Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel wins Singapore GP
Xinhua, September 20, 2015 Adjust font size:
German driver Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari claimed victory at Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday night for the fourth time. The win gave Vettel another 25 points, allowing him to narrow the gap on the drivers' standings.
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is proving to be a sweet spot for Vettel. The German driver has been the winner for three consecutive times from 2011 to 2013, and he has also a four-time world champion. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo placed second and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen grabbed third position in tonight's race.
"I think we will have some drinks, definitely," he laughed, but also admitted that the race was pretty intense.
"Lots of pressure from behind, I think Daniel had a very good race looking after his tyres, which made it a little tactical," said Vettel.
"We came in here pretty confident and the race pace was good so... pretty happy," said Ricciardo after winning the second place.
However, Kimi Raikkonen has mixed feelings about finishing third. "Today was a struggle again but I had no chance to do anything about the first two," said Raikkonen. "It wasn't nice to have those difficulties, but when you have a bad day and finish third it's nice."
Lewis Hamilton, who broke Vettel's streak last year, failed to finish a race for the first time this season. He retired midway, capping off a wretched weekend. While his Mercedes' team-mate Rosberg ranked the fourth place.
A huge crowd of around 90,000 have flocked to the circuit to watch tonight's race. The two-hour race started on the 5.065-kilometer Marina Bay street circuit, which has 23 corners spread over. The night race was known for being a test given its long duration and the heat and humidity on the tropical island.
Although Hamilton's performance was not well tonight, the Briton has been in control of the Drivers' Championship standings with 252 points, and Rosberg followed with 211 points. Ferrari's Vettel ranked the third place with 203 points.
As for the constructors' championship standings, Mercedes AMG Petronas has anchored the first place with 463 points, followed by Scuderia Ferrari and Williams Martini Racing, gaining 310 points and 198 points respectively. Endi