MOTORSPORT: Ferrari hat-trick and another title for Penske

Ferrari has won three Formula 1 races in a row with last night’s success in Singapore.

It was Sebastian Vettel victorious this time, courtesy of Ferrari’s strategy, and Charles Leclerc was not happy at being runner-up after his stunning pole position and leading the early laps on the way to what would have been a hat-trick for the 21-year-old.

The Honda-powered Red Bull of Max Verstappen relegated Mercedes – rarely off the podium in almost six years of the hybrid cars – to fourth and fifth, with Lewis Hamilton of course ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Daniel Ricciardo provided plenty of excitement with some characteristic overtakes after starting from the back of the field following his disqualification from qualifying because his Renault over-revved after hitting a kerb – an advantage the team claimed was “measured at one micro-second”.

Renault team boss Cyril Abiteboul called the carsales.com.au global ambassador’s comeback “remarkable”, but he wound up only 14th after late contact with Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo gave him a puncture.

Giovinazzi made some history as the only driver outside the top three teams to lead a grand prix since 2015.

That came as the frontrunners pitted, but the Italian still wound up with a world championship point, classified 10th even after a post-race penalty.

While there was a virtual go-slow after the first couple of laps as drivers preserved tyres until lap 15 to make it a one-stop race, it ended up being another better show from F1 after the dull first half of the season.

Ferrari, seeing that Red Bull was pitting Verstappen, dragged then third-placed Vettel in for a change of rubber ahead of Leclerc and the German then produced some lightning speed to be ahead of his young teammate after his pitstop.

Hamilton went into ‘Hammer time’ with some quick laps before his stop, but the benefit of his fresher rubber was negated by subsequent safety cars and Mercedes even had to get Bottas to back off to give Hamilton his best chance.

It was not to be, although the Brit, headed for his sixth world title, believed his car had the pace to win, all things being equal.

“I believe we’re the best team [still],” Hamilton said, while acknowledging that Ferrari is “super hungry and pushing hard”.

Aerodynamic changes at the front of Ferrari’s SF90s worked wonders, making them much more competitive on Singapore’s street circuit than had been expected and enabled the Prancing Horse to continue its success from power circuits Spa in Belgium and Monza in Italy.

It became the first manufacturer to quinella Singapore in the 12 years of the night race.

It was F1’s most revered team’s first one-two finish for more than two years and Vettel’s fifth victory in the Asian island state – although his first win in almost 400 days.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto defended the tactics that made Vettel the winner.

A four-time world champion with Red Bull, Vettel was relieved after a few difficult weeks at Ferrari – outqualified by Leclerc eight races in a row and then seeing the ‘upstart’ win two ‘grand slam’ GPs.

After stating his unhappiness at the team’s strategy over his radio, Leclerc begrudgingly conceded post-race that it had produced the quinella so important to Ferrari after being shown up by Mercedes for so long.

Ricciardo said it had been a long day for him fighting from the back.

“The start was fun with some good overtakes and getting into a decent position – I gained some confidence and got into a rhythm,” he said.

“We were ticking every box and really made the most of everyone being bunched up.

“Then it all came undone with the incident [with Giovinazzi] and the puncture meant our race was more or less over.

“We deserved a better outcome.”

Ricciardo’s Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg was classified ninth, promoted one place by the 10-second penalty on Giovinazzi.

Hamilton still has a massive lead in the drivers’ championship with six races remaining – the next the Russian GP at Sochi next Sunday.

He has 296 points, his teammate Bottas 231, while young guns Leclerc and Verstappen are now tied on 200 in third – six points ahead of Vettel.

Ricciardo is ninth with 34 points and Hulkenberg 11th on 33, just two ahead of rookie Lando Norris who was a brilliant seventh in Singapore in his Renault-powered McLaren.

Despite Ferrari’s 43 points to Mercedes’ 22 last night, the Silver Arrows remains way ahead in the constructors’ championship with 527 to the scuderia’s 394 and Red Bull’s 289.

Despite Carlos Sainz not scoring last night after a first-lap incident, McLaren remains 22 points ahead of Renault – 89 to 67.

Will Power came within six-tenths of a second of winning the IndyCar finale at Laguna Seca in California today as 82-year-old team owner Roger Penske claimed his 16th title in North America’s premier open-wheeler series.

Josef Newgarden became Penske’s champion for the second time in three years, while 19-year-old Colton Herta – son of Bryan – won the race for Harding Steinbrenner Racing in association with Andretti Autosport.

That clinched a second consecutive engine title for Honda against the Chevrolet-powered Penske cars.

It was the second race victory for Herta, already the youngest winner in IndyCar history at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas earlier in the season.

Power finished 0.5878 seconds behind him today and fifth in the series he won in 2014.

Newgarden’s eighth place today was enough to clinch the title with 641 points, while Penske’s third driver – Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 – finished fourth to be runner-up in the series on 616 points.

Penske also has three drivers in contention for the NASCAR Cup – Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney in Ford Mustangs – as well as Scott McLaughlin way out front in a ’Stang in Australia’s Supercars Championship as he chases back-to-back titles.

Andretti’s Alex Rossi was sixth at Laguna Seca to finish third in the IndyCar series on 608 points and now heads to Australia to drive a wildcard entry in the Bathurst 1000 with Canadian James Hinchcliffe.

Although Honda-powered in open-wheelers, the pair will be in a Holden Commodore entered by Walkinshaw Andretti United at The Mountain in three weeks.

New Zealand’s five-time IndyCar champion, Brisbane-born Scott Dixon, was third at Laguna Seca today, within 6.25 seconds of Herta, to finish fourth in the series in his Honda-powered Ganassi entry on 578 points – 28 ahead of Toowoomba’s Power.

Newgarden, 28, from Tennessee, delivered Penske’s fourth IndyCar title in six years, but ‘The Captain’ declared “the competition has never been better”.