Hamilton takes significant step towards fourth title
SINGAPORE: Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride towards his fourth Formula One title yesterday by winning an incidentpacked Singapore Grand Prix after Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out at the start.
The Mercedes driver now has a 28point cushion over the German with six of the 20 races remaining.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who also emerged from the opening lap carnage unscathed, was second for the third year in a row with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas completing the podium for Mercedes.
‘‘God blessed me today for sure,’’ Hamilton, who set a lap record on his way to a third win in a row, said as he spoke from the podium on a night where everything fell into his lap.
‘‘I came here today really thinking it was about damage limitation, and we’ve come out ahead. So I’m very grateful,’’ he said later.
‘‘To come to a track that was potentially our weakest circuit, and come away with a win like this and those points, it’s really such a fortunate scenario . . . so I definitely have a skip in my step.’’
The Briton cashed in after Vettel, Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s front row contender Max Verstappen smashed into each other as they raced off the wet starting grid and into the first corner.
Raikkonen had made a storming start from fourth, Vettel a less impressive one from pole position, while Verstappen went for the middle ground and was caught in a Ferrari sandwich as they converged.
The stewards summoned all three and decided no driver was predominantly to blame.
The first race to be hit by rain in the decade that Singapore has hosted Formula One had started in treacherous conditions, puddles gleaming in the floodlights, after a formation lap behind the safety car.
With Hamilton starting fifth, everything looked set for Vettel to retake the overall lead that he had surrendered only two weeks earlier at Monza in Italy.
And then it all went wrong, the collision with Raikkonen punching a hole in the side of Vettel’s car before he spun into the wall at turn three.
‘‘It’s bitter but it’s done,’’ the German, a fourtime Singapore GP winner, said.
His retirement ended a run of 18 successive points finishes and left him with a mountain to climb.
The collision allowed Hamilton into a lead he would keep through two more safety car periods and a perfectlytimed switch to dryweather tyres.
Australian Ricciardo had been confident of victory, despite missing out on pole on Sunday but could not keep up with the Briton’s pace yesterday.
‘‘I’m a little bit disappointed to miss out on the win. But I’m still going to be grateful and happy with another podium,’’ he said.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who will move to Renault next season, finished fourth for Toro Rosso to score the best result of his career.
Force India’s Sergio Perez was fifth and Briton Jolyon Palmer, making way for Sainz at Renault, scored his first points of the season and best career finish with sixth.
After three safety car interruptions, the race ended with 58 of the 61 laps completed after hitting the twohour mark. Only 12 of the 20 cars finished. — Reuters