VETTEL WINS FIRST RACE OF SEASON
SEBASTIAN VETTEL won a fascinating Singapore Grand Prix to take his fifth victory at the venue and first win in over 12 months.
The German gave Ferrari its third straight race victory this season and the first 1-2 of 2019 as he was followed by his teammate Charles Leclerc across the line.
Vettel beat home Leclerc by 2.6s in a safety car interrupted Grand Prix, with Red Bull racing driver Max Verstappen rounding out the podium.
The Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished in fourth and fifth with the second Red Bull Racing driver Alexander Albon rounding out the top six.
Vettel sat third during the duration of the first stint but was first of the leaders to stop in an attempt to overtake Hamilton, this aggressive strategy resulted in him overtaking his teammate also.
Mercedes and Hamilton realised they had lost the place to Vettel and stopped late in an attempt to catch and overtake the leaders in the finals laps on fresher tyres, however this did not come to fruition.
McLaren driver Lando Norris was the best of the rest in seventh, the young Briton holding off Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly in the closing laps.
Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg finished the race ninth ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi who led a Formula 1 race for the first time.
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement, made his way up through the field but suffered a puncture due to contact with Giovinazzi and came home 14th.
Romain Grosjean, Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll finished ahead of the West Australian with former teammate Daniil Kvyat, Robert Kubica and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the 17 finishers.
The next race is the Russian Grand Prix which will take place next weekend.
Formula 1 – Singapore Grand Prix – Results
Pos | Num | Driver | Car | Laps | Time/Retired |
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 61 | 1:58:33.667 |
2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 61 | +2.641 |
3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 61 | +3.821 |
4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 61 | +4.608 |
5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 61 | +6.119 |
6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 61 | +11.663 |
7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 61 | +14.769 |
8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 61 | +15.547 |
9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 61 | +16.718 |
10 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 61 | +17.855 |
11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 61 | +35.436 |
12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault | 61 | +35.974 |
13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 61 | +36.419 |
14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 61 | +37.660 |
15 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 61 | +38.178 |
16 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams Mercedes | 61 | +47.024 |
17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 61 | +86.522 |
NC | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 49 | DNF |
NC | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 42 | DNF |
NC | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 34 | DNF |
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