. When there were 11 minutes left in the clock (all 61 laps couldn´t be completed), Hulkenberg had to retire. The German now has the questionable honour to hold the record of most GP starts without a podium, which is now 129 races.
Hamilton drove to the chequered flag as the race winner. Ricciardo finished second and Bottas third. Sainz scored his personal best by finishing fourth for Toro Rosso. Perez took fifth for the pink Force India, and Renault´s Palmer was impressive sixth. This result was a total knockout for Ferrari, which lost this round by 0-40 to Mercedes. Sebastian´s catastrophic first-lap collision lead into Hamilton´s 28-point lead in the drivers´ championship standings! Which feels so bitter. This could be a turning point in terms of Sebastian´s fight for the fifth championship... Not to mention Ferrari´s fight for the constructors´ championship. The Red Team is already 102 points down on Mercedes in the constructors´ standings!
Social media is now full of opinions, accusations and judgement on who was at fault in the first-lap collision. 90 per cent of people seem to think it was Sebastian´s fault. And it hurts so much to read all those comments! But nevertheless, I can´t help but to agree. He was entitled to defend his position -but not by any means necessary! His unpredicted move to the left caused the collision between the top three. So in that way I agree with Verstappen, who said that it wasn´t a racing incident. The collision would have been avoidable! I feel out of words, I am so disappointed! I can´t anything but hope, that this collision won´t cost Sebastian the world championship this year. If it does... I think I will cry my eyes out!
However, in spite of today´s disappointment, there are six more rounds to go. And I believe in Sebastian with all my heart. I know he has the potential to convert a setback like this into success. Malaysia will be the next chance to chase the much-needed victory! And victories or no victories, I will always support Sebastian!
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