This weekend sees the Formula One season head into the final third of what has already been a fascinating series of races as race 15 of 21 rolls around.
Host at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, it looks to be an enticing prospect with Ferrari expected to have the upper hand in this night time phenomenon.
On a tight and twisty downforce circuit that should suit the Ferraris, Vettel will hope to claw back some of the 30-point deficit that he’s accumulated in the driver’s standings as he looks to hunt down championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
That being said though, in recent weeks performance has been shown to mean little as Mercedes have out-performed their Ferrari rivals. Here we break down the key battles as no doubt the Red Bulls will also be keen to have their say.
The Battle for Pole
One would expect Ferrari to be in the driving seat to take pole after they locked out the front row this time last year and it would be hard to look past last year’s pole sitter, Sebastian Vettel as the man most likely to do so.
Team-mate Raikkonen may however have something to say about that after starting on pole last time out in Monza. In doing so, he became the-oldest pole sitter at an F1 race since 41-year-old Nigel Mansell started from the front in Australia 24 years ago. Aged 38 years and 320 days, coincidentally Raikkonen’s pole was his first in over a year! Championship leader Lewis Hamilton should also not be overlooked, holding the overall pole record with 78 to his name.
The Race
Despite being notoriously hard to overtake, this weekend could again boil down to staying out of trouble, something which Sebastian Vettel has found out about to his misfortune of late. Last year, him and teammate Raikkonen crashed out at the first corner which goes to show anything can happen.
We expect the German to remain calm and collected though as a man that has triumphed four times in Singapore – more than any other driver in the modern-day era.
As our top pick at 6/5 to take the win, expect Hamilton and co. to make it a dogfight as the Brit looks to make it three wins in a row for the Mercedes team in Singapore.
Hamilton will certainly be in high spirits after securing a third win in his last four races on Ferrari’s home patch and is a three-time Singapore winner himself, making him an enticing prospect to extend his championship lead with a win at Formula One betting odds of 16/5.
The dark horse among the paddock could be Daniel Ricciardo after he took home the spoils at a similarly demanding Monaco course earlier in the season and was runner-up in Singapore in 2017. Recognised as one of the best over takers on the grid, he’ll hope to use this to his advantage and comes in at Formula One betting odds of 5/1 to take the win.
The Title Race
Whatever happens, history suggests that it would be foolish to write off Sebastian Vettel in the title race.
In 2010, he was 31 points behind Hamilton only to beat Fernando Alonso by four points by the season’s end, a feat repeated two years later by dragging himself back from 39 points behind over the last seven races.
With bounce back ability like that, he still looks to be well in the title race at 7/5 to achieve his fifth world title.
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