The 2017 Singapore Grand Prix was the first night race held in wet conditions and after a positive qualifying session on Saturday, Scuderia Ferrari had high hopes for Sunday’s race, which took place on the Marina Bay Street Circuit. However, it proved to be a disastrous event for the Maranello with polesitter Sebastian Vettel and team mate Kimi Raikkonen eliminated on the first lap of the race after contact with Max Verstappen. Remarkably it is just the second time in the last 11 years that the Prancing Horse have recorded a double DNF, with the last one coming in Mexico in 2015. Before that they’d gone 183 races without doing it.
However, the double DNF comes at the worst possible time for the Scuderia, as the Italian team was hoping to gain points over Mercedes and possible bring Sebastian Vettel once again on top in the Formula 1 Driver Standings. It did not go as go as planned on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but current team principal of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team Maurizio Arrivabene confirms that the Maranello team will not give up without a fight, despite the fact that Lewis Hamilton is now has a comfortable lead:
“First of all, let me say we are sorry for our fans. It is not the result we expected. What we can say is that it is not over. That was very disappointing and it was definitely not the result we were expecting. But it doesn’t mean that the battle is all over, just that it has become more difficult. Once again, we are very disappointed for our fans, but we will be back. We proved that we have an excellent car and two great drivers. All of us, those here in Singapore today and those working back in Maranello, we all have the Prancing Horse stamped on our hearts and we guarantee that we will be fighting right to the final corner of the very last Grand Prix of the year.” – Scuderia Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said at the end of the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix, as reported by Italian national sports newspaper based in Rome Corriere dello Sport.
