Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix with authority and now has a 40-point advantage over Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel, with just six races to go until the end of the 2018 Formula One season. Jacques Villeneuve analyzed the main topcis of the Marina Bay race:
Ferrari’s weekend
“It’s a heavy defeat, but they still have to believe. The decision to box Vettel was the biggest mistake, because he lost three seconds behind Perez, in Max Verstappen’s return lap. And with Ultrasoft he would not have been able to keep him behind, because at the end of the race he did not have the pace anymore. Ferrari’s error was to be arrogant in the choice of tires, opting for only one set of Softs, which they could not try during the practice sessions. They bet everything on qualifying, a mistake that a team who fights for the championship cannot commit. They did not have the pace on a track where they dominated in the past. They arrived here with the goal of making a double on the grid, with tires focusing exclusively on qualifying”.
The performance of Lewis Hamilton
“It’s in his best year. He understands when he must be exuberant, aggressive, or when he must control. It makes a huge difference compared to his teammate and drives beyond the capabilities of his car. Bottas is not Hamilton, he never had his talent. He was at his level when Hamilton was off, but among them there is a huge difference.”
Sebastian Vettel’s performance
“Ferrari must turn the page, because this year it has won races. But Vettel is undergoing the pressure of being a Ferrari driver, an aspect that has been very difficult to managein the past even for a driver of Prost’s caliber, a situation that does not help”.
Ferrari’s farewell to Kimi Raikkonen
“I think this news in Monza has had a negative effect on the team, not on Kimi. Bottas was held by Mercedes to fight for the championship, and now they have a force that makes them almost unbeatable. Ferrari risks losing a ‘Ferrari championship’, unlike last year, which was a ‘Mercedes championship’.”
A comment about the show seen on the track
“It has become an endurance championship. They drove ten seconds slower than in qualifying, how can anyone make errors that way? What would I change? Atmospheric engine, one engine for each race, tests between races, 2 or 3 tire manufacturers without mandatory pit stop.”
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