Lewis Hamilton retook the lead in the F1 drivers standings with victory at the Singapore Grand Prix after title rival Nico Rosberg retired from the race with a suspected electrical problem.
The title rivals lined up on the first row of the grid but Rosberg was forced to start from the pitlane after his car stalled on the formation lap. With no ERS and a problem with gear shifts, Rosberg stayed at the back of the grid until pulling the plug at the first round of pitstops.
With Rosberg out of the race, it seemed like Hamilton was set to take an easy victory in the South East Asian country until a safety car period in the middle of the race made things slightly difficult for the 2008 F1 world champion.
Hamilton, by this moment, had not raced on the prime compounds while those right behind him were likely to finish the race on exactly the same set of tyre, without adding pit stops. The Brit then pulled a 25 plus second lead over the rest of the field, made the compulsory switch to the soft tyre(having did his first two stints on super softs) and came out just two seconds behind Sebastian Vettel. With such a pace advantage on fresh tyres, Hamilton breezed past the defending F1 world champion in just a single lap to take the victory and lead in the drivers championship.
Daniel Ricciardo in the sister Red Bull finished less than a second behind to take the final spot on the podium, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who made a sensational start from fifth on the grid.
Felipe Massa finished in a lonely fifth place, over 42 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne and Force India’s Sergio Perez stormed through the field on the final few laps to take sixth and seventh at the chequered flag. The Frenchman's pace meant he overcame a five second penalty for crossing track limits in his attempt to get past Pastor Maldonado, in turn retaining his sixth place.
Sergio Perez had an eventual race after his front wing fell spectacularly after contact with the Sauber of Adrian Sutil. The incident brought out the aforementioned safety car.
Former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen took eighth at the chequered flag ahead of the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen.
2009 F1 champion Jenson Button was closely fighting for sixth spot against Valtteri Bottas until his lost drive and retired for the first time in over 30 races. Bottas, in turn, was doing a superb job on his worn out tyres until they fell of the cliff on the final lap and he slipped from sixth to eleventh in a matter of few corners.
Pastor Maldonado ran as high as 10 but eventually finished the shortened Singapore Grand Prix in 12th place ahead of Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean.
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