SEBASTIAN Vettel and Max Verstappen started on the front row after rain influenced qualifying sessions at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend.
Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen were in the second row, with the Mercedes team of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the third row.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN : Track Torque: ‘The challenge around the city’
As the lights went out, Vettel cut across Verstappen’s nose and into the fast-approaching Raikkonen and on the inside the straight running Max Verstappen.
This caused another first lap accident taking out Verstappen, Raikkonen and Vettel.
Fernando Alonso got tangled up in this crash and had to also retire eventually.
Hamilton could hardly believe his luck, being gifted with this opportunity from Vettel.
Hamilton went from fifth place to first place, a position he maintained throughout the race.
Ricciardo of Red Bull was a close second.
The safety car came out with Hamilton and Ricciardo on intermediate rain tyres, while the others were using Pirelli’s full wet tyres.
Bottas was in third position at this stage.
Daniil Kvyat in his Toro Rosso had an unfortunate accident, losing it on the narrow pre-war bridge and ended up in the tyre barriers, thus becoming a sixth competitor to retire from the race.
It caused further disruptions and a second safety car had to be called out.
Just about everybody pitted for fresh intermediate tyres, but Hamilton and Bottas opted to stay out.
The safety car came out for a third time after Marcus Ericsson switched to dry tyres, spun and parked his Sauber where it needed a crane to be retrieved.
Once again Hamilton got the jump on Ricciardo on the restart ending his hopes of snatching the lead.
Mercedes instructed Hamilton to slow down to save the car thus allowing him to have an easy race to the end.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN : Track Torque: Hamilton’s Monza win sees him take championship lead
Hamilton could not be caught and thus secured his seventh win of the season.
Ricciardo finished second, with Bottas third and Jolyan Paler fourth in the Renault.
The Malaysian Grand Prix is in two weeks’ time with practice starting on September 29.
The main race is on October 1 and will prove to be a big event, sorting out the boys from the men.
There are five more races after that.
Standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton 263; 2 Sebastian Vettel 235; 3 Valtteri Bottas 212; 4 Daniel Ricciardo 162; 5 Kimi Raikkonen 138.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
For news straight to your phone, add us on BBM 58F3D7A7 or WhatsApp 082 421 6033
