Amid the elation of having secured Ferrari’s first pole position in a dry qualifying session in five years, Sebastian Vettel was quick to trot out the standard Saturday mantra of a Formula One driver: “It’s only Saturday and the main job is coming tomorrow”.
Vettel has tended to go well at Singapore, and today showed that’s only partly due to the nature of the cars he’s had to drive over the past few years. He’s finished the last five races here in the top two positions, and could claim his fourth victory tomorrow.
However the long-time Red Bull driver will be alert to the threat of the car starting alongside him. Daniel Ricciardo has not been one of the fastest-starting drivers this year, nor is the RB11 likely to trouble the Ferrari on the straights. But it’s performance over a race stint is superb, as Ricciardo demonstrated on Friday.
That is all the more valuable at this race, where the probability of a Safety Car period is high. There has never been a Singapore Grand Prix without one, though F1’s ever-dwindling grid means the risk is steadily getting lower.
Last year several drivers tried to eke out their tyres after a Safety Car period but ended up being mugged by those who pitted for fresh rubber – including, ironically, the very driver who had caused the Safety Car period in the first place.
Vettel, therefore, may rue the fact he doesn’t have his team mate starting alongside him as a potential buffer to the first Red Bull: Kimi Raikkonen was a huge 0.782 seconds behind. He lines up third, on the cleaner side of the grid, however that advantage is not as great as it was in the first few years of the race – a glance back at the pictures from 2008 and 2009 shows how much dustier it was off-line back then.
If you tried to design a corner which encourages drivers to cut it to gain an advantage, you’d probably end up with something similar to the first three turns at Singapore. But after years of drivers cutting the second turn to gain positions – notably Fernando Alonso at the start of last year’s race – this time drivers have been warned they must not rejoin until turn three if they do go off, ensuring they won’t benefit. About time too.
But where do Mercedes fit in to the fight for victory? Remarkably, this looks like being the first time they could lose a race on sheer pace since the end of 2013. Yes, they’ve lost races since then but not without some kind of mistake on their part: be it a driving error, poor strategy or reliability problem.
But in Singapore they just aren’t quick enough. In Monza Ferrari were far more competitive over a single lap in qualifying than they were over the race distance, and that may explain part of the difference here, but this is more a case of Mercedes losing performance than Ferrari finding it. The Mercedes were particularly weak at the end of their flying lap on super-soft tyres, but Lewis Hamilton feels they are also vulnerable on the harder compound.
Not that Vettel will be losing any sleep over that. “They’ve been way too comfortable and too strong for a long time,” he remarked after qualifying. “But I wouldn’t rule them out for tomorrow…”
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Qualifying times in full
| Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 (vs Q1) | Q3 (vs Q2) | |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’46.017 | 1’44.743 (-1.274) | 1’43.885 (-0.858) |
| 2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’46.166 | 1’45.291 (-0.875) | 1’44.428 (-0.863) |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’46.467 | 1’45.140 (-1.327) | 1’44.667 (-0.473) |
| 4 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1’45.340 | 1’44.979 (-0.361) | 1’44.745 (-0.234) |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’45.765 | 1’45.650 (-0.115) | 1’45.300 (-0.350) |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’46.201 | 1’45.653 (-0.548) | 1’45.415 (-0.238) |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1’46.231 | 1’45.887 (-0.344) | 1’45.676 (-0.211) |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1’46.483 | 1’45.635 (-0.848) | 1’45.798 (+0.163) |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’46.879 | 1’45.701 (-1.178) | 1’46.077 (+0.376) |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1’46.860 | 1’45.805 (-1.055) | 1’46.413 (+0.608) |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1’46.669 | 1’46.305 (-0.364) | |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’46.600 | 1’46.328 (-0.272) | |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’46.576 | 1’46.385 (-0.191) | |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 1’46.465 | 1’46.894 (+0.429) | |
| 15 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’46.891 | 1’47.019 (+0.128) | |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1’46.965 | ||
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’47.088 | ||
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1’47.323 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1’51.021 | ||
| 20 | Alexander Rossi | Manor | 1’51.523 |
Sector times
| Driver | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettel | 27.665 (1) | 39.945 (1) | 36.275 (2) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 28.076 (9) | 40.108 (2) | 36.185 (1) |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 27.814 (2) | 40.148 (3) | 36.615 (4) |
| Daniil Kvyat | 27.925 (5) | 40.203 (4) | 36.412 (3) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 27.883 (4) | 40.319 (5) | 36.810 (6) |
| Nico Rosberg | 27.941 (6) | 40.590 (8) | 36.738 (5) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 28.037 (8) | 40.583 (7) | 36.869 (8) |
| Max Verstappen | 28.291 (12) | 40.476 (6) | 36.821 (7) |
| Felipe Massa | 27.875 (3) | 40.639 (9) | 37.011 (11) |
| Romain Grosjean | 27.979 (7) | 40.692 (10) | 36.966 (9) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 28.200 (11) | 40.962 (15) | 37.140 (13) |
| Fernando Alonso | 28.315 (13) | 40.767 (13) | 37.030 (12) |
| Sergio Perez | 28.154 (10) | 40.765 (12) | 37.224 (16) |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 28.375 (14) | 40.715 (11) | 36.979 (10) |
| Jenson Button | 28.545 (18) | 40.927 (14) | 37.196 (14) |
| Felipe Nasr | 28.384 (15) | 41.365 (18) | 37.216 (15) |
| Marcus Ericsson | 28.422 (16) | 41.288 (16) | 37.378 (17) |
| Pastor Maldonado | 28.519 (17) | 41.331 (17) | 37.473 (18) |
| Will Stevens | 29.592 (20) | 42.833 (19) | 38.596 (19) |
| Alexander Rossi | 29.553 (19) | 43.027 (20) | 38.943 (20) |
Speed trap
| Pos | Driver | Car | Engine | Speed (kph/mph) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 310.6 (193.0) | |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 310.4 (192.9) | -0.2 |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Williams | Mercedes | 310.2 (192.7) | -0.4 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | Mercedes | 308.8 (191.9) | -1.8 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Force India | Mercedes | 307.4 (191.0) | -3.2 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Ferrari | 307.1 (190.8) | -3.5 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | Mercedes | 306.6 (190.5) | -4.0 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari | 305.9 (190.1) | -4.7 |
| 9 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | Mercedes | 304.6 (189.3) | -6.0 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 304.3 (189.1) | -6.3 |
| 11 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | Ferrari | 303.1 (188.3) | -7.5 |
| 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | Ferrari | 302.1 (187.7) | -8.5 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | Honda | 301.0 (187.0) | -9.6 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Honda | 299.7 (186.2) | -10.9 |
| 15 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | Renault | 297.9 (185.1) | -12.7 |
| 16 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | Renault | 296.1 (184.0) | -14.5 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | Renault | 296.1 (184.0) | -14.5 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | Renault | 294.8 (183.2) | -15.8 |
| 19 | Alexander Rossi | Manor | Ferrari | 294.5 (183.0) | -16.1 |
| 20 | Will Stevens | Manor | Ferrari | 292.4 (181.7) | -18.2 |
Over to you
Will it be Vettel versus Ricciardo for victory on Sunday? Can Mercedes win this from the third row?
Share your views on the Singapore Grand Prix in the comments.
Iosif (@afonic)
19th September 2015, 18:52
Vettel is very strong when he has clear air at the front, my guess is that he will manage to make a gap that will allow him to defend against an undercut from Riciardo.
My guess: VET 1, RIC 2, HAM 3, KVY 4, RAI 5.
Pedro Côrte-Real (@pedrocr)
19th September 2015, 19:32
Didn’t Mercedes lose to Ferrari on pace in Malaysia already?
ceng
19th September 2015, 19:34
+1
Atticus (@atticus-2)
19th September 2015, 22:28
Nope. Check the race chart. It was like a funny game of “OK, I’ll let you have a 10-second lead and I’ll catch up… OK, now I switch strategy on the fly and let you have another 10 seconds and I’ll catch up… Ah, no,I’ve run out of time.”
Merc planned to do the race on one more stop after pitting under the SC, but they underestimated tyre wear so switched to two more stops after already managing pace and nursing tyres (thus going slowly and allowing Vettel to pull an even larger gap) for a number of laps. They fell short by some 10 seconds in the end.
ceng
19th September 2015, 19:34
You never know … Singapore always has SC and Vettel’s been rather unlucky with some Safety Cars, including this season. And on the contrary, Ricciardo has been really lucky with that sort of thing. Red Bull race pace and tyre deg might be better than Ferrari indeed. And if that’s the case, he might get an undercut and lose place. Raikkonen not being in between makes it all the worse, unfortunately for him. And Ferrari or Red Bull haven’t had the best reliability so far either.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
19th September 2015, 19:37
The reliability of the Ferrari is actually one of the best on the grid, apart from Mercedes. Vettel has only retired from a race once, and the only other issue was qualifying in Canada.
ceng
19th September 2015, 20:12
Yeah but they had far more reliability issues than that. And some really problematic pit stops too.
ben (@djdapimp)
20th September 2015, 10:17
raikkonen had a few problems too during the season.
Apex Assassin
19th September 2015, 20:30
Lol, bookies are taking bets on what lap Ricciardos engine fails. So we’ll see what happens tomorrow. Should be exciting no matter what.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
19th September 2015, 22:30
Ferrari and Red Bull actually showed much the same pace and deg on Friday. I think Keith’s not far off with the title here – Ricciardo should pound Vettel around Marina Bay, or – if he gets ahead – vice versa.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
19th September 2015, 19:34
I’ll probably get a lot of hate for this, but I hope Ricciardo wins.
xylon
19th September 2015, 19:35
He will probably win. Since there will be a safety car.
ninefiveasn (@ninefiveasn)
19th September 2015, 19:43
I hope Kvyat wins
Apex Assassin
19th September 2015, 20:30
Me too. He’s every bit as good as his teamie.
Ed
19th September 2015, 21:00
Nah, you’re right. I want him to win too.
In particular because he is clearly a talented and strong driver but a lot of people tend to diminish his achievements last year saying that Vettel’s mind was not there, or was contemplating retirement, this things. These guys must be happy to see him struggle this year.
I pay attention to this guy since Bahrein 2012. He is a class act. Hope he wins tomorrow. Don’t care for the rest.
Andre Furtado
19th September 2015, 19:43
If vettel wins tomorrow, he will have won as many races as rosberg this year. wow.
Apex Assassin
19th September 2015, 20:28
and as many as Senna when he broke the Williams pole streak. LOL.
nil
19th September 2015, 20:51
Was it really Senna? LOL OMFG that’s HILARIOUS! :D
jale
19th September 2015, 22:38
That’s some irony. Now Vettel doing what Senna did. When it was supposed to be all about Mercedes and Hamilton….
Dan
19th September 2015, 19:50
Hoping Ric can put an audacious move on Vettel so we don’t have to see that finger again …
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
19th September 2015, 20:10
@ Dan
“we” ? lol
you mean the royal we?
versase1
19th September 2015, 20:15
:D Good catch.
Dan
19th September 2015, 20:20
No. The proletarian ‘we’ who favour the Aussie charger over the sulky Kraut.
nil
19th September 2015, 20:25
Kraut? Wow. What do you have against Germans and what did Australians did so good then?
Ricciardo over Vettel obviously has nothing to do with proletariat, but whatever.
David-A (@david-a)
19th September 2015, 21:32
You’ve got a high salt intake there Dan.
richochet
19th September 2015, 20:14
I hope he doesn’t end Vettel’s race.
Egorov (@egorov)
19th September 2015, 19:57
Guys, you forgot about Lewis-Senna story. Ham is going to win.
Shahryar
19th September 2015, 20:12
With that sort of pace from RBR and Ferrari, Hamilton will need the helping hand of Senna to win. Atleast Senna’s soul should be sitting in Hamilton’s cockpit for inspiration.
uan (@uan)
19th September 2015, 21:27
Or Senna’s soul might be sitting in with Vettel.
Or maybe Rossi. The start of a legend…
zekeri
19th September 2015, 22:41
Apparently Senna was with Vettel as he pushed him to end the ongoing pole record from the dominant team as he himself did 12 years ago :P
zekeri
19th September 2015, 22:42
Sorry. 22. Wow. That’s a long time ago.
versase1
19th September 2015, 20:15
It would be funny if Vettel won and surpassed Senna this weekend.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
19th September 2015, 20:16
I’m expecting Ricciardo to end behind RAI at the start and by the time he gets passed Vettel will be out of reach. Hamilton surely will be somehwere in the mix for a top 4 spot.
lexlut
19th September 2015, 20:22
I hope Ricciardo doesn’t end Vettel’s and his race :P
But I somewhat expect Red Bull to get ahead somehow. Maybe an undercut or a safety car or maybe even the start. Less likely to be on track.
Joe pistone (@)
19th September 2015, 20:42
Wow just wow..well done Ferrari and RBR. Just a pity I can’t watch it live, Damn you BBC ;)
eri
19th September 2015, 21:20
Hilarious thing by the way. On a weekend Mercedes was on course to their 24th pole position a la Williams (92-93) and Hamilton was all about Senna records, it is Vettel who smashed Mercedes and Hamilton records by getting the pole like Senna did against Williams. And if he wins, he will surpass Senna in terms of total victories in F1. That’s a bit ironic.
N
20th September 2015, 11:16
“Hamilton was all about Senna records”
Erm, how about no. Lewis only knew about the record streak because of the media reminding him about it every 5 minutes. The only record Hamilton said he cares about matching Senna with is world titles, and, even then he said its meaningless given Senna’s life was cut short. The same applies to Vettel bettering Sennas records. Infact, the same applies to any statistic in this sport where the car plays a major role in a drivers ability to set them.
sare
19th September 2015, 21:25
Well, that happened huh… WOW! WOW!!
John H (@john-h)
19th September 2015, 22:05
In all my time watching F1 since 1991, this is probably the first time I’ve wanted a Ferrari to win a race. Definitely warming to Vettel this season, the work ethic, the skill and saying all the right things when they needed to be said.
As much as I’m a fan of Hamilton, I do feel he’s due being knocked down a peg or two. I believe that might be a British trait… we don’t like people to be too successful even if we support them!
lockup (@)
19th September 2015, 22:17
Well as things stand Seb has more wins and is more successful, so I reckon you’re jumping out of the frying pan into the fire on that one @johnrkh! :)
Kvyat would be a lot of fun, and perhaps even give a bit of atmosphere at Sochi.
miky
19th September 2015, 22:46
I always see Kvyat like a “little Vettel”, dunno why.
kanan
20th September 2015, 10:42
Except that he looks taller, no? But yeah, he has that same aura. Very interesting. Ricciardo and Kvyat are like junior Webber and Vettel for some reason.
mann
19th September 2015, 22:45
+1 I feel the same @john-h
Guybrush Threepwood
19th September 2015, 23:32
Kvyat is over rated. The only time he has beaten his team mate this year is when Ricciardo has had major issues. Never beaten him in a straight fight.
At least there will be no Mercedes to run Ricciardo off the road at this race ;)
daryl
20th September 2015, 10:43
That’s a lie.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
20th September 2015, 0:28
Button crash, Alonso win.
Remember, you read here first…
Janh Kougan (@sameercader)
20th September 2015, 1:52
lol that would be great!!
Janh Kougan (@sameercader)
20th September 2015, 1:51
Start:
Vettel gets the whole shot off the line.
Kimi jumps Ricciardo
One of the Mercedes (Rosberg or Hamilton) goes backwards due to terrible start
Strategy
Ferrari might split strategy between Vettel and Kimi, maybe 3 stop and 2 stop?
Mercedes will struggle with tyres
One of the Red Bulls will likely jump Kimi on strategy if kimi does a 2 stop.
Battle
It should be a very straight forward race for Vettel but incase of a safety car his only challengers will be one of the Red Bull’s, more likely Ricciardo.
If Kimi is behind Sebastian after a safety car, he will most likely be ordered not to overtake!
I expect their to be a great battle for 2nd, 3rd, 4th between Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Kvyat, becuase Vettel will probably run away from the start unless a safety car is deployed
Race Result
1. Sebastian Vettel (Grand Slam)
2. Ricciardo
3. Raikkonen
4. Kvyat
5. Hamilton
6. Rosberg
This will be a thrilling race!! :) :)
harry
20th September 2015, 7:39
1. There WILL be a safety car.
2. It might not be a grand slam, because Ricciardo/Raikkonen might do a different strategy with supersofts in the end.
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
20th September 2015, 2:25
Nothing about rosberg being mentioned after quali lol. Even when Mercedes are not performing well he is behind Hamilton
daryl
20th September 2015, 10:43
No one’s talking about Hamilton either.
iAltair (@)
20th September 2015, 3:01
People who said Ricciardo will win forgets that Vettel has a special affection with this track and it takes special drives from the other drivers to win.
But with his pace, he’ll probably get his 3rd Grand Chelem for Singapore.
iAltair (@)
20th September 2015, 3:02
Alright, 2nd*
harry
20th September 2015, 7:41
It won’t be a grand slam because they don’t have better tyre deg than Red Bull, and Vettel won’t have the supersofts for the last part in any case, unlike Ricciardo.
Rockie
20th September 2015, 10:44
He would as he saved a set as well.
CarWars (@maxv)
20th September 2015, 9:41
I hope one of the Toro Rosso drivers overtakes Rosberg or Hamilton, to make the weekend complete.
daryl
20th September 2015, 10:44
LOL LMAO that’d be hilarious!
Janh Kougan (@sameercader)
20th September 2015, 12:57
that would fantastic
Shahryar
20th September 2015, 12:08
I am really bad at predictions but i predict anyways. Here is my prediction, Riciardo and Vettel will fight hard and take each other off giving an opportunity to Raikkonen to win the race :)