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Vettel steals victory from Hamilton in Australian Grand Prix

MELBOURNE, March 25 – Sebastian Vettel made full use of the virtual safety car to sneak in front of Lewis Hamilton and hold off the frustrated champion to win Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Mercedes engine's infamous 'party mode' that delivered Hamilton a blistering pole lap on Saturday could do little once Ferrari's Vettel nosed ahead when re-entering from pit-lane midway through the race at Albert Park. Pole-sitter Hamilton had appeared set to coast to victory with a clear pace advantage but the race turned on its head with the safety car, which was called after Romain Grosjean's Haas failed and rolled to a stop at turn two. In another bonus for Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen finished third, fending off Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and leaving the unlucky Australian still searching for a first podium in his home race. "We got a bit lucky." Four-times world champion Vettel claimed a 48th overall win and his third in Melbourne following his victories at Albert Park last year and in 2011. "It was needless to say we got a bit lucky with the timing of the safety car," the German, who had started from third place and inherited the lead when Hamilton and Raikkonen had pitted earlier in the race, told reporters. "It's not the easiest track to pass." For Hamilton, the result was a bitter pill to swallow and had echoes of last year's race. Vettel also managed to re-enter in front of him from pit-lane in 2017 before burning away to victory while the pole-sitting Briton was blocked by traffic. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team had miscalculated the margin between the cars during the safety car period. "We thought we had enough margin," he told the BBC. "It must have been a software bug in the system that caused us to get it wrong. We are digging deep now to understand where we had a problem." "I don't understand what's happened." Hamilton, who cockily spoke of "wiping the smile off" Vettel's face with his pole lap on Saturday, battled to keep positive. "Even now I don't understand what's happened," the 33-year-old told reporters. "I did everything I believe I was supposed to do." After the pit-lane setback, Hamilton drove hard to reel in Vettel and battled back after taking a slide at a corner that blew out the lead to nearly three seconds. But he finally waved the white flag in the closing laps to preserve the car for future races.

Sebastian Vettel wins the Singapore Grand Prix in Ferrari 1-2

SINGAPORE — Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel took advantage of an early pit stop to win the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and end a 13-month winless streak in Formula One. Vettel, who started third on the grid, crossed the finish line 2.641 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc — who was unhappy with team pit strategy — in a Ferrari 1-2. It was four-time F1 champion Vettel's first win since the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix. "Obviously the start of the season has been difficult for us but in recent weeks we started to come alive," Vettel said. "It's been incredible to get so much support from the fans and I tried to put it all into the track today and into the car and I'm glad it paid off." Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third while championship leader Lewis Hamilton was fourth. With six races remaining, Hamilton holds a 65-point lead over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who finished fifth. The winner of each race gets 25 points. It was Vettel's fifth victory under the lights in Singapore and ended a 22-race winless streak. Leclerc started from pole and held the lead at the 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) Marina Bay street circuit until he pitted on the 21st lap of the night race. When Leclerc rejoined, he was behind Vettel, who had pitted a lap earlier. Leclerc made it clear over the team radio that he was not happy that Vettel pitted first and got the lead. Vettel said he received the call from his team to pit and it wasn't his decision. "It was a very late call," Vettel said. "I thought it was a bit early because I wasn't sure we can make the tires last in the second stint but, yeah, then I just gave it everything in the outlap because I saw the two cars in front of me not pitting, especially Lewis. I was then very surprised a lap later to come out ahead." Leclerc, who won the previous two races and appeared set for a third straight victory, was diplomatic later when asked about the pit strategy of Ferrari. "It's always difficult to lose a win like that but in the end it's a 1-2 for the team," Leclerc said. "We arrived here hoping for a podium and come back with a 1-2 so are extremely happy." During the race, Leclerc had a different take when he was told to save his engine 15 laps from the finish. His response to Ferrari included: "I just don't think it's fair, but I won't do anything stupid." Red Bull's Alexander Albon was in sixth place and Lando Norris finished seventh for McLaren, ahead of Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly.

Ford GT dominates Le Mans qualifying, gets slapped with performance adjustment

Fifty years after Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon drove the Ford GT40 to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford is poised for a historic return to the Circuit de la Sarthe. The new Ford GT took the top two qualifying positions in the LMGTE Pro class, and four of the top five. Ferrari's 488 filled in the rest of the spots in the top seven, the first two from AF Corse. In other words, we're primed for a reboot of the classic Ford-Ferrari feud at this year's race. Or not, as the ACO, which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, announced sweeping pre-race Balance of Performance (BOP) adjustments this morning that make this year's GT class anybody's race. In LMP1, last year's overall winner Porsche locked up the top two spots with the 919 Hybrid and will lead the entire field at race start. Toyota's two-car factory effort followed with qualifying times 1.004 and 2.170 seconds behind the pole lap. Audi rounds out the manufacturer-backed LMP1 class in fifth and sixth. Full qualifying results can be found here. The storyline for the GT cars is perfect - some say too perfect. Ford's class-leading times came after BOP adjustment to the Corvette Racing C7.R before qualifying. BOP is intended to level the playing field in the class by adjusting power, ballast, and fuel capacity. (Check out this explainer video for more, or even just if you love French accents.) But the process is riddled with unknowns and ripe for accusations of sandbagging. That is, if the Ford cars were intentionally slow in practice they could hope for BOP adjustment to improve their race chances. On the Corvette side, last year's GTE Pro winner went from the top of the field to the bottom, barely improving from practice to qualifying. If you think Le Mans is as rigged at the NBA Playoffs, well, it's not that simple. Because if Ford and Ferrari held back until qualifying - the eighth-place Porsche 911 RSR is three-and-a-half seconds off the class pole time - it was a pretty dumb strategy. This morning, the ACO tried to put things back in order by limiting the boost in the Ford GT's twin-turbo V6 and adding 11 pounds of ballast. Ferrari was also given extra weight but allowed more fuel capacity. The Corvette and Aston Martin teams were both given breaks on their air restrictors, which will allow their engines to make more power. Both Ford and Porsche also received extra fuel capacity.