After the start the race saw an odd turn. Race leader Charles set the pace, which almost reminded of crawling on the track. Due to very slow pace, the gaps between the top six were quite minimal. It seemed though, that getting past was a mission impossible. However, Renault's Ricciardo proved otherwise. The Honey Badger had started to the race from the back of the grid, due to a grid penalty for an ERS infringement. The Australian showed, that overtaking was possible if you had the will power, and squeezed his Renault past Kvyat's Toro Rosso, claiming P12.
As the top six was so closely packed, it was all about choosing the right timing for the pit stop. Would it be possible to make the undercut work, or would overcut be the right call? It was impossible to predict, as no one knew, when safety car would be deployed. Sebastian and Max drove into the pits on lap 19. They both switched to the hard rubber, which was to last till the end. Sebastian re-joined the track in P10 and Max in P12. Sebastian's out lap on the fresh tyres was sensational. As teammate Charles pitted on the sequential lap, he was shocked to witness, that when re-joining the track, Sebastian moved ahead of him due to the strategy!
Bottas pitted two laps after Charles, also for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Teammate Hamilton stayed out instead. Bottas banged the fastest lap time shortly after his pit stop, but the team told him to play for the team and slow down, as Hamilton was to pit a couple of laps later. The Briton came in on lap 26, switching to the hards as well, and thanks to Valtteri's "team effort", Hamilton re-joined the track ahead of his Finnish teammate. Unbelievable but true, Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi, who had started to the race on the medium Pirellis and therefore hadn't pitted yet, was now leading the race!
After making an adventurous move on Toro Rosso's Gasly and a bit safer one on Giovinazzi, stunning Sebastian moved to the lead. What a happy moment it was! I was so happy for Sebastian, who needed this more than ever! Teammate Charles was at Sebastian's tail, and Verstappen was third in the race. Lap 35 started a chain of three safety car episodes. Haas' Grosjean and Williams' Russell hit each other, and the wreck of the Briton's Williams stopped on track. This was the 12th Singapore GP, and the 12th time, that a safety car has been deployed during the race!
Charles seemed gutted for losing the lead to his teammate, and complained about the strategy on the team radio. He was told to keep his head down and concentrate on racing. The re-start took place on lap 40, and the pecking order remained the same. But the race was on only for a few laps, as Perez's Racing Point came to a halt on lap 43 due to a technical failure. Safety car was deployed for the second time already, so that the Mexican's car was to be moved off safely.
The second re-start took place on lap 47. Once again Sebastian firmly held on to his lead. Further down in the pack, Kimi in his Alfa Romeo in P9 seemed to be on his way to bring valuable points for the team. But after the second re-start, something happened. Kimi was lacking pace dearly, and the Iceman got overtaken by both Toro Rosso's Gasly and Renault's Hulkenberg. Lap 50 was a dramatic turning point in terms of Kimi's race. Toro Rosso's Torpedo (Kvyat) dived into the inside of Kimi, which caused the Russian to crash into Kimi's Alfa Romeo. The Iceman's front suspension was damaged, and his race was ruined. Safety car was brought out for the third time already!
The final re-start took place with nine laps to go. Charles had been told to bring his SF90 to the finish line, which meant no risky overtaking moves. First Sebastian clocked the fastest lap time, hungry to take the extra point for it. Then Bottas stroke back and snatched the fastest lap time from the German. In the end, neither one of the drivers got the extra point under his belt. Haas' Magnussen, who had pitted at the end of the race, set the fastest lap time in the end, but didn't get awarded of it due to finishing the race out of top ten. On the closing laps Hamilton was putting hard pressure on Max, but the flying Dutchman gave Hamilton no chance to try a move of any kind.
"The good old Sebastian" was back! He won the Singapore GP after a year-long dry season! This was Sebastian's fifth win in Singapore already. Charles made it a mesmerising 1-2 for Ferrari, which was a phenomenal result. Ferrari's previous 1-2 was taken in Hungary in 2017, so it was about time! Max completed the podium, which I was also very happy about. Unbelievable but true, both Mercedes drivers were left out of podium! Albon brought valuable points for Red Bull by finishing sixth, and McLaren's Norris was the best of the rest by finishing seventh.
I was over the moon to see Sebastian win after a long series of setbacks and mistakes! He truly deserved the glamorous win today! He proved, that difficulties can be turned into success. It was emotional to hear him thank his fans in the post-race interview. Me, including so many fans around the world, wanted to show our support to him during this difficult time. I have an Indonesian friend Sheena, who I became friends with in Maranello in 2018. She and her friend had come up with a project to ask Sebastian fans around the world to shoot a fan video for Sebastian. All videos were uploaded on a memory stick, which Sheena gave to Sebastian during the GP weekend. From the moment, that Sheena asked me to take part in the project, I knew I wanted to be a part of it! So my fan video was included on the memory stick with around 70 other videos from all over the world. So Sebastian definitely knows, that he has his fans' support, faith and admiration!
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