Tag: virtual safety car

Ferrari strategy in Singapore: a sound plan, a costly call and a trust problem

The short version

Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix by 7.0 seconds from Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton went from third on track to sixth after staying out under the Virtual Safety Car.
Ferrari say they told both drivers to pit. Hamilton says he missed the pit entry, then chose to stay out, and has taken the blame. Both can be true, and the radio that would settle it hasn’t been published.
Ferrari already have more points than in the whole of 2025 (444 against 398). That is real progress. At Ferrari, progress is not a result.

Ferrari strategy has always been a spectator sport, and Singapore added another episode. A split plan, a Virtual Safety Car, a missed pit entry and an apology on the cool-down lap. What it doesn’t settle is the bigger question: when the pit wall and the driver disagree, who is supposed to win the argument?

How the race went

Verstappen took pole, Leclerc was second and Hamilton third. Verstappen and Leclerc started on softs. Hamilton started on mediums, Ferrari’s way of covering both bets on a tyre nobody could read. Leclerc had a run at Turn 1, Verstappen closed the door, and Leclerc stayed within a second for the first 15 laps. Then Verstappen pulled away.

Lap	What happened
Start	Verstappen pole. Leclerc P2 on softs, Hamilton P3 on mediums
19	Hamilton pits from the fading mediums to softs
25	Leclerc pits for mediums, about 9s behind Verstappen
33	Verstappen pits and keeps the lead
39	VSC for Lance Stroll’s stopped car. Leclerc pits for softs, about 17s behind. Hamilton stays out
Finish	Verstappen, Leclerc (+7.0s), Antonelli, Norris, Piastri, Hamilton

Hamilton’s old softs faded. Leclerc passed him, then Antonelli, Norris and Piastri all followed him past. A likely podium became sixth place.

The strategy: clever or chaotic?

Splitting the strategies at the start was defensible. Ferrari were unsure whether the medium or the soft would last, and the sprint, affected by wet running, gave them poor tyre data. The medium turned out to be the worse race tyre, so Hamilton stopped early. That is a plan working as designed, not a plan going wrong.

The trouble came after. One analysis of the race argues Leclerc’s lap-25 stop dropped him in front of Hamilton, who was quicker at that point, and cost Hamilton roughly two seconds. Reports say Hamilton asked to be let through, and offered to swap back, and heard nothing. Vasseur defended the call. Whichever side you take, the optics are the same: two cars, one team, and a driver asking a question the pit wall didn’t answer.

The VSC call

This is the part everyone is arguing about. Vasseur says Ferrari called both cars in for a double stack and Hamilton chose to stay out. Hamilton says the team called him in, he missed the pit entry, and he then decided to hold track position. After the flag he said: “Sorry boys. I let you down today with that strategy.”

There is also a theory, popular online, that the pit call never reached him. The evidence for that is a gap in the published radio, which proves nothing either way. What is reported, though not confirmed by Ferrari, is that Hamilton had asked for the pace of soft-tyre runners at the end of their stints and was given current lap times. If true, that is thin information to base a gamble on.

The cost was real. Vasseur said P2 and P3 were on offer. One analysis has Hamilton losing about 2.5 seconds per lap to Leclerc over the closing stint. Hamilton has taken full responsibility, which deserves to be said plainly. Whether the information he had justified the decision is a separate question, and that’s the one Ferrari need to answer.

Does Hamilton trust the pit wall?

Three recent races tell the story, and none of them paints Hamilton as a rebel.

Race	The situation	Hamilton’s response	Result
Zandvoort	Ferrari didn’t swap him past a slower Leclerc on older tyres	Sarcastic radio, then compared Ferrari unfavourably with Mercedes	P4
Sepang	Pit wall floated an intermediate gamble on lap 5	Declined and stayed on slicks	P3, 4.9s behind Verstappen
Singapore	Called in under the VSC	Stayed out	P6

Sepang was a week earlier, and it taught Hamilton that overruling the pit wall can work. Singapore taught him it can also cost a podium. Neither race proves he distrusts the team. They show a driver who backs his own read when the information is thin, and a team that has handed him thin information more than once. Zandvoort suggests the communication is the pattern, not the exception.

Could Leclerc have won?

Probably not. Verstappen led by about 9 seconds when Leclerc stopped on lap 25 and about 17 when he stopped under the VSC. Leclerc finished 7.0 seconds behind, so on fresh softs he took about 10 seconds back in 23 laps. That sounds promising until you remember Verstappen was managing his race.

Leclerc himself said Red Bull had too much pace in the opening stint. He also thinks he misjudged Verstappen’s early power deployment problems and didn’t spend battery to force a pass. He doesn’t think that changes the result. Had he got ahead at Turn 1, he would have led with the faster car sitting behind him on a track where passing is hard. That’s a long way from a win. The honest answer is that second was the realistic ceiling, and Ferrari got it.

The Ferrari tax

Context matters. In 2025 Ferrari finished fourth with 398 points, with no wins, and Hamilton had no podiums. This year they are second with 444 points, two wins and a seven-time champion who is third in the drivers’ standings. Mercedes have 11 wins, so Ferrari are clearly the second-best team on the grid and clearly not the best.

That is the Ferrari problem. Anything short of a win is failure, a seven-time champion in red adds extra scrutiny, and every sketchy call arrives with an audience. Sepang’s slick gamble and Singapore’s split-and-pray plan did the team no favours.

And then there is Vasseur

Strong rumours have been circulating since late September that Ferrari’s senior leadership has a succession plan to ease Vasseur out after this season. Nothing has been confirmed, and nobody has ruled it out either. Ferrari moved quickly, saying within days that they have full confidence in him. Both drivers backed him publicly: Hamilton called him a fantastic leader and Leclerc said he trusts him. Vasseur says his relationship with CEO Benedetto Vigna and chairman John Elkann is a very good one. Christian Horner, a man with time on his hands, called Ferrari a dream job.

None of that is confirmed, and Ferrari have publicly backed him. But the story hasn’t gone away for weeks and reappears after every race. Smoke isn’t fire. Still, a team that issues a vote of confidence and then has to repeat it a week later is telling you something. No change has been announced at the time of writing. Austin is next.

📸 courtesy Ferrari Media

October 14, 2026

F1 2016: British Gp Review – Hamilton Scores 4th Home Win

The notoriously unpredictable British weather was surprisingly docile right up until ten minutes before the race start.

As the rain came down on the Silverstone circuit race director Charlie Whiting declared that it would start behind the safety car. Although safety is of paramount importance the safety-car start deprived everyone of the battle, into turn one, between the front-row starting Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

The safety-car pulled into the pitlane after five laps most of the field switched to intermediate tyres while Hamilton continued to build a gap to second-placed Rosberg. Hamilton, Rosberg and the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo had not swopped their wet tyres for intermediates. They would have been at a disadvantage to those behind was it not for Pascal Wehrlein aquaplaned his Manor into the gravel trap and out of the race on lap seven and brought out the virtual safety-car.

As the race settled after the first round of stops Hamilton comfortably led the way from his teammate. On occasion Rosberg threatened to close the gap to Hamilton but never follow through. He also had to deal with a spirited Max Verstappen snapping at his heels. After a few laps of hounding Rosberg’s gearbox the 18 year-old pulled off a stunningly brave move around the outside of Chapel to take second place. The season still has some way to go but this overtaking move will take some beating.

As the circuit continued to dry the next round of stops saw everyone switch to dry medium compound tyres. Behind Hamilton, Rosberg, and Verstappen Daniel Ricciardo was running a very distant fourth with Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen even further behind. Despite no rain falling the circuit was slow to dry and several drivers including race leader Hamilton had several off track moments.

Though it would take some time Rosberg eventually found a way by Verstappen. He closed the gap to Hamilton from eight to six seconds but never truly looked likely to threaten the lead of the race.

Hamilton masterful in wet condition just as in 2008, which to date it arguably his best grand prix win. While Ricciardo drove an uninspiring race to fourth Ferrari’s newly re-signed Kimi Raikkonen was able to close down a substantial gap to Perez for fifth. Perez finished sixth ahead of Force India teammate Nico Hulkenberg in seventh and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz in eighth. Sebastian Vettel completed a miserable day for Ferrari in ninth. The German driver started the race in eleventh after suffering yet another five-place gearbox penalty. Though there was nothing deliberate about it he was slapped with a 5-second penalty for forcing Felipe Massa off the tack. The penalty didn’t affect his final position in the race. The second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat scored the final point in tenth.

Controversy enveloped the Mercedes team as Rosberg ran into gearbox problems late in the race. The pitwall gave instruction on which setting to change and coached Rosberg to shift through seventh gear. By telling the driver to shift through the gear the team breached the driver communication rule, which prohibits the team from giving instructions to fix a performance issue. Nearly four hours after the race the stewards imposed a ten-second penalty on Rosberg, which dropped him to third in the race classification. Mercedes has stated their intent to appeal the decision.

A new precedent was set as it’s the first instance where a penalty had to be imposed for the breach of driver communication rules. However, a ten-second penalty isn’t much of a deterrent if the alternative is retirement.

Nico Rosberg started the season with four consecutive wins but has only claimed victory in one of the last six races. Add to this that a fourth win on home soil has put Hamilton only one point adrift of the championship lead and it appears as if the Brit is gaining an ominous momentum.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport)

July 11, 2016
Virtual Safety Car Rules Finalized for 2015

The FIA have finalized the procedures for the new Virtual Safety Car (VSC) system that will be used to neutralize races in 2015.

The VSC was brought about after Jules Bianchi’s accident at the Japanese Grand Prix last year where he crashed out of the race with serious head injuries under yellow flag conditions.

The new VSC rules have been integrated into the 2015 sporting regulations and will be used to neutralize a race or “normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circumstances are not such as to warrant the use of the safety car itself”.

Under the VSC rules, drivers are not allowed to enter the pits except to change tyres, this means that stop-and-go penalties may not be served during the VSC period. Drivers will have to stick to a minimum delta time set by the FIA in each sector. To ensure drivers do not drive too slow, the rule makes provision for drivers that drive erratically and “unnecessarily slowly. If a driver is found to breach these rules, a penalty will be imposed. A penalty will also be imposed for drivers who do not stick to the delta time.

Once the race director is satisfied and it is safe to resume racing, teams and drivers will be notified via the official lighting system. Once the notification is given, a green flag signal will be given on the FIA light panels. Drivers can continue to race from that point on.

January 10, 2015