Sebastian Vettel capitalised on the undercut to move up from third to first and claim victory in a thrilling Singapore Grand Prix.
Though it was teammate Charles Leclerc who led away from pole early on, the slow pace of the first stint meant, when the German pitted first, he used his fresh tyres to jump ahead, surviving three safety cars to earn his first win since Spa last year.
Race Story
At the start, the top six got away in formation as Leclerc leading Lewis Hamilton, who had to hold off a fast-starting Vettel into Turn 7
There was contact behind though between Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 5 dropping both drivers down from the front of the midfield.
Following his exclusion from qualifying, Daniel Ricciardo faced a tough task but made up six places within the first two laps in the Renault.
A very slow first stint sees drivers nurse the soft tyres throughout before Vettel finally triggers the pit-stop phase on Lap 20, performing a massive undercut to emerge ahead of Leclerc a lap later.
Hamilton opts to run longer on the soft compound but to little effect as Mercedes request Bottas to slow down in order not to undercut his teammate when he eventually stopped.
The slow pace also results in those midfield runners who started on medium tyres moving ahead of the leaders with Vettel, Leclerc and Verstappen forced to make their way through.
Vettel gains the most though as he cleared Antonio Giovinazzi to take the lead with Leclerc over six seconds behind and Verstappen right on his tail.
Ricciardo was among the group of cars at the front but an attempted move on Giovinazzi at Turn 7 results in a puncture, dropping the Australian back down the field.
Soon after, Singapore’s record of a safety car in every race continued as George Russell and Romain Grosjean collided at Turn 8, with the Williams turned into the barrier by the Haas
That closed the gap back up at the front, where Leclerc had been closing in on Vettel having got into clear air.
A clean restart sees the Ferrari’s lead away with Lance Stroll the only casualty picking up a puncture running wide at Turn 14 trying to pass Hulkenberg.
There was soon double trouble for Racing Point as Sergio Perez pulled off on Esplanade Drive requiring a second safety car in quick succession.
Another clean restart at the front as Vettel keeping Leclerc at bay as Ricciardo loses several positions after a failed attempt to pass Daniil Kvyat
The Russian was soon in trouble though as a pass on Kimi Raikkonen goes wrong at Turn 1, ending the Finn’s race, and requiring a third safety car period.
Leclerc still couldn’t trouble Vettel at the restart though and behind, there was no challenge from Verstappen or the Mercedes’ as the top six remained in line.
Instead, the main battles are at the back of the field as those drivers who pitted for softs try to make up places in the final 10 laps.
With no more interruptions though, the path was clear for Vettel to finally claim his first victory of the season, holding off Leclerc in the closing laps.
Verstappen would face a charging Hamilton for the final podium place, but held on to take a fourth straight Marina Bay podium though the maiden win remains elusive.
For Hamilton, his strategy didn’t pay off in fourth, but he still extended his championship lead to 65 points with Bottas behind in fifth.
Alex Albon had a quiet but solid race in sixth for Red Bull with Lando Norris ‘best of the rest’ in seventh for McLaren.
Gasly made some key moves at key times to claim a strong eighth for Toro Rosso, with Hulkenberg recovering from his first lap contact with Sainz to finish ninth.
The final point went to Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo as he pulled out a big enough lead to keep 10th despite a 10-second penalty for the collision with Ricciardo earlier in the race.
The final laps saw a story of two Haas’ as Romain Grosjean bumped and barged upto 11th ahead of Sainz, with the safety cars helping him recover the lap he lost following the Lap 1 clash with Hulkenberg.
Stroll followed in 13th having had to pit for a new front wing, likewise, Ricciardo lost ground due to the puncture and only managed 14th.
Kvyat sat in 15th ahead of Robert Kubica, as Kevin Magnussen’s attempted long strategy backfired, falling all the way to the back of the field.
Full results from Sunday’s race in Singapore can be seen below:
