Lewis Hamilton extended him World Drivers’ Championship lead in Singapore, as a big first corner accident that took out the top three contenders, including both Ferrari cars. This shortened race was not quite as straight forward as we have witnessed in the past, with early rain adding an extra layer of complexity to the race strategy.
The Singapore Grand Prix celebrated their 10th year anniversary under the rain for the very first time ever, also making it the first ever wet night race. This gave the teams the decision to run start the race on the intermediate or full wet tyres.
The drama started right off of the start with a massive accident into turn one. Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel both got poor starts under the wet conditions, while Kimi Räikkönen got a fantastic start. Verstappen moved toward the outside of the track to allow Räikkönen to come up the inside. At the same time, Vettel moved towards the inside in an attempt to cover his poor start. Verstappen motioned slightly back to the inside to avoid Vettel. Räikkönen made contact with the Red Bull driver, coming across into the side of his teammate on the outside. Räikkönen slid into turn one in his already terminally damaged Ferrari, hitting Verstappen again, while also taking out Fernando Alonso. Alonso was the only driver able to continue the race, albeit heavily damaged. The incident prompted the attention of the stewards.
Vettel maintained his lead out of turn three, running a bit wide, losing traction and skidding into the barriers. His radiator was heavily damaged from the contact with his teammate. The spewing coolant is thought to have contributed Vettel’s spin. He retired from the race. Both incidents brought out the safety car.
The race resumed after the debris was cleared, at which point the rain stopped. Alonso retired from the race just under 10 laps into the race, complaining of power loss, although the giant hole in the side of his car from the turn one incident likely contributed to his retirement.
Daniil Kvyat, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll were providing some entertainment for the fans with a good battle. However, Kvyat brought out the second safety car on lap 11 when he locked up the brakes and slammed into the barrier, ending his race. With another safety car underway, it was certain that the race would not reach the full race distance because of the two-hour rule.
The second safety car prompted many teams to either grab a new set of intermediate tyres or ditch the full wet tyres. Daniel Ricciardo was the first of the top three to pit, with Nico Hülkenberg pitting a lap later, still under the safety car. Meanwhile out front, Hamilton did not pit for a fresh set of intermediates.
After the race resumed for the second time, the only driver with the wet weather tyres still on, Felipe Massa, was a sitting duck, proving that the pace was not good enough to keep them. He pitted in for intermediate tyres after losing some positions to the cars in the mid-pack.
Magnussen and Massa were the first drivers to pit for the dry tyres, as a very clear dry line appeared on the track. After getting some encouraging words from Massa about the performance of the dry tyres, the Williams team pitted Stroll for a set of ultrasoft tyres as well. This triggered a chain of pit stops. All of the front runners pitted for the dry tyres, with Hamilton pitting a lap after his competitors behind. Hamilton wasn’t worried, with a huge gap to protect him from the cars behind.
A third safety car was deployed just after the halfway point of the race for an incident involving Marcus Ericsson. The Sauber driver took too much kerb, lost traction and spun into the barrier on Anderson Bridge. Meanwhile, Hülkenberg’s luck turned bitter with was appeared to be a hydraulic issue of some sort. The team pitted the car and were able to fix the issue in the pit box.
The race resumed with just 27 minutes remaining in the race time. The unlucky number 13 struck Hülkenberg, as the Renault driver was forced to retire in the pits with 13 minutes remaining in the race, giving him the unfortunate record as the driver with the most race starts without a podium. He takes the record from former driver Adrian Sutil. Magnussen was also hit with some bad luck, retiring with a power unit issue.
In a race that ended prematurely due to the two-hour time limit, Hamilton took victory. Ricciardo, Bottas, Sainz and Pérez completed the top five.
Thanks to Ferrari’s gift to Mercedes, Mercedes extended their World Constructors’ Championship lead. Meanwhile Hamilton’s victory allowed him to extend his World Drivers’ Championship lead to 28 points, separating himself from Vettel. The 2017 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX could end up to pivotal point in the WDC title race.
Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
