Sunday: Double podium for Red Bull in Singapore
For once, it was Sebastian Vettel who dominated his teammate at the end of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix. Thus, the four-time world champion achieved his best result of the season by finishing second. Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium.
Sebastian Vettel (no.1) – 2nd
The German has always loved Singapore, which he has won three times: « It’s a circuit that I like. The atmosphere is great and it’s a tough event. ». He managed to climb to the second step of the podium thanks to his start: « I had a good start and overtook Daniel. I had a good race. »
The world champion was also able to play with the strategy to beat Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari: « We played a little with the strategy after being beaten by Alonso during the tire change. The safety car came at the worst time for us but we managed to preserve the tires, which was difficult. »
He preferred to keep his second place rather than attempt an impossible defense against Lewis Hamilton: « It was pointless to fight with Lewis because he had new tires and I had to manage mine until the end since they were already quite old. »
So he enjoyed his champagne shower on the podium.
Daniel Ricciardo (No. 3) – 3rd
For once, Daniel Ricciardo didn’t have an unbreakable smile at the end of the race, which did not go as planned: « We were really close to the Mercedes in qualifying and we expected to be a bit faster today. We weren’t fast enough during the first stint. We had some issues with the brakes and power. »
He therefore did not fully succeed in satisfying his compatriots: « It’s almost like a home race here since the distance between Singapore and Perth is almost the same as that from Perth to Melbourne. It’s not very far for Western Australians. »
But he doesn’t forget that his team is achieving a great operation in the championship: « In terms of points, we managed to score a few. »