Formula 1: Villainous Vettel!

If you are accustomed to reading writings on walls, you should have foreseen the outcome of Sunday’s GP. At a circuit, which calls the world’s most significant city-state, home, a tectonic shift with monumental implications occurred. You could not have missed it, even if you were sharing the Ray Charles experience. If you ask the casual F1 observer which team is the most dominant force in F1 today, he/she would possibly pause for a second, afterwhich the word Mercedes should exit mouth and enter ears!

Mercedes AMG, today, is what Ferrari was in the Michael Schumacher era. It boasts the best machine and it retains the current World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, who is well on his way to successfully defending his title. Mercedes is the team to beat and in F1 that recognition means they are everyone’s prey!

Vettel

Sebastian Vettel is no ordinary guy. He is a Formula 1 driver with a healthy resume. With multiple championships attached to his name, he has risen to F1′s Hall of Fame in a rather short time-frame. But his rapid rise has seen the dark side of F1 also. In his final episode at the team which delivered his World Championships, Red Bull, he endured a stint of repeated absence from P1 and his ability as a ‘real driver’ was the subject of countless debates. Vettel took a swig of resolve and decided that change was vital to his survival. He mounted the prancing horse. Tongues wagged, but, apparently Vettel had inside information.

Vettel’s former team, Red Bull, is still in disarray and while they remain locked in a-more questions than answers-uncertain future, the one-track, win at any cost, machinery at Ferrari, is focused on stealing the juggernaut’s  ( Merecedes AMG) thunder and race victories. And success has been realised. But, at Singapore an exciting chapter began.

At Marina Bay, Vettel employed ridiculous pace and control and overturned Mercedes’ pole dominance. Vettel sat on pole. When the red lights adopted the shade and appearance of night in Singapore, Vettel revealed his Houdini technique – he disappeared. Answers to his plunder-parade were not forthcoming and Mercedes, for the first time this season, was obviously, comprehensively beaten.

Vettel’s Ferrari equipped with race-winning improvements claimed the champagne and left Mercedes bewildered. Ricciardo and Kimi completed the podium. The race had its fair share of drama, which included Hamilton’s first retirement in 2015. Do you know what the budget for a top-flight F1 team is? Write the figure of the budget for a developing country! It is reported that a clamp failed on Hamilton’s machine. A clamp! What is the cost of a clamp? Motor-racing is cruel!

Vettel’s victory in Singapore has thrown a huge, red, prancing horse-branded spanner into the F1 cauldron. Is this the beginning of Vettel’s return to dominance? Will this new-found pace that Ferrari has discovered continue? Watch the Japan GP!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer