Hamilton wins action-packed Singapore GP and gains the championship lead

Hamilton wins action-packed Singapore GP and gains the championship lead

In an action-packed race this afternoon, we saw Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton winning an action-packed and thrilling Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo when his team mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg failed to finish the race.

Before the Singapore Grand Prix even began, Rosberg was suffering with electrical issues on his steering wheel that his mechanics was trying to fix until the last possible moment before the Formation Lap and was given a new steering wheel to solve the problem.

Rosberg was told before the Formation Lap by his Mercedes team on team radio that if this didn't work, they would have to start the race from the pit lane and get going there. And this exactly what Rosberg didn't want to happen and he was left stranded in on the grid as they went on their Formation Lap and had to start from the pits.

Rosberg did get going from the pit lane into the race, but was warned that his pit stop will be a problem. At his first and only pit stop, the problem was so bad for Rosberg that it left him no choice but to officially retire from the Grand Prix on Lap 13 and handed the championship lead to his team mate Hamilton.

Alongside Rosberg's issues, we saw that Kamui Kobayashi in his Caterham not even starting the race as he had to retire during the Formation Lap due to lack of oil pressure on his car.

Throughout the race, we saw a lot of action on the track. At the start of the race, we saw the McLaren drivers of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen on the first lap getting a bit too close for comfort, with Magnussen under investigation from the stewards but no further action was to be taken.

An incident between the Sauber of Adrian Sutil and the Force India of Sergio Perez on Lap 31 of the race damaged Perez's front wing and the debris was littered onto the track. This then brought out the Safety Car for the seventh consecutive race at the Marina Bay circuit and while the stewards were investigating Sutil for the incident and also exceeding the track limit, no further action was taken against him.

Also, we saw Jean-Eric Vergne during the course of the race battling his way through the grid today. In the last few laps of the race, we saw Vergne passing Hulkenberg and Perez in some brilliant overtaking moves that will help him search for a seat for next season without question. During the race, we saw Vergne being investigated twice for exceeding the track limits and gaining an advantage and he did receive a 5 second penalty added to his race time.

We did also see commiserations for the Williams team as Valtteri Bottas while trying to make his tyre strategy work losing six places in the final stages of the Grand Prix due to having no grip left on his tyres.

Lewis Hamilton wins his seventh race of the season at the Singapore Grand Prix and takes the championship lead ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place and Daniel Ricciardo in third after a brilliant weekend from the Red Bull drivers.

Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place after a great performance this weekend ahead of Felipe Massa in fifth place, Jean-Eric Vergne in sixth place (after a 5 second race time penalty was applied to his race time) and Sergio Perez after battling during the race finishing in seventh place. Kimi Raikkonen finished the race in eighth place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place and Kevin Magnussen gaining the final point in tenth place.

Valtteri Bottas finished the race in a disappointing eleventh place ahead of the Lotus drivers of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean in twelfth and thirteenth places. The Lotus drivers finished ahead of Daniil Kvyat in fourteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in fifteenth place, Jules Bianchi in sixteenth place ahead of Max Chilton in seventeenth place 1 lap down.

The non finishers of the Singapore Grand Prix was Jenson Button who retired due to suspected electrical problems on his McLaren, Adrian Sutil retiring due to a suspected water leak, his team mate Esteban Guiterrez retiring due to battery problems, Nico Rosberg due to electrical problems on his steering wheel and Kamui Kobayashi who didn't start the race due to lack of oil pressure.

The classification of race at the Singapore Grand Prix is as follows below:

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.00.04.795s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 13.534s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 14.273s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 15.389s
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 42.161s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 56.801s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 59.038s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.00.641s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1.01.661s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1.02.230s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1.05.065s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1.06.915s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1.08.029s
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1.12.008s
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1.34.158s
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1.34.543s
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1 lap
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 8 laps
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 20 laps
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 43 laps
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 47 laps
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault DNS

[Please note Jean-Eric Vergne received a 5 second penalty added to his race time]