Vettel didn't expect to come out ahead of Leclerc

Sebastian Vettel returned to victory after more than a year of waiting by winning the Singapore GP. The pilot Ferrari became the biggest winner of the Asian event with 5 successes was behind his teammate Charles Leclerc started on pole until he changed his tires before the race leader, an unusual occurrence between two rivals from the same team.

“I was called back to the pits very late, said the four-time world champion with 53 victories in F1. I gave everything on my exit lap because I had two cars in front of me which were still on their first stint, including that of Lewis Hamilton. I was very surprised to come out in front. It was later complicated to preserve the tires in traffic while trying to overtake as quickly as possible. The car performed better and better as the race progressed. »

This victory is in any case a relief for the German who was struggling in the face of the great form of Charles Leclerc since the takeover.

“First of all, I want to congratulate the team. The start of the season was complicated for us, but things have started to improve in recent weeks even if we still have work to do. It’s starting to pay off”, he congratulated himself.

Sebastian Vettel will arrive in Sochi (Russia) next weekend 6 points behind Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. Ferrari's double allowed the Italian team to return to 36 units of Mercedes.

Discover the analysis of the Singapore GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2235 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.