2014 Formula 1 : Hamilton wins Singapore Grand Prix

2014 Formula 1 - Singapore Grand Prix Winner : #44 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

• Hamilton wins despite safety car eroding lead
• Rosberg retires after electrical issue
• Vettel second and Ricciardo third ahead of Alonso and Massa

Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix and took the championship lead as team-mate Nico Rosberg retired early in the race.

It was the perfect result for Hamilton to take maximum points despite having to overtake Sebastian Vettel in the final ten laps after a safety car allowed many cars to attempt a two-stop race. Vettel held on for second place from team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso.

Rosberg's troubles started before he had even made it to the grid, with Mercedes calling him back in to the garage for a steering wheel change. The issue was an electrical one relating to the gearbox, and it couldn't be resolved on the grid as Rosberg was left stranded in neutral as the field pulled away on the formation lap.

With Rosberg then starting from the pit lane, Hamilton got away in the lead while Alonso made a strong start up to second. However the Ferrari went wide at Turn 1 and conceded the place to Vettel who had beaten Ricciardo off the line. Rosberg got away in last place and struggled to pass Max Chilton before being stuck behind Marcus Ericsson and retiring when he was unable to pull away from his first pit stop.

Hamilton had built up a solid lead over Alonso when Sergio Perez's front wing failed following contact with Adrian Sutil, causing the safety car to be deployed. With the two Red Bulls already on soft tyres, Alonso pitted for softs to drop to fourth but Hamilton stayed out and had to build a gap on supersofts before his final stop.

A string of impressive laps saw Hamilton almost create the gap he needed, with his final stop seeing him come out between Vettel and Ricciardo, with an overtake on the lead Red Bull following at high speed using DRS.

Felipe Massa was a lonely fifth place after making a two-stop race work, but behind him team-mate Valtteri Bottas' tyres suffered a huge drop in performance on teh final lap and he dropped from sixth to 11th.

Bottas had been holding off Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen until Button stopped late in the race, and behind Raikkonen a train started to form as the Williams' top speed kept them at bay.

Jean-Eric Vergne was hit with a five-second stop/go penalty for gaining an advantage by exceeding track limits and was by far the most aggressive driver when he reached the pack behind Bottas, forcing his way ahead of Nico Hulkenberg before passing Raikkonen with a hugely impressive move down the inside of Turn 1.

Bottas was soon dispatched by Vergne as well, and the Toro Rosso was then quickly able to build up the five-second gap he needed to ensure he stayed a hugely impressive sixth at the chequered flag despite his penalty and four pit stops.

With Bottas suffering a nightmare last lap, Sergio Perez came through to take seventh ahead of Raikkonen, Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.

Hamilton took the chequered flag after 60 laps as the two-hour time limit was reached, with his victory seeing him turn a 22-point deficit in to a lead of three points in the standings, with Ricciardo now 60 points adrift.

17 of the 22 cars finished the race, though Kamui Kobayashi didn't make the start as he parked his Caterham on the formation lap. A double-DNF for Sauber ensures Marussia remains ninth in the constructors' championship.        

2014 Formula 1 : Singapore Airline Singapore Grand Prix

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	60	Winner	1	25
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	60	+13.5 secs	4	18
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	60	+14.2 secs	3	15
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	60	+15.3 secs	5	12
5	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	60	+42.1 secs	6	10
6	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	60	+56.8 secs	12	8
7	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	60	+59.0 secs	15	6
8	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	60	+60.6 secs	7	4
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	60	+61.6 secs	13	2
10	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	60	+62.2 secs	9	1
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes		+65.0 secs	8
12	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault		+66.9 secs	18
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault		+68.0 secs	16
14	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault		+72.0 secs	10
15	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault		+94.1 secs	22
16	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari		+94.5 secs	19
17	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari		+1 Lap	21
Ret	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		+8 Lap	11
Ret	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari		+20 Laps	17
Ret	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari		+43 Laps	14
Ret	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes		+47 Laps	2
Ret	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault		+ secs	20

2014 Formula 1 : Drivers' Championship Standing

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	British	Mercedes	241
2	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	238
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	Red Bull Racing-Renault	181
4	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	133
5	Sebastian Vettel	German	Red Bull Racing-Renault	124
6	Valtteri Bottas	Finnish	Williams-Mercedes	122
7	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	72
8	Nico Hulkenberg	German	Force India-Mercedes	72
9	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Williams-Mercedes	65
10	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Force India-Mercedes	45
11	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	45
12	Kevin Magnussen	Danish	McLaren-Mercedes	39
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	French	STR-Renault	19
14	Romain Grosjean	French	Lotus-Renault	8
15	Daniil Kvyat	Russian	STR-Renault	8
16	Jules Bianchi	French	Marussia-Ferrari	2
17	Adrian Sutil	German	Sauber-Ferrari	0
18	Marcus Ericsson	Swedish	Caterham-Renault	0
19	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Lotus-Renault	0
20	Esteban Gutierrez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	0
21	Max Chilton	British	Marussia-Ferrari	0
22	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Caterham-Renault	0
23	Andre Lotterer	German	Caterham-Renault	0

2014 Formula 1 : Teams' Championship Standing

Pos	Team	Points
1	Mercedes	479
2	Red Bull Racing-Renault	305
3	Williams-Mercedes	187
4	Ferrari	178
5	Force India-Mercedes	117
6	McLaren-Mercedes	111
7	STR-Renault	27
8	Lotus-Renault	8
9	Marussia-Ferrari	2
10	Sauber-Ferrari	0
11	Caterham-Renault	0

 [Source : F1, DAIMLER, CRASH.NET]