
Lewis Hamilton has won the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix in what was a wet-dry race, and it certainly was not short of drama, in which Hamilton opened up a considerable gap in the World Championship. Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium, in a race which reached the two-hour limit and saw only 58 out of 61 laps completed. At the start, which was wet, Max Verstappen (who started in second) probably got a better getaway than polesitter Sebastian Vettel. However, Sebastian Vettel moved to the left in an attempt to cover off Max Verstappen, who, in turn, hit a very-fast starting Kimi Raikkonen who made contact with fellow Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. In turn, Max Verstappen also made contact with another fast starter in Fernando Alonso, who did continue for a few laps but eventually retired following the damage. Sebastian Vettel did lead, however, on the first small straight spun (although this did have to do with the damage caused by his collision) and as a result retired. The incident between Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen was investigated after the race, but no further action was taken and it was deemed a racing incident. If I had to express my opinion on it, to deem it a racing incident was understandable, though I would have probably blamed Sebastian Vettel for trying to squeeze Verstappen. Either way, it certainly was a naive move by the German. As a result of all the chaos of the start, the Safety Car was deployed and the order was: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Perez, Bottas, Palmer, Vandoorne, Ocon, Sainz and Magnussen. Hamilton led following a great start and all the drama that unfolded. The safety car eventually came in, and Hamilton led going into turn 1. British driver Jolyon Palmer overtook Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas for fifth place. Alonso eventually retired after the damage he suffered following a hit he suffered at the start. On lap 11, Daniil Kvyat overtook Kevin Magnussen, however going into the next corner he went straight into the barriers. This caused another Safety Car, where Daniel Ricciardo pitted for a fresh set of intermediate tyres, on the other hand, Hamilton didn't. Nico Hulkenberg pitted as well but dropped down to sixth as a result. At this point, the order was: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Bottas, Sainz, Perez and Hulkenberg. The safety car went in on lap 15, and Hamilton managed to pull out a gap and led going into turn 1. On lap 25, Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to switch onto the dry tyres, taking a set of ultrasoft tyres. Ricciardo from second pitted on lap 29 for a set of ultrasoft tyres, whilst Hamilton pitted the following lap and re-emerged in the lead around 9s ahead (also the stop by the Mercedes pit crew on Hamilton was extremely smooth). Hamilton was maintaining a very decent gap upfront ahead of Ricciardo, who in turn was ahead of Valtteri Bottas, followed by Hulkenberg, Sainz and Perez. Jolyon Palmer was ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne. On lap 38, however, Marcus Ericsson lost control of his car at the Anderson bridge (it is a part of the circuit), and thus caused the safety car to be deployed for the third time. Nico Hulkenberg suddenly encountered a pressure issue and went into the pits (admittedly it was during the safety car period). At this point, the order was: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Bottas, Sainz, Perez, Palmer and Vandoorne. The safety car went in on lap 42. With 17 minutes left, Nico Hulkenberg retired his car after the issue he encountered earlier re-appeared. With 9 minutes left (as at this point the time was being counted down, rather than the number of laps done being counted up), Kevin Magnussen also retired with what seemed an engine issue. However, at the front, there was just no stopping Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the line for victory 4.5s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, whilst Valtteri Bottas followed a further 4.3s behind. The rest of the top 10 was Sainz, Perez, Palmer, Vandoorne, Stroll, Grosjean and Ocon. Felipe Massa and Pascal Wehrlein finished the race in 11th and 12th respectively. A total of 58 laps were completed, 3 fewer than scheduled, this being due to the 2-hour limit (of actual racing) being exceeded.
Classification:
Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
Jolyon Palmer - Renault
Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren-Honda
Lance Stroll - Williams-Mercedes
Romain Grosjean - Haas-Ferrari
Esteban Ocon - Force India-Mercedes
Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
Pascal Wehrlein - Sauber-Ferrari
Retired: Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Marcus Ericsson, Daniil Kvyat, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen
World Championship classification:
Lewis Hamilton - 263 points
Sebastian Vettel - 235 points
Valtteri Bottas - 212 points
Daniel Ricciardo - 162 points
Kimi Raikkonen - 138 points
Max Verstappen - 68 points
Sergio Perez - 68 points
Esteban Ocon - 56 points
Carlos Sainz - 48 points
Nico Hulkenberg - 34 points
Felipe Massa - 31 points
Lance Stroll - 28 points
Romain Grosjean - 26 points
Kevin Magnussen - 11 points
Fernando Alonso - 10 points
Jolyon Palmer - 8 points
Stoffel Vandoorne - 7 points
Pascal Wehrlein - 5 points
Daniil Kvyat - 4 points
Marcus Ericsson - 0 points
Antonio Giovinazzi - 0 points
Constructors' Championship classification:
Mercedes - 475 points
Ferrari - 373 points
Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer - 230 points
Force India-Mercedes - 124 points
Williams-Mercedes - 59 points
Toro Rosso - 52 points
Renault - 42 points
Haas-Ferrari - 37 points
McLaren-Honda - 17 points
Sauber-Ferrari - 5 points