Track Torque: Lewis in the limelight in Singapore
The night race was a highlight on the calendar.
LEWIS Hamilton won a convincing race under the lights at the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore last Sunday.
He led virtually from pole position to finish, but had to fight hard at the end after a late pit stop for new tyres to regain the lead from Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel, in turn, finished in a very well earned second position after starting third on the grid behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who, this time, finished behind the multiple world champion.
It was a job well done by the Red Bull Renaults, but the sad news of the day was that poor Nico Rosberg had a problem on the start line with his electronics which affected the operation of the clutch.
This forced him to start from the pit lane and later he had to retire. He was never really in the race.
Fernando Alonso put in a big effort for Ferrari and was the fastest in the final practice run before qualifying, where he managed to put his car in fifth position on the grid with teammate Kimi Raikkonen seventh.
In the race he did well to come home in fourth place, with Ferrari now performing better than previously.
We hope they are on the road to recovery against the opposition.
The Williams Mercedes duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas was split on the grid and in the race, with Massa the man to shine this time.
He was sixth on the grid and moved one place up into fifth position in the final race order, driving a very good race.
In sixth position was Jean-Eric Vergne, who drove out of his skin all weekend in an effort to secure a seat in grand prix racing for next year, now that he has lost his seat at Toro Rosso to the young Dutch whiz-kid Max Verstappen. He did extremely well.
Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, in the two Force Indias with Mercedes engines, were separated by Raikonnen’s Ferrari. Kevin Magnussen came home in the last scoring position in his McLaren Mercedes after teammate Jenson Button had to quit seven laps from the end, while in seventh place. Bad luck for the Brit.
In the latter part of the race we had also seen an excellent duel between the two flying Finns, Raikkonen in the Ferrari and Bottas in the Williams.
Bottas looked good to finish in sixth place but slid wide on the final lap and dropped down to 11th position, out of the points. Another unlucky man, considering the hard work.
Hamilton’s fans are all very happy to see that his victory takes him to 241 points in the championship, three points ahead of Rosberg, with Ricciardo third on 181 and Alonso fourth on 133.
In the constructors’ championships, Mercedes now has 479 points while Red Bull has 305, Williams 187 and Ferrari 178.
The next race is in Japan on October 5.
Race: 1 Lewis Hamilton; 2 Sebastian Vettel; 3 Daniel Ricciardo; 4 Fernando Alonso; 5 Felipe Massa; 6 Jean-Eric Vergne; 7 Sergio Perez; 8 Kimi Raikkonen; 9 Nico Hulkenberg; 10 Kevin Magnussen.
