MARINA BAY, Singapore – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended a year-long winless drought with a victory in the Singapore Grand Prix Sunday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Vettel led home a Ferrari one-two finish, with teammate and polesitter Charles Leclerc coming home second in his bid to win his third-straight Grand Prix.
Leclerc took the lead at the start of Sunday’s 61-lap affair and looked to be the man to beat as Lewis Hamilton settled into second ahead of Vettel. The front three stayed that way until the 20th circuit, when Vettel hit the pits ahead of Max Verstappen.
Leclerc pitted from the lead one lap later, but by pitting a lap earlier than his teammate Vettel was able to undercut him and come out in front of Leclerc as the pit cycle continued.
“I thought it was a bit early, because I wasn’t sure if we could make the tires last in the second stint,” Vettel said of his pit stop. “Obviously then I gave it everything in my out lap because I saw the two cars in front of me not pitting, especially Lewis. I was then very surprised a lap later to come out ahead.”
Hamilton cycled into the lead, but every lap on the track was costing him time to the lead Ferrari duo. He finally pitted on the 27th circuit for tires, which dropped him down the field behind the Ferrari pair as well as Verstappen.
When the pit stops cycled through, Vettel emerged with the race lead ahead of Leclerc, followed by Verstappen and Hamilton.
The inevitable safety car period that all the teams expected finally came on lap 36, when George Russell crashed his Williams after contact with Romain Grosjean. That closed the gap between the leaders, but the Ferrari pair remained at the front ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
Two more safety car periods, one on lap 44 for the stopped car of Sergio Perez and a second on lap 50 after contact between Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat left Raikonnen’s car stranded, didn’t change anything at the front of the field for Vettel.
In the end, Vettel earned his fifth Singapore Grand Prix victory and first Formula One triumph in more than a year. He crossed the finish line more than two seconds ahead of Leclerc.
“Very happy, great race,” Vettel said. “Big congratulations to the team. Obviously the start of the season has been difficult for us, but recent weeks it has started to come alive. Really proud of everyone’s work back home.”
Leclerc came up short in his bid to win his third-straight Grand Prix, but was still reasonably pleased with a one-two finish for the Ferrari camp.
“Obviously it’s always difficult to lose a win like that, but in the end it’s one-two for the team,” Leclerc said. “Very happy for that. It’s the first one-two for the season. All the guys deserved it. We arrived here hoping for maybe a podium and we come back home with a one-two, so for that I’m extremely happy.”
Verstappen finished third, besting Hamilton at the finish to take the final podium position. Bottas chased his Mercedes teammate Hamilton home in fifth.
Alexander Albon finished sixth in the second Red Bull, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi, who led four laps during the pit stop cycle.