Lewis Hamilton controlled the Singapore Grand Prix to take his seventh win of the season and extend his championship lead over Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton was rarely pressured during the race. Max Verstappen took a strong second place ahead of Sebastian Vettel after passing the Ferrari throuugh pit strategy. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth and Daniel Ricciardo.
As the lights went out, Hamilton led into turn one while Vettel pressured Verstappen for second place into turn one. Verstappen held position. But Vettel was able to power out of turn 5 and take the position from the Red Bull along the long straight to turn 7.
Behind, there was drama as the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon collided out of turn three, causing Ocon to crash into the outside wall and putting him out of the race.
The Safety Car was deployed as Ocon’s stricken car was cleared, with the race resuming on lap four with Hamilton leading Vettel and Verstappen.
Ferrari were the first to stop, pitting Vettel for Ultra Soft tyres at the end of lap 14. Mercedes immediately responded, bringing in Hamilton for Soft compound tyres a lap later and resuming ahead of Vettel. However he was behind Sergio Perez’s Force India.
Vettel was eventually able to pass Perez, but the hold up proved costly as Verstappen was able to jump the Ferrari driver to reclaim the position after pitting on lap 17.
There was a scare for Hamilton when trying to lap a battling Sirotkin and Grosjean. The pair holding up the Mercedes driver and putting briefly under pressure from Verstappen. Hamilton was able to hold off Verstappen, while Grosjean received a five second time penalty for ignoring blue flags.
There was more drama involving Sergio Perez. He appeared to drive into the side of Sergey Sirotkin after passing the Williams driver after many frustrated laps behind him. The resulting damage left Perez with a puncture, as well as a drive-through penalty for his behaviour.
Hamilton was able to count down the remaining laps to take a comfortable win, his seventh of the season and fourth around the Marina Bay circuit. Verstappen was eight seconds behind in second place, over 20 seconds ahead of Vettel’s Ferrari in third.
Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth and fifth with Daniel Ricciardo within sight of the pair in sixth.
Fernando Alonso took seventh for McLaren, 47 seconds adrift of Ricciardo. Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Hulkenberg are rounding out the points.
Full classification from the #SingaporeGP ? pic.twitter.com/TwTeSCxx0F
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2018
