Morning After: Ferrari Woes Put Hamilton on the Brink

If the biggest enemy to Sebastian Vettel's 2018 title bid is indeed himself, you'd have to think his own team would rank a close second after the race at Marina Bay.

Already in damage mitigation mode after his disappointing performance in qualifying, Vettel and Ferrari needed to seize on any opportunity they got in the race to claw back some points from eventual winner Lewis Hamilton. Indeed, they got that opportunity, but then as they have so many times this season, proceeded to totally balls it up.

Sacrificing a few laps of hypersoft life to pit Vettel early on lap 14, after he'd snuck past Max Verstappen for P2, the intention at Ferrari seemingly was to undercut Hamilton and take the lead of the race. The problem with that being that they were never racing Hamilton (who easily covered him off)

any less than they were Verstappen, who was put in a position to make the overcut work. Of course, then Ferrari only compounded their error by putting Vettel on ultras to his rivals' softs, and with a tyre that didn't have enough life in them to sustain an extended attack, its no wonder he finished 39 seconds down the road.

Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, the difference between second and third here won't amount to much for the Scuderia, but when so much has already been blundered away this season, you'd think they'd want to take any "victory" they can get. Instead, we're left with another head-scratcher, and a second straight season like to be as defined by what happened as what could have been.

Sergio Perez should consider himself lucky to escape with just a drive-through penalty for colliding with Sergey Sirotkin. Steering into a driver is never a good way to voice your displeasure, and he very easily could've received a black flag.

Speaking of Sirotkin, all the controversy about him and other backmarkers getting in the way of other drivers feels a bit overblown. Of course, they should make way for blue flags (and Romain Grosjean deserved his penalty), but the reality is this is a particularly winding street circuit, and it's not always feasible to jump out of the way the second a lapping car appears in their mirrors. At the very least, the whingeing on radio from the front runners is getting a little tiresome.

A very happy birthday to Esteban Ocon, who turns 22 on Monday. I feel like we should all pitch in and get him a card, or… you know, a race seat.

Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso. From eleventh to seventh, the Spaniard once again showed how unworthy McLaren is to have him. If the title is decided before Abu Dhabi, can we just give him a race in a Ferrari or Mercedes?

Worst of the Day: Force India. It was bad enough when Esteban Ocon collided with Sergio Perez on lap 1 in a move that can only be justified when you're playing F1 2018 with the damage turned off, but then Perez went and topped it with his antics with Sergey Sirotkin. Did somebody spike the punch in hospitality?

"There's a lot left in these tyres" – Lewis Hamilton, team radio

Sums it about up, really.