Singapore – Race: Hamilton, the Night of the Hunter!

A few moments before the start of the Singapore Grand Prix, an electronic problem occurs on Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes W05 Hybrid. The mechanics are busy working on the car in the garage and on the grid to fix this problem « that we do not understand, » according to Toto Wolff’s words for Canal +. The steering wheel seems to be the center of concern.

And a dramatic turn of events! The championship leader cannot start the formation lap. He is pushed into the pit lane from where he must start, if he can manage it. During the formation lap, Kamui Kobayashi has to abandon his Caterham in an escape road.

The start is given! A good takeoff for Hamilton and Vettel. Ricciardo had more difficulties and must yield to his teammate but also to Alonso, who has to cut the first corner to avoid contact with the Red Bulls; a maneuver that will be under investigation, but without penalty. The Spaniard lets the Red Bull No. 1 pass him. Rosberg managed to get going and is in 21st position, behind Chilton. At the front, Hamilton and Vettel are within 1.6 seconds and have almost a 3-second lead over Alonso by the 3rd lap. In the 4th lap, Ricciardo is already warned: his brakes are overheating.

After 5 laps, Hamilton is in the lead ahead of Vettel (+1.6s), Alonso (+5.9), Ricciardo (+7.5) and Räikkönen (+8.6). At the back of the pack, after four laps, Rosberg finally takes advantage over Chilton: he seems to be suffering from problems with shifting his first few gears. In 10th position, the Toro Rosso cars swap places, with Vergne passing Kvyat on team orders due to their differentiated strategy. Rosberg continues to suffer with his gearbox, the 4th gear not engaging properly; he cannot catch up to Ericsson’s Caterham.

After 10 laps, Hamilton, Vettel (+5.1s), Alonso (+10.7), Ricciardo (+14.9), and Räikkönen (+18.8). The Finn is the first of the leaders to stop, to put on super-soft tires. Massa passes him after stopping a lap earlier. Vettel, Alonso, and Ricciardo stop on the same lap and come out in this order. Hamilton mimics them a lap later, without issues. Rosberg stops shortly after: he arrives very slowly and changes the steering wheel. It doesn’t work, the first gear won’t engage anymore: he asks for the car to be stopped. It’s retirement for the German.

After 15 laps, Hamilton has an 8.8s lead over Vettel and a little more than a 10s lead over Alonso. The Brit is warned that everything is under control: the consequence is that the Mercedes slows down the pace, losing almost two seconds in two laps, before returning to higher bases. Esteban Gutierrez has to retire his Sauber: upon exiting his cockpit, he is furious and throws his gloves in rage in his pit. After 20 laps, Alonso has closed to within three seconds of Vettel, who has stabilized the gap to 7.5s with Hamilton. The gap between the Red Bull and the Ferrari gradually reduces afterward, dropping below two seconds a few laps later. The German is authorized to attack to widen the gap again, but without much success.

**After 23 laps**, Hamilton is the only driver consistently going under 1:53.0, with more than a nine-second lead over Vettel and Alonso, who are separated by 1.2 seconds. The battle might soon begin between the two. After another pit stop for Massa, Räikkönen is ordered to push hard to overtake the Brazilian. Alonso pits on lap 25 to put on super-soft tires again, attempting the undercut on Vettel who comes in a lap later. The four-time world champion fits the soft tires, and the Ferrari passes him. Hamilton stops, gets his front wing cleaned, and temporarily hands the lead to Ricciardo, who also pits for soft tires, like Vettel.

After 28 laps, Hamilton leads Alonso, who has closed the gap to 4.4 seconds thanks to the pit stops. Vettel is six seconds behind the Ferrari. The Mercedes driver quickly sets several fastest laps to give himself some breathing room. In the midfield, a battle ensues between Pérez, Grosjean, and Kvyat for 12th place, with the Lotus and Force India almost colliding. Moments later, Pérez does collide, but with Sutil, who crowds the driver. The Force India’s wing suffers and a few hectometers further on, it goes under his car, scattering into dozens of debris. The safety car is deployed! The deck is shuffled again as Alonso takes the opportunity to get rid of his super-soft tires and puts on the soft compounds for the first time in the race. He is overtaken by the two Red Bulls.

After 37 laps, including the last 7 behind the safety car, the race is restarted with Hamilton ahead of the Red Bulls of Vettel and Ricciardo, Alonso’s Ferrari, the Williams of Massa and Bottas, Button’s McLaren, Räikkönen, Vergne, and Magnussen. The Mercedes driver quickly pulls away from the DRS which is not yet open. He has a 3.2s lead over Vettel at the end of the first lap after the restart. As for Williams, both drivers are going to try to make it to the end of the race.

In the 40th lap, Hamilton already has a 7.6s lead over Vettel. The goal for the Briton is to widen the gap as much as possible to be able to mount the soft tires without losing too many positions. All the drivers behind him will try to finish the race with the yellow sidewall tires. Sutil retires. Bottas, in 6th place, is under threat from Button, Räikkönen, Vergne, and Magnussen, who form a small train. For the 12th place as well: Maldonado holds off Grosjean and Perez.

After 45 laps, Hamilton continues to extend the gap: he has a 17.3s lead over Vettel. This lead quickly extends to 20 seconds at the start of the 48th lap. Mercedes’ goal is a 27s lead. By the 50th lap, the lead over the Red Bull is 24s. The Briton believes he won’t be able to reach the set goal, but his team confirms that he is still widening the gap. He goes for another lap with a lead extending to 25.2s but this time, he doesn’t push further and stops: the stop goes smoothly, but the Mercedes driver comes back out between the two Red Bulls! Vettel is leading with less than two seconds ahead of Vettel but with much fresher tires.

**After 52 laps**, the top four are within four seconds of each other. Hamilton is much faster than Vettel and overtakes him on the next lap with ease. Meanwhile, Jenson Button has to abandon his McLaren, which has lost all its power. Yellow flags in the affected sector. Six laps from the finish, Alonso closes in on Ricciardo. A train has formed in 6th place, consisting of Bottas, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, and Vergne.

With 5 laps to go, Vettel-Ricciardo-Alonso are within 1.5s of each other. But the German manages to hold his position, and the victory goes to Lewis Hamilton! In the pack, penalized by 5s, Vergne goes on a rampage and overtakes Hülkenberg, Räikkönen, and Bottas in quick succession before building a sufficient gap to maintain the 6th position after his penalty is applied!

This is the 29th victory in Lewis Hamilton’s career and the 24th in Mercedes’ F1 history.