.Sebastian Vettel revealed that a number of goodwill messages inspired him to end his 392-day losing streak here on Sunday.The four-time Formula One world champion celebrated his 53rd career win under the 1,500 bulbs which light up the Marina Bay Street Circuit, 22 races after he last stood on the top step of the podium.Until Sunday’s triumph, Vettel had been on a torrid run, one which reached when he spun at Ferrari’s home race. But the German, who actively steers clear of social media, said the subsequent support from fans, as well as people within the motor racing community, encouraged him to return to the winners’ circle.“I have taken a lot of energy from the messages and handwritten letters I have received,” said Vettel. “People have shared their own stories with me. For us, everything is centred around racing, but racing isn’t the most important thing.“When you read the notes that people are struggling in life, and some were very intimate about it, it gets to you, so it gave me a lot of belief and confidence to keep on trying.
I knew I wasn’t far away from a breakthrough moment, that I just needed to keep doing the job and things would fall into place. I am happy that has happened sooner rather than later.”.
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Vettel’s first win of the campaign takes him to within four points of both team-mate Charles Leclerc, and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, in the championship standings. Meanwhile, ’s Mercedes team have apologised to their star driver, who claimed he was robbed of an “easy” victory following a strategy blunder. The world champion finished only fourth.
Hamilton had been running in second place, but was left in no-man’s land when Mercedes elected against reacting to an early pit stop by Vettel – one which enabled the German to get the jump on his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc and ultimately bring to an end his 13-month losing streak.The Briton plodded around the 23-corner course on ageing rubber for seven laps longer than Vettel and six more than Leclerc. By the time Mercedes did pull Hamilton in, it left him in fourth, and his hopes of victory up in smoke.It would have been worse had Valtteri Bottas not followed a Mercedes order to slow down and ensure Hamilton did not become vulnerable to attack from Red Bull’s Alex Albon. Mercedes’ chief strategist, James Vowles, moved to acknowledge that it was his faux pas which cost Hamilton the shot at a hat-trick of Singapore wins. “Today there wasn’t a driver mistake, but a mistake in the strategy, and James, with his wide shoulders, said, ‘I have f. it up’,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said.“We had a package capable of pole, an opportunity to win, and we made too many mistakes this weekend, with too many opportunities lost.
The mood in the team is one of annoyance.”. Hamilton said he had urged his team to risk the undercut (stopping before your rival to take advantage of fresh tyres) in the pre-race meeting, but that his request fell on deaf ears.“It’s painful for us because we could have easily won today,” Hamilton said.
“I was asking them to do the undercut, to take the risk, and go for it, but they didn’t. Two other teams got it right today and leapfrogged us.”Like Hamilton, pole-sitter Leclerc also fell foul to strategy. The young Monegasque appeared set to become the first Ferrari driver since Michael Schumacher to win three races in a row, only to leave the pits with Vettel ahead of him.Leclerc was furious on the radio. “To be completely honest with you, I don’t understand the undercut,” he said, believing he should have been given priority over Vettel, who was third before the only change for tyres. “We will discuss after the race.”Later, he added: “I won’t do anything stupid, but I just think it is unfair.”Hamilton may have been denied a ninth victory of the year, but he was still able to extend his championship lead to 65 points over Bottas, who finished fifth.Leclerc, third in the standings, is 96 points adrift of Hamilton with just six rounds remaining and 156 points available.
If you refresh your page you will be able to see Phil Duncan's race report from Singapore. More to come from him and me in the next couple of days. Plenty to pick out of it, although it will go down as one of the more humdrum races in the past couple of months but still, a rare Ferrari 1-2 and a couple of strategy calls that were questionable. In truth though both Ferrari's decision to pit Vettel first AND Mercedes' decision to keep Hamilton out were understandable when you look at what happened.I'll be back next week for the Russian Grand Prix. What chance of a fourth Ferrari win in a row? 'I think everybody was surprised by how strong the undercut was.
At that moment we'd already lost the position to Sebastian. You lose the win, you try and do the offset and go a bit longer. Lots of assumptions and all was different. Our tyre just wore off and it wasn't competitive any more and this is why we ended up nowhere. We didn't get going; we had a slow car out of the blocks.after every single restart we were lacking pace and that's the harsh reality.' Is he worried about Ferrari's form:'Yes, you have got to be worried and on your toes all the time. They have won the last three races and you cannot rest on your laurels from the beginning of the season and a solid points gap because that can catch you out.'
First of all big congratulations to the team. The start of the season has been difficult but recent weeks I think we started to come alive.
Secondly I really want to thank the fans. The last couple of weeks for me have not been the best. It's been incredible to get the support. It gave me a lot of strength and belief and I tried to put it into the track today.' On the strategy:'It was a very late call. I thought it was a bit early because I wasn't sure we could make the tyres last in the second stint.
Then I gave it everything in the out lap when I saw the two cars ahead stay out. I was quite surprised to come out ahead.
It was tricky at the restarts with the cold tyres. Just the corner before the pit entry I received the call.' Vettel bolts away this time as the SC peels in and gets a huge lead, choosing not to back up the pack. Leclerc has closed the gap somewhat by the middle of the lap, though. Hamilton harries Max Verstappen for the final podium spot - he's around half a second away.Meanwhile Hulkenberg complains of a dodgy gearbox. He's still in P9 at the moment but will he make it to the end of the race? It's very, very close and very, very tasty between P11 and P15.Leclerc trails by a second with nine laps to go.
14 racing laps to go. Unless we get another safety car. Which we probably will. Maybe from Leclerc sending one down the inside of Vettel.The race restarts, Vettel leads the field away but Leclerc is closer this time. Verstappen isn't too far behind, either. Vettel knows what this win would mean to him. He will be under pressure in the cockpit.
In the second part of the lap Vettel looks the quicker as he extends his lead.As ever, some brilliant tussling in the midfield between Ricciardo, Grosjean, Magussen, Gasly and a few others. It's frantic. Vettel leads by a second at the end of the lap. Vettel gets his boot down early and keeps a comfortable lead in the early part of the lap.
Stroll and Gasly go side-by-side, touch wheels but Stroll keeps his place in P12! Leclerc isn't looking like he has brilliant pace compared to Vettel at the moment but we will know a bit more in the next few laps.Stroll has a puncture! Sparks flying from his front wing and underfloor dragging on the ground. He's fairly close to the pits which is fortunate for him but that's ruined his race. It's his front left that was done in and he also had a damaged front win in the same area. He hit the wall on his own, it seems.
'Let's concentrate on the race,' Leclerc is told. He has obviously expressed his displeasure to his team. To be fair he has plenty of reasons to be unhappy.
'To be honest with you, I do not understand at all the undercut,' he says. It was a fairly complicated situation but Vettel benefited from being third on track instead of first.I can actually see Leclerc sending one up the inside of Vettel here if he gets close enough.Anyway, here's the top 10:. VET. LEC. VER.
HAM. BOT. ALB.
NOR. MAG. RAI.
PER. Leclerc has to wait a long time in his grid slot.
At least 20 seconds, if not longer.The lights go out. It's a very good start for Leclerc who keeps his lead as Vettel hassles Hamilton in the opening part of the lap, Vettel is very close going into the heavy braking zone of turn seven, Hamilton has to cover - he's all over the track now!
Verstappen gets ahead of Bottas early on, Albon holds sixth but Carlos Sainz has dropped down to P20, not sure what happened there.Norris up to P8, Hulk in P7. Leclerc leads by 1.2s at the end of the lap. Yes, they were winners in both Belgium and Italy but this was a track that was not supposed to suit them. But suit them it has.
Here's what team principal Mattia Binotto had to say about it all:'Today things went better than we had hoped. After the two wins in Spa-Francorchamps and Monza we all came out here somehow hoping to continue the momentum and do something special, and somehow we did it. We brought a new aero package here, which proved positive but more importantly, it shows that our development is going in the right direction.We have clearly identified our weaknesses and we are addressing them, which is also useful for next year. I still believe that our rivals are very strong and that we need to improve in some areas but at least we are on the right path.' Looking at this model from Pirelli you'd say that if there's an early safety car (i.e. In the first pit window) there's a chance for them to put on the hards and run to the end.
But, really, given how little anyone has run on the hard tyre this weekend it might not be a goer and - if it happens around the pit window - they might just try and run a few laps longer on the mediums. Of course, a late safety car could give drivers the chance for a cheap stop, stick on the softs and then go hell for leather. I'm sure we'll see a degree of variation today whatever happens.
It did not go down too well.Asked about Liberty’s qualifying idea, Hamilton, who has a 63-point lead in his march to championship number six, shook his head. “I don’t know what to say,” he said. “The people that propose it don’t really know what they are talking about.”Vettel was even less complimentary.I actually think it's worth discussing and even trying. That said, I think the current qualifying format is decent and the real issue is improving the racing on Sundays through the regulations without tinkering with the formats too much. Get the basics right and then you won't need outlandish solutions. He starts in pole position and he already has a hat-trick of those and, traditionally, it's quite difficult to dislodge the pole position man in Singapore.
In fact, just three of the 11 times the race has been held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit has a man who wasn't on pole won. It's possible and history will not dictate the outcome of the race but it's a good sign for the Ferrari man, to be honest, especially with the form he's in.If Leclerc were to follow up his first and second victories with a third in a row, completing the hat-trick, he'd join an elite club that includes Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen. And nobody else. Leclerc already has the most pole positions of anyone this season, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas behind him on four each, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen on one each.Another couple of interesting stats: Hamilton has never had this few pole positions after 15 rounds since 2011. And Leclerc will start from pole for a fifth time, without ever having started second on the front row. I am not sure if that's some kind of record, but it's impressive anyway. It was somewhat of a surprise that Ferrari were anywhere near competitive enough to challenge the front row, let alone pole position but their new aerodynamic package is working brilliantly in Singapore.
So well done to Ferrari. It's arguable that they should have locked out the front row but Hamilton found some time on his second run in Q3 whilst Vettel - who was at that time quickest by a few tenths - messed up his second hot lap and had to abort it. The German qualified third with Max Verstappen in fourth and Valtteri Bottas in fifth.' I am extremely happy about today,' Leclerc said afterwards. 'It was a very good lap but there were some moments where I thought I lost the car, but I got it back.' We came here knowing that it would be a difficult track for us but the team has done an incredible job to bring the package we needed. I had a tough Friday, it was not my day, and I didn't feel comfortable in the car, but the hard work has paid off.'
It's a long, hot race and it's going to be interesting strategically. It's lights out at 1.10pm BST and I'll be here with you from now until the chequered flag.
The F1 2019 schedule reaches its eighth race of the season Sunday, the in Le Castellet, France. After a one-week detour to ABC for the last F1 event, ESPN will be the TV channel that will broadcast this weekend's Formula 1 race, with a start time of 9:05 a.m. ET on Sunday. The French Grand Prix also can be live streamed via the ESPN app.The French Grand Prix in 2019 returns to the, a 15-turn, 5.842-kilometer course located near the city of Marseille, France, that's ripe for overtaking with its variation of corners. Sunday's race is scheduled for 53 laps and a total distance of 309.69 kilometers.
MORE FORMULA 1:In France, Ferrari is looking to avenge its loss in the last Grand Prix a couple weeks ago, when a questionable ruling allowed Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to win. Sebastian Vettel took the checkered flag in Canada, but he was not awarded the win, as FIA stewards handed him a five-second penalty for what they deemed to be rejoining the track in an unsafe fashion earlier in the race. Vettel has now gone 15 finished Grand Prix races in a row without winning, his worst run excluding retirements in his F1 career.Ferrari is FIA to review that decision, but in the meantime, a win in the French Grand Prix on Sunday would alleviate the angst.
After all, Ferrari has won 17 races and taken 17 pole positions at the French Grand Prix, more than any other team in either category.Mercedes, though, remains the team to beat with Hamilton, the points leader, and Valtteri Bottas having dominated the 2019 F1 season thus far. Hamilton took the pole position at the French Grand Prix last year, but only two drivers (Jackie Stewart, 1971 and '73; Alain Prost, 1988 and '89) have ever managed consecutive pole positions at Le Castellet.Below is all you need to know about the 2019 French Grand Prix, including how to watch and live stream the race. F1 2019 French Grand Prix start time, how to watch.
Date: Sunday, June 23. Time: 9:05 a.m. ET. TV channel: ESPN. Live stream: ESPN appF1 TV schedule, live stream for French Grand PrixAs it has in years past, in the United States, ESPN will broadcast Sky Sports' presentation of all 2019 F1 races.Below is the TV and live streaming schedule for French Grand Prix qualifying and race presentations on ESPN platforms Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday, June 21.