- Singapore GP - Race
Vettel 'lucky' tyres held on for second
Sebastian Vettel admits he was right on the edge with his tyres after finishing second after a safety car-enforced two-stop strategy in Singapore.
Vettel passed Daniel Ricciardo off the line to take second in the absence of Nico Rosberg, but was undercut by Fernando Alonso at the second round of pit stops. Red Bull kept Vettel out longer before bolting on soft tyres, but the intervention of the safety car meant the world champion had to make them last for almost half the race - something he was very vocally against to Red Bull over the radio in the closing stages of the race.
With the chasing Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso also on very worn tyres in the closing stages Vettel was able to cling on for his best result of the year and he admits he is satisfied with the result.
"The plan was high-risk because of the safety car and, in the end, we got lucky because the tyres held up, but at that stage it didn't look like it," Vettel said. "It was very, very much borderline with lots of pressure from Daniel and Fernando behind.
"After the restart, we knew it was difficult with 27 seconds to make up [to pit without losing position] on older tyres than everyone behind. It was probably impossible and, to get the best result, we had to get to the end [without changing again]. I wasn't very confident that we could do it simply because of the wear we had had on the set before."
Alonso pitted when the safety car came out, meaning Vettel jumped back into second, but the world champion thinks it came out at the worst possible time in the context of his race as it meant he could not make a third pit stop.
"I think we had a good race although it was not ideal with the timing of the safety car as, before that, we lost a position to Fernando because we stopped late and decided to go onto the prime [tyre] in the hope that no safety cars would come out.
"It was pretty pointless to do the same as him, so we tried to do the opposite and get it back at the last stint of the race. In hindsight, perhaps, we should have stopped earlier as, at the end, the tyres were at the end of their life."
Though he briefly inherited P1 when Hamilton pitted from the lead, Vettel says he was surprised by the Mercedes driver's aggression when he clearly did not have the tyres to fight him for the lead.
"Obviously, we had one lap in the lead, but I wasn't sure what Lewis was doing after that. I gave him all the space to pass me on the inside of the next corner, but it seems like he couldn't wait to retake the lead! It was quite tight but I saw him - and there was no point fighting as I didn't have the tyres to match him."
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