Britain’s Lewis Hamilton eased to victory from pole at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday as the Mercedes driver extended his championship lead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to 40 points with six rounds remaining.
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Hamilton held off a mid-race challenge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to register a record-equalling fourth triumph at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit track, while Vettel finished third to slip further behind in the title race.
“Great job everyone, what a weekend... keep pushing, keep pushing, we’ve got this,” Hamilton told his team over the radio soon after crossing the line.
Hamilton’s 69th overall victory was his seventh of the season and it was built on the foundations of a stunning qualifying lap on Saturday, when he stormed to pole in a car deemed inferior to the Ferraris and Red Bulls on this circuit.
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For Vettel and Ferrari it was another disappointing weekend after the car showed plenty of pace through all three practice sessions, the German’s cause not helped by a questionable strategy and a poor pitstop.
Hamilton won this race from the third row a year ago when Vettel, Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen collided on the opening lap but there was no repeat of such drama this time after the drivers got off to a clean start at the head of the field.
The results: 1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 51min 11.611sec, 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) plus 8.961s, 3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 39.945, 4. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 51.930, 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 53.001, 6. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 53.982, 7. Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 1:43.011s, 8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault) 1 lap, 9. Charles Leclerc (Sauber) 1 lap, 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) 1 lap, 11. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) 1 lap, 12. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) 1 lap, 13. Romain Grosjean (Haas) 1 lap, 14. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 1 lap, 15. Lance Stroll (Williams) 1 lap, 16. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1 lap, 17. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) 1 lap, 18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 2 laps, 19. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) 2 laps. Did not finish: Esteban Ocon (Force India) retired after 1 lap.
Drivers’ championship: 1. Hamilton 281 points, 2. Vettel 241, 3. Raikkonen 174, 4. Bottas 171, 5. Verstappen 148, 6. Ricciardo 126, 7. Hulkenberg 53, 8. Alonso 50, 9. Magnussen 49, 10. Perez 46, 11. Ocon 45, 12. Sainz Jr 38, 13. Gasly 28, 14. Grosjean 27, 15. Leclerc 15, 16. Vandoorne 8, 17. Stroll 6, 18. Ericsson 6, 19. Hartley 2, 20. Sirotkin 1.
Constructors championship: 1. Mercedes 452, 2. Ferrari 415, 3. Red Bull 274, 4. Renault 91, 5. Haas 76, 6. McLaren 58, 7. Force India 32, 8. Toro Rosso 30, 9. Sauber 21, 10. Williams 7.