Sebastian Vettel Hints He Can Finish the 2014 Season with a Flourish
Sebastian Vettel stepped out of his Red Bull car looking tired, but happy, after two hours of nonstop acceleration, braking and gear shifts in the humid Singapore night. He finished second in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, beating his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, for just the third time this season.
And for a man who has won 39 grands prix in his career, rarely has a second-place finish been so welcome. Vettel even tossed his trophy in the air on the podium—a rare show of exuberance for a normally reserved man.
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In his relatively short Formula One career, Vettel has known little other than success. He won a race in his first full season, 2008, finished second in the championship the next year and then won four straight titles, including a nine-race winning streak to finish 2013.
This year has been different. Vettel has yet to win a race and Singapore was only his third podium of the season. Not only that, but he has been overshadowed by his new teammate—Ricciardo has already taken three victories.
Now, though, Vettel has a chance to build on his result in Singapore, finish the season with a flourish and prepare himself for a renewed title challenge in 2015.
His drive in Singapore was a gutsy performance in less-than-ideal conditions. The length of the race—which was actually cut one lap short because it reached the two-hour time limit—coupled with the heat, means the southeast Asian race is always a difficult one for drivers. In the aftermath, journalist Karin Sturm reported on Twitter that Vettel was not feeling well and his internal body temperature was too high.
Nonetheless, the German held off a late charge from his teammate as well as fellow former world champ Fernando Alonso for his best result of the season. Vettel even led for one lap when the leader and eventual winner, Lewis Hamilton, made his final pit stop late in the race.
Afterwards, per the Red Bull website, Vettel admitted that, "There was no point fighting Lewis at the end, he was on fresh tyres and I had to manage mine to the end as they were pretty old by then; that was the focus."
"I didn't have any tyres left," television viewers heard Vettel say on the pit radio as the race ended. "I did everything I could."
Actually, it was somewhat surprising that Red Bull allowed Vettel to remain in front of Ricciardo. The young Australian still has an outside shot at the drivers' championship, while Vettel is more than 100 points adrift of the Mercedes pair at the top of the table.
The difference between second and third is only three points, but Ricciardo can use every point he can get if he wants to keep the title chase alive until the final race. And we know Red Bull are not afraid of team orders. Just ask Mark Webber. In fact, Vettel has already been asked twice to move aside for Ricciardo earlier this season.
However, when asked about precisely that situation after the last race, in Italy, team principal Christian Horner told the official F1 website, "We’ll let them race as we trust them. They race each other hard but extremely fairly. The points difference between Daniel and the two Mercedes is enormous, so it does not make any sense for us to interfere."
The team allowing Vettel to keep his position—no matter how questionable strategically—can only be a confidence boost for the German.
Looking ahead, the next tracks may not suit Red Bull quite as well as Singapore. The Marina Bay Street Circuit, with its high-downforce configuration, is one of the most favourable tracks on the calendar for the team. They had long been targeting a good result in Singapore, so second- and third-place finishes were not unexpected.
"We were really close to the Mercedes in qualifying and we expected the race pace to be a bit faster today to be honest," Ricciardo said following the race, per the Red Bull website.
However—with some help from Mercedes—Red Bull have also won at high-speed circuits like Canada and Belgium. Therefore, there should be opportunities for the Red Bull duo over the last five races of the season.
Vettel is also likely to be dealing with grid penalties for exceeding the limits on various parts of his hybrid power unit, but he has now firmly seized some of the initiative back from his teammate. The prize they are fighting for may not be as important as the one the Mercedes drivers have in their sights, but it could be just as entertaining.
Last season, everyone was clamouring for Vettel to face a real challenge. It has taken a while to for him to muster a fighting response, but he may have fired his first shot in Singapore.
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