Mercedes champ Lewis Hamilton, lights up the night in Singapore with a dominant win
Lewis Hamilton with his trophy
Lewis Hamilton pulled further clear at the top of the championship standings after delivering a crushing victory in yesterday's Singapore Grand Prix which title rival Sebastian Vettel finished a distant third. The Mercedes driver crossed the line 8.9 seconds clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who jumped Vettel at the pitstops, after Ferrari's strategy compromised the German and left him to crawl home nearly 40 seconds adrift of his triumphant rival.
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Yesterday's win, Hamilton's seventh this season, lifts him 40 points clear of Vettel in the overall standings with just six races to go. If he scores just one more win, the 33-year-old will be far enough ahead to be able to wrap up the title without needing to finish on the top step of the podium again this season. "What a day, what a weekend, I'm super blessed," said an exhausted Hamilton, kneeling next to his silver car. "I'm spent," he added.
Lewis Hamilton and his machine at the Singapore GP
Hamilton, who had started on pole after pulling out what he described as a "magic" lap in qualifying on Saturday kept the lead off the line. Vettel, who had lined up a disappointed third, seized second from Verstappen on the opening lap and slotted in behind the Mercedes, setting the stage for a head-to-head battle between the two title rivals.
But his hopes of challenging Hamilton for the win were dashed at the first round of pitstops. The German was the first of the top runners to pit for fresh tyres in the hopes of using their superior grip to leapfrog Hamilton. But the tactic didn't pay off with Hamilton emerging from his own pitstop still in the lead and in control.
Instead Vettel lost crucial time stuck behind the Force India of Sergio Perez, which allowed Verstappen to leapfrog the Ferrari for second. He was further handicapped by being on the softer ultra-soft tyres even as his rivals had changed to the more durable soft rubber. "With the way we raced, we didn't have a chance," said Vettel after the race. "I said before the weekend that we can only beat ourselves, and I think this weekend we didn't get everything out of our package."
"Overall we were not fast enough. We didn't have the pace in the race," he added. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth for Mercedes fending off a charging Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull finished sixth with Fernando Alonso an impressive seventh. The Spaniard had started eleventh on the grid.
Carlos Sainz was ninth ahead or Renault ahead of Sauber's Charles Leclerc. Nico Hulkenberg in the other Renault rounded out the top ten. The Singapore Grand Prix's record of having a safety car deployed in every race so far remained intact. It came out on the opening lap when Esteban Ocon crashed after being pushed into the wall by team-mate Perez. The Mexican had a scrappy race and was handed a drive through penalty after swerving into the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin.
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