Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel claimed his third victory this season at the Singapore GP last Sunday, after leading from pole to finish. Vettel’s former Red Bull teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, finished second while Vettel’s current teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, took third.
The Marina Bay Street Circuit has been good to Vettel, who also won the night races there in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and he still holds the fastest lap record for this street circuit – 1 minute 48.574 seconds.
Reigning world champion, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, was gunning for an eighth consecutive pole position, to equal that of the late F1 legend, Ayrton Senna, but Vettel denied him of that honour in qualifying on Saturday. Hamilton also needed just one more victory to match Senna’s career record of 41 wins, but power issues forced him to retire halfway through the race.
This is Vettel’s 42nd victory, which places him on the top winners list after only Alain Prost (51 wins) and Michael Schumacher (91 wins). Hamilton still has a strong lead on the the drivers’ standings with 252 points, while his teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished fourth in Singapore, is still in second place with 211 points.
But perhaps the most interesting thing that happened last night was when a man clambered onto the track in the middle of the race. It was Vettel who spotted him first, as he was speeding along Esplanade Driver by Turn 13, and alerted the others: “There’s a man on the track!”. The safety car was brought out for the second time that night, preventing Ricciardo from attempting any strategy to snatch the lead from Vettel.
“I had to look again,” Vettel said later. “I wasn’t sure whether I had a problem with my eyesight or I saw somebody crossing the track. I think I saw him taking a picture. I hope it was a good one at least. I hope it was in focus!”
image: Reuters via Channel News Asia
