Singapore Grand Prix – Boredom the winner in Singapore

Seb on the podium, Kimi fifth, in their starting positions
Marina Bay, 16 September –The Singapore race ran true to form, in that in the Monaco of the East, anything can happen, but usually nothing does. Sebastian made it to the podium in third spot and Kimi was fifth, meaning Scuderia Ferrari finished where it started. It was a shame, because the start had let us hope for better, but Seb had to deal with traffic, which partly compromised what was an aggressive strategy.
FILM OF THE RACE: The top ten were all on Hypersofts. At the start, Seb attacked Verstappen, right with him after the first corner and then getting past at the gentle curve of Turn 6, just before the yellow lights came on, because Ocon was in the wall. Kimi meanwhile had maintained his fifth place off the grid.
The restart came on lap 5, with no passing moves. At this stage, Ferrari was mainly focusing on tyre and fuel management. Only after lap 10 did the pace pick up, while on the pit wall, thoughts were already turning to pit stops. Vettel came in for his at the start of lap 15. As he came out, he would have to give it his all to try and pull off the undercut. Seb took on the Ultrasofts and Hamilton came in for Softs, rejoining still ahead, while Vettel was fighting with Perez. In the pit stop race, the Ferrari had gained a few tenths, but it wasn’t enough.
As for Kimi, he went long on his stint, while his team-mate got past the Force India on lap 17. But he’d lost a lot of time and he found himself right behind Verstappen as the Dutchman emerged from the pits. Kimi was leading and running a strong pace. Seb had to cool his brakes before speeding up again. Raikkonen made his pit stop on lap 23 and, unlike Vettel, he fitted a set of Softs, the hardest compound available here. Surprisingly, a few drops of rain fell. Out in front, it was Ricciardo now, who had yet to change tyres, which he did on lap 28, taking on Ultrasofts.
At two thirds distance, the leaders came up behind the first of the backmarkers. Kimi made the most of it to close on Bottas, but this is Marina Bay and overtaking is a rare sight. The battle in these closing stages livened things up a bit in the Singapore night, but really, now is the time to think about the remaining six races.