The strategy call which decided the Singapore Grand Prix was undoubtedly Ferrari’s decision to bring Sebastian Vettel into the pits on lap 19.
He was the first of the leading drivers to pit, a move which usually confers a valuable performance advantage at Singapore. That was certainly the case on Sunday – Vettel’s first lap on a fresh set of tyres was over four seconds quicker than Leclerc was able to lap at the time.This wasn’t unusually quick for the tyre compound he was on – Max Verstappen, who pitted for the same tyres at the same time, was just four tenths of a second slower. But it was crucial for Vettel as he had been just three-and-a-half seconds behind his team mate when he pitted from third.
Vettel was partly able to get ahead of his team mate because Leclerc had restricted the field to a very slow pace in the opening laps. “In the first few laps obviously we wanted to go as slow as we possibly could for the guys behind to not have the window to pit,” he confirmed afterwards.
Ferrari’s strategy left Mercedes with no option but to try to run Hamilton as long as possible and use fresher tyres to attack them later in the race. Unlike Ferrari, they ensured Hamilton was not ‘undercut’ by Bottas, by ordering Bottas to slow by more than three-and-a-half seconds. Ferrari did not do the same with Vettel when Leclerc pitted because, of course, they needed to ensure Hamilton would not come out of the pits ahead of them.
A Safety Car period helped Hamilton reduce his deficit to the leaders. Unfortunately for him, two further Safety Cars limited his opportunity to go on the attack. The Mercedes seemed to take longer to regain its pace after restarts.
With so much pace management going on in the race, it was little surprise that for the first time this year the fastest lap was set by a driver who did not finish in the top 10. Kevin Magnussen therefore did not score the bonus point after using a set of soft tyres to set a time more than a second quicker than anyone else.
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2019 Singapore Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2019 Singapore Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2019 Singapore Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2019 Singapore Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’42.301 | 58 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’43.534 | 1.233 | 58 |
| 3 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’44.371 | 2.070 | 57 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’44.723 | 2.422 | 59 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’44.802 | 2.501 | 57 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’44.896 | 2.595 | 57 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’44.914 | 2.613 | 58 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’45.176 | 2.875 | 56 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’45.260 | 2.959 | 59 |
| 10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’45.630 | 3.329 | 59 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’45.716 | 3.415 | 58 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’45.765 | 3.464 | 59 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’45.769 | 3.468 | 58 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’45.915 | 3.614 | 55 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’45.969 | 3.668 | 41 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’46.274 | 3.973 | 54 |
| 17 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’46.683 | 4.382 | 15 |
| 18 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.793 | 4.492 | 59 |
| 19 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’47.062 | 4.761 | 18 |
| 20 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’48.285 | 5.984 | 29 |
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2019 Singapore Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettel | C5 (19) | C3 (42) | ||
| Charles Leclerc | C5 (20) | C3 (41) | ||
| Max Verstappen | C5 (19) | C3 (42) | ||
| Lewis Hamilton | C5 (26) | C3 (35) | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | C5 (22) | C3 (39) | ||
| Alexander Albon | C5 (20) | C3 (41) | ||
| Lando Norris | C5 (20) | C3 (41) | ||
| Pierre Gasly | C3 (32) | C4 (29) | ||
| Nico Hulkenberg | C5 (1) | C3 (35) | C4 (25) | |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | C4 (34) | C3 (2) | C5 (25) | |
| Romain Grosjean | C4 (23) | C3 (12) | C5 (26) | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | C5 (1) | C3 (34) | C4 (26) | |
| Lance Stroll | C4 (31) | C3 (10) | C5 (3) | C5 (17) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | C4 (34) | C3 (27) | ||
| Daniil Kvyat | C4 (12) | C3 (24) | C5 (25) | |
| Robert Kubica | C4 (21) | C3 (23) | C4 (17) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | C4 (18) | C3 (38) | C5 (5) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | C4 (15) | C3 (34) | ||
| Sergio Perez | C4 (13) | C3 (29) | ||
| George Russell | C4 (1) | C3 (33) |
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2019 Singapore Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull | 28.606 | 20 | |
| 2 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 28.799 | 0.193 | 12 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 28.846 | 0.240 | 19 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 28.930 | 0.324 | 26 |
| 5 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 28.960 | 0.354 | 36 |
| 6 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 29.033 | 0.427 | 21 |
| 7 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 29.070 | 0.464 | 34 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 29.082 | 0.476 | 13 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 29.152 | 0.546 | 36 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 29.168 | 0.562 | 20 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 29.234 | 0.628 | 22 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 29.384 | 0.778 | 19 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 29.403 | 0.797 | 18 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 29.456 | 0.850 | 23 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 29.460 | 0.854 | 44 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 29.482 | 0.876 | 31 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 29.563 | 0.957 | 1 |
| 18 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 29.992 | 1.386 | 15 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 30.321 | 1.715 | 44 |
| 20 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 30.397 | 1.791 | 20 |
| 21 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | 30.623 | 2.017 | 35 |
| 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 30.756 | 2.150 | 34 |
| 23 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 30.916 | 2.310 | 56 |
| 24 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 32.482 | 3.876 | 32 |
| 25 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 34.711 | 6.105 | 36 |
| 26 | George Russell | Williams | 38.752 | 10.146 | 1 |
| 27 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 39.188 | 10.582 | 41 |
| 28 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 43.576 | 14.970 | 35 |
| 29 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | 69.880 | 41.274 | 1 |
2019 Singapore Grand Prix
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix
- 2019 Singapore Grand Prix Star Performers
- Vettel lights up Singapore again as Ferrari keep Leclerc in the dark
- Ferrari score first hat-trick of wins for more than a decade
- Mercedes slowed Bottas to protect Hamilton from Albon
