Hamilton Wins Singapore GP, Takes Title Lead

Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the lead for the 2014 drivers’ championship after admirable racing and a well-deserved win at Marina Bay, Singapore, where the weather was humid and bad luck haunted Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg’s machine could not come out of neutral, which left the German stuck at the start. Hamilton quickly pulled away and took control of the field while Rosberg was forced to start from the pit lane. In the 13th lap, his gearshift electronics malfunction still persisted and he had to retire after his first stop.

On lap 31, Force India’s Sergio Perez and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil collided, causing the front wing of the Force India car to shatter, and bringing out the safety car. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had manoeuvred his way into second, having jumped Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo from the beginning, temporarily conceding his position to Vettel before using the undercut to regain it. However, when the safety car was deployed, the Red Bull duo had just switched to the soft tyres; when Alonso stopped, he dropped behind again.

Hamilton happily sprinted ahead while the trio was battling it out. He needed a gap of 27 seconds to retain the lead when he stopped to change to the mandatory softs, but was only 25.2 seconds ahead of Vettel on lap 52 when he finally pitted. Vettel took the lead as Hamilton rejoined ahead of Ricciardo and Alonso. Fortunately for Hamilton, Vettel’s tyres were worn out by then, and the Briton streaked ahead to his seventh victory with a 13.5-second lead, and gaining a three-point lead ahead of Mercedes teammate Rosberg for the season's championship title.

Vettel’s second place win in Singapore is the best performance of the season so far for the four-time world champion who has been struggling in this 2014 season, managing only two third places before Singapore while his less experienced teammate, Ricciardo, has been surprising the Formula 1 world with three victories in what is only his first season with Red Bull. 

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