'Ferrari should be leading this championship'

Ferrari's numerous "mistakes" and "strange decisions" have cost them the lead of the drivers' and constructors' championships according to two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen. Sebastian Vettel trails Lewis Hamilton by 40 points in the individual standings with six races to go in 2018.

The Singapore Grand Prix had been pegged as a chance for Vettel to close the gap to Hamilton, but the Mercedes man tacked on 10 more points to his advantage.

However, a clip with the wall cost the German track time in Friday practice, before Ferrari's gamble on using ultrasofts in Q2 cost Vettel crucial time to properly prepare for a Q3 run on hypersofts.

The Scuderia once again erred on tyre strategy in Sunday's race, costing Vettel second place as their attempts to undercut Hamilton fell flat, and Hakkinen believes a string of other mishaps have cost Ferrari dearly.

"Ferrari should really be leading this championship, but there have been too many mistakes, and some strange decisions," Hakkinen wrote for Unibet.

"Vettel’s little accident during Friday practice upset the rhythm at the start of the weekend, for example.

"They seemed to recover OK, as Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were first and second in final practice. However, this made it even more difficult to understand their decision to take some risks with tyre choice during Q2 in qualifying and that contributed to Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen not having the same build up to the final qualifying runs in Q1.

"Ferrari is making life hard for itself at times.

"The race result was a big disappointment to Ferrari in general, and Vettel in particular."

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