Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix from Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas in what was the first ever wet Formula 1 night race, taking the race to the full two-hour limit.
A first lap crash between Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen saw Vettel – Hamilton’s championship rival – eliminated that the first corner, increasing the Brit’s championship lead to 28 points.
For its tenth anniversary, the race would start in wet conditions. Many teams split their strategies. Vettel, Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Bottas, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll and Romain Grosjean started on the intermediates, the rest instead opting for wets.
Despite messages over the radio complaining of low visibility, the race started as scheduled. Having the best start of all, Raikkonen went down the inside of Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver was trapped by Vettel squeezing the pair from the other direction – a move which saw all three eliminated. Verstappen also collected Alonso at the first corner.
Although Vettel continued, he spun on the exit of Turn 3 while leading. There was considerable side-pod damage to the Ferrari – with fluid pouring out the back of the car – which ultimately saw him retire. The accident brought out the safety car, and the cars were brought through the pitlane to avoid the debris.
Under the safety car Hamilton was leading from Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Bottas and Jolyon Palmer in sixth.
When the safety car came in at the end of Lap 4 Palmer went down the inside of Bottas for fifth at Turn 1. Bottas was quickly under pressure from Vandoorne. A wounded Alonso let the two Williams ahead on Lap 7 – the team losing data from the car after his hit at the first corner at the start. The McLaren driver retired a couple of laps later.
With the rain no longer falling in Singapore, Bottas on the intermediate tyre was catching Palmer on the wets. Further down the order Magnussen on wets in 10th was holding up Kvyat and Stroll on the intermediates, which were clearly the faster tyre. Kvyat got ahead before Turn 4, but then immediately went into the wall, bringing out the safety car for the second time.
Ricciardo pitted for another set of the intermediates under the safety car, while Perez switched from the wets to the intermediates along with team-mate Ocon. The stops elevated Hulkenberg to second and Palmer to fourth, both still on the wet tyres.
Both Renault’s stopped a lap later, each taking a set of the intermediates. Hulkenberg fell to fifth, with Palmer in seventh. Vandoorne stopped as well, and got out just ahead of Massa in ninth, although the two touched. Massa was still on the wets and yet to stop.
The order under the safety car on Lap 13 was Hamilton from Ricciardo, Bottas, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Perez, Palmer, Stroll, Vandoorne and Massa.
Racing resumed on Lap 15 with no major challenges at the restart. Massa was struggling on the wets, which helped Magnussen overtake Ocon a lap later. Massa and Magnussen touched wheels down Raffles Boulevard on Lap 17, but the Haas driver slipped through at Turn 7. Massa, who had fallen to the back of the field, pitted for a set of the intermediate tyres a lap later.
Even though Hamilton was on old intermediates, he pulled out a 2.9 second gap to Ricciardo with a dry line starting to appear. Vandoorne had overtaken Stroll for eighth. The Williams locked up into Turn 5 and ran wide allowing the McLaren to make an easy pass.
Magnussen was the first to pit for ultrasoft tyres on Lap 25, with Massa following on the same lap. Neither were instantly fast on their slick tyres, with Massa lapped by an ever faster Hamilton. Williams pitted Stroll on Lap 27 after Massa confirmed it was the right tyre.
That decision was then verified by Magnussen setting personal best sector times on the ultrasoft, and then the fastest overall first sector. Toro Rosso pitted Sainz from fourth, and McLaren the same with Vandoorne from eighth, but it was a slow stop. Grosjean and Ocon also pitted, with Magnussen jumping the pair of them in the pitstop sequence.
Ricciardo pitted a lap later, along with Bottas, Hulkenberg and Perez. Having yet stopped, it elevated Palmer to a temporary second. Hamilton pitted on Lap 30, with the Mercedes emerging a long way ahead of Riccairdo. Palmer also pitted on the same lap and came out ahead of Vandoorne. With his tyres not up to temperature, Palmer was under pressure from the McLaren, but remained ahead in seventh.
Having overtaken a supersoft shod Toro Rosso of Sainz, Hulkenberg closed in on the back of Bottas, which later increased again when the Mercedes got up to speed on the slick rubber. Sainz was quickly under pressure from Perez.
Marcus Ericsson hit the wall on the Anderson Bridge, blocking the track which brought out the safety car for the third time on Lap 39, much to the dismay of Hamilton. Massa decided to pit for a new set of the ultrasoft tyres, the Williams driver effectively having a free pit stop.
Of the leading pack, Hulkenberg pitted for a hydraulic problem with the Renault. Following a long delay in the pits, Hulkenberg rejoined in tenth, with Ocon and Magnussen also pitting behind the Renault.
When the Sauber was recovered, the safety car came in with 27 minutes of the race remaining on Lap 42. Hamilton quickly built a two-second gap to Ricciardo, who in turn was over a second clear of Bottas. Hamilton lost 2.5 seconds to Ricciardo after the team said they wanted to keep the field compressed so others couldn’t take a free pit stop if there was another safety car.
After Hamilton queried that with the team, he was allowed to set his own pace, and pulled out the gap once again. Bottas remained in touch with the Red Bull to keep the pressure on Ricciardo.
Hulkenberg retired from tenth in the Renault on Lap 49 – a result of his hydraulic issues – while Magnussen also retired with a MGU-K failure.
The action calmed down towards the end of the race, which saw Hamilton able to control the pace, over four seconds clear of Ricciardo and Bottas at the flag. Sainz in what could be his last weekend in a Toro Rosso was a distant fourth from Perez in fifth and Palmer in sixth. Vandoorne, Stroll, Grosjean and Ocon rounded out the top ten.
