Singapore Grand Prix 2014 F1: The Top 10 Readers’ Results!

The fourteenth Grand Prix of the season in Singapore was won by Lewis Hamilton, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. The rest of the top 10 included, in order, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne, Sergio Pérez, Kimi Räikkönen, Nico Hülkenberg, and Kevin Magnussen. Let’s see if the 156 voters followed the race order…

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 25 pts

Deprived from the start of his main opponent, the Briton only had to battle against himself and the race conditions. Although the safety car forced him into a sprint of about fifteen laps and an easy overtake on a Sebastian Vettel with much more worn-out tires, his GP was an opportunity for a solo performance.

2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) – 18 pts

For the German, the Singapore weekend was the comeback in form: even though he was outqualified by his teammate, his successful start and strategic race management allowed him to eventually get ahead and achieve his best result of the season by holding strong at the end of the race.

3. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) – 15 pts

Disappointing in qualifying, the Frenchman made several mistakes during the race—receiving two penalties—but finished the race with a saber-in-the-teeth approach, taking the scalp of six drivers in six laps before pushing on fresher tires to secure the final 6th position.

4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) – 12 pts

After cutting the first corner and giving back a position, the Spaniard managed to execute the undercut on Sebastian Vettel by pitting one lap earlier. However, the safety car’s entrance and the decision to switch to soft tires immediately put him back behind the two Red Bulls, against which he couldn’t gain an advantage.

5. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) – 10 pts

A little behind his teammate, the Australian nevertheless held his ground against a pressing Alonso at the end of the Grand Prix, putting a bit of pressure on his teammate himself, without success.

6. Felipe Massa (Williams) – 8 pts

A discreet Grand Prix for the Brazilian but oh so efficient: better qualified than his teammate, he also managed to better manage his soft tires, which he made last until the end, at a grandmotherly pace, by his own account. A rather speedy grandmother, however, who achieved an almost unexpected top 5.

7. Sergio Perez (Force India) – 6 pts

Sailing outside the top 10 during the first half of the race, the Mexican can practically thank Sutil for momentarily losing focus during braking because with the loss of the wing and the need to pit again, the Force India driver gave himself an almost perfectly timed stop that propelled him into the top 10, in a flattering 7th place.

8. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) – 4 pts

Never really in the rhythm of his teammate at the start of the race, the Finn also fell victim to an opportunistic but ultimately ill-timed pit stop under the safety car, forcing him to drive behind the two Williams, particularly Bottas’s, and Button’s McLaren which eventually retired before Vergne relegated him again to 8th place.

9. Jenson Button (McLaren) – 2 pts

In the top ten throughout the Grand Prix, the Briton could have been one of the big beneficiaries of the safety car, but ultimately, after the race restart, he also got stuck behind Bottas and his power unit gave out with less than ten laps to go.

10. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) – 1 pt

Beaten by a narrow margin by Hamilton in qualifying, the German experienced technical problems even before the GP, which forced him to start from the pits with a car deprived of a large part of its systems. Forced to retire after a grueling fifteen laps, he could only watch helplessly as his teammate won and took command.

Readers’ 2014 Rankings