It is difficult to recall a grand prix weekend in which the Saturday headlines have juxtaposed so greatly against the Sunday result, or a first-lap that changed the flavour of the championship so dramatically and so decisively.
In terms of championship magnitude, perhaps only Ayrton Senna’s kamikaze first corner in Suzuka 1990 can be compared to the earthquake in the title race the Marina Bay circuit witnessed yesterday. Amid it all, Sebastian Vettel was a man fighting to exploit a strong circuit for the Ferrari SF70H, and in the process exemplified the rollercoater nature of motorsport.
Vettel’s weekend began inauspiciously. Following on from an Italian Grand Prix where the Ferraris had not only been slow, but had looked recalcitrant and wayward in both wet and dry conditions, the SF70H again looked uneasy in the opening salvos on Friday. Contact with the TECPRO barriers at turn 10 for Vettel and a flying pair of Red Bulls looked to put an essential weekend for the Scuderia in jeopardy.
However, the decision by Ferrari to revert to the simulated setup, and a stellar lap from Vettel delivered one of the most palpably jubilant pole positions of the year. Despite the fact that both Raikkonen and Vettel were on surer footing with the baseline setup, Ferrari remained behind the curve, with Verstappen setting the pace in final practice, Q1 and Q2.
Qualifying in Singapore is primarily about driver confidence, and having lost a qualifying simulation to traffic in FP2 and having reverted on setup, Vettel was unmistakably several rungs further down the cumulative ladder of knowledge and understanding.
And yet, for Q3 Sebastian’s experience and natural affinity for the circuit shone out. Whilst Verstappen arguably overdrove the final laps of the session, particularly in the final run, Vettel moderated his aggression perfectly, leaning the car up against the barriers in the final sector, but always cognizant of crisply executing the circuit’s many all-important traction zones. It was a stellar performance under pressure the like of which only the select finest drivers in the world could achieve.
A seemingly straightforward Sunday, provided he kept track position into the first corner, began to unravel on the grid. Amid the pre-race deluge, Vettel will have doubtlessly succumbed to thinking about Ferrari’s lacklustre wet weather pace in Monza, and he could not fail to consider the routine wet weather heroics of the young Dutchman lining up to his left. The catastrophe that ensued bore striking resemblance to the start-line collision between the same three drivers at Spa last year.
However whilst on that occasion what resulted was a cocktail of another pinch from Vettel plus a somewhat impetuous lunge from Verstappen, in this case Verstappen and Raikkonen were completely innocent counterparts in the domino-effect that followed.
Raikkonen had no choice but to take the inside line with the momentum from his excellent start, and Verstappen was driving in a straight line, keen to get up Vettel’s inside line and conscious of the second Ferrari on his inside. The incident was a sole result of Vettel’s defensive move on Verstappen.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Vettel was culpable for the incident: the stewards ruled that it was simply a racing incident compounded by the slippery conditions. Indeed, it was a sound tactic for Vettel to pinch Verstappen off the line; in Singapore in 2013 a similar manoeuvre saw Vettel able to repass the fast-starting Rosberg into turn 3.
Blocked by Verstappen and in the dazzling mist of the illuminated wet circuit, it was also completely impossible for Vettel to have known that Raikkonen was there. And yet, for a man fighting for the championship, an arguably less risky tactic would have been to outbrake his rivals on the outside line – as Hamilton did.
Many might seek to point to the incident and make broader statements about the German’s start-line judgement; suggesting that the man who lost points in Canada with first lap wing damage, who was partly culpable for the aforementioned Belgian tangle and who retired last year with a suicidal lunge on Rosberg in Malaysia last year, lacks finesse on the first lap.
And yet, until recent years first lap contact had not been regular eventualities for Sebastian, and you could balance the argument by pointing out that Hamilton almost certainly would have won the title had he not had contact with Bottas in the first corner in Bahrain last year.
And yet, the incident perhaps does say something about the mindset in which Vettel is approaching this championship tussle. Armchair psychology it may be, but Vettel’s uncompromising defensive swerve bore all the hallmarks of a man rather desperate to exploit the opportunity of a hard-earned pole position.
More broadly, a clearly apparent willingness to take risks that we have seen from Vettel throughout this year (his pass on Bottas on the grass in Barcelona is arguably the epitome of this) perhaps derives from the fact that, on average, the Ferrari still trails the Mercedes on raw pace.
Therein, Vettel’s philosophy is arguably to take risks, or else be beaten by the intrinsic excellence of Hamilton and the champion team. However whilst Vettel’s boldness saw him salvage points with a pair of decisive passes on the Force Indias in Canada, it has put his title challenge in tatters in Singapore.
