With the European leg of the Formula One tour concluded, the motorsport spectacle heads back to the Far East for the original night race in Singapore. Join The Roar for a live blog, starting from 10:10pm AEST.
Always dubbed the ‘Monaco of the East’, the Singapore Grand Prix is a gruelling endurance test, conducted on one of the most technical circuits on the calendar, as well as hottest in weather terms.
The 5km concrete jungle is unforgiving and with a 100 per cent Safety Car record since the inaugural race back in 2008, the 61-lap race is always laden with chaos and runs close to the two-hour time limit.
Lap times are set to tumble, if the weather stays dry, with the introduction of the hypersoft tyre to this event.
It’ll join the ultrasoft and soft compounds, as Mercedes AMG looks to favour the soft tyre over Ferrari’s more aggressive choices.
30-points separate Lewis Hamilton in the championship from Sebastian Vettel, which is three times as much as the lead was twelve months ago heading into this event.
Despite Vettel’s impeccable record in Singapore being favourable, the memories from 2017’s first corner implosion doesn’t sit well at all.
Ferrari once again held the ascendency over Mercedes AMG in practice, but has the previous races including Monza has shown – Hamilton and the Silver Arrows will grab any opportunity with both hands.
However, in a big shock to everyone, it was Hamilton who strung together the lap of the season to claim pole position, leaving Vettel not only in second – but in third behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Such was the margin between the two title protagonists, that there were six tenths separating the reigning world champion from the Ferrari driver.
The top six positions were locked out by the top three teams, with Daniel Ricciardo locking out sixth, as he seeks to reverse the luck that has seen him retire from four of the last six races.
Force India once again had both cars in the top ten, with Sergio Perez leading the best of the rest category from Haas’ Romain Grosjean.
Seven of the ten races in Singapore have been won from pole position, so has Hamilton already got one hand on the winner’s trophy and also on the 2018 championship?
It’s one of the most spectacular races on the calendar and the most challenging. Tune in from 10:10pm AEST on The Roar for live blog coverage of what is expected to be another stellar Singapore Grand Prix.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Thanks again for tuning in to this live blog of the Singapore Grand Prix. I'll be back on The Roar for the Russian Grand Prix in a fortnight's time, on the weekend of both Grand Finals for AFL and NRL. Until then, ciao.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Thoughts on the race then Roarers? 40-points seems a difficult deficit to recover from for Vettel now and it may require a DNF or two from Hamilton, to bring Ferrari back into this title hunt.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 281 - Lewis Hamilton 241 - Sebastian Vettel 174 - Kimi Räikkönen 171 - Valtteri Bottas 148 - Max Verstappen 126 - Daniel Ricciardo 53 -- Nico Hulkenberg 50 -- Fernando Alonso 49 -- Kevin Magnussen 46 -- Sergio Perez 45 -- Esteban Ocon 38 -- Carlos Sainz 28 -- Pierre Gasly 27 -- Romain Grosjean 15 -- Charles Leclerc 8 --- Stoffel Vandoorne 6 --- Marcus Ericsson 6 --- Lance Strol 2 --- Brendon Hartley 1 --- Sergey Sirotkin
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 452 - Mercedes AMG 415 - Scuderia Ferrari 274 - Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 91 -- Renault Sport 76 -- Haas Ferrari 58 -- McLaren Renault 32 -- Racing Point Force India Mercedes 30 -- Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda 21 -- Alfa Romeo Sauber 7 --- Williams Mercedes
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RACE REPORT Lewis Hamilton made it back-to-backs wins on the streets of the Marina Bay, winning a peerless Singapore Grand Prix from pole position and extending his lead in the championship to 40-points. In what was another race expected to be one to favour Ferrari, it was the Silver Arrows who showed their rivals in red why they are the reigning world champions, starting with Hamilton’s season defining pole lap. Sebastian Vettel passed the second placed Max Verstappen on the first lap of the race, though another failed attempt at a pit-stop undercut and decision to take on the ultrasoft tyres, meant that the German ended up behind the Red Bull after the pit-stops. The top three then endured lonely affairs for the remainder of the race, despite having to negotiate lapped traffic, which had almost caused issues for Hamilton and had given a faint chance to Verstappen. Only one Safety Car appeared during the 61-lap race, following a collision between the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon of which the latter had his race ended after three corners. Perez went on, though a strategic error that put him behind the lacklustre Williams cars and a drive-through penalty for tagging Sergey Sirotkin, saw the Mexican finish down in sixteenth. Sirotkin himself was involved in a few incidents, having firstly been criticised for not moving out of Perez’s way and then taking a 5-second penalty for forcing Brendon Hartley off the track. Valtteri Bottas held off Kimi Räikkönen to fourth, as the Ferrari driver made a late charge on the Mercedes AMG, as did Daniel Ricciardo who couldn’t advance from sixth. Benefactors of the Force India implosion was the Spanish duo of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz who were seventh and eighth, as McLaren for the first time since Melbourne finished as best of the rest; behind the top three teams. Charles Leclerc was in the points for Sauber once again, with an impressive ninth and the final points paying position was taken by Nico Hulkenberg, who denied the late-stopping duo of Marcus Ericsson and Stoffel Vandoorne.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
POST-RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by David Coulthard HAMILTON - "I'm spent, that was a tough race." "We had a great start and the team have never given up." "I think I was a bit unlucky with the traffic and the guys wouldn't let me by." VERSTAPPEN - "Shame from the first lap, but from there the team had a great strategy." "At the end, we knew second would be the best result." VETTEL - "We were not fast enough and we tried to be aggressive in the beginning and it didn't work." "Today the way we raced, we didn't have a chance."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 61-LAP SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 1 L. Hamilton 2 M. Verstappen 3 S. Vettel 4 V. Bottas 5 K. Räikkönen 6 D. Ricciardo 7 F. Alonso 8 C. Sainz 9 C. Leclerc 10 N. Hulkenberg 11 M. Ericsson 12 S. Vandoorne 13 R. Grosjean 14 P. Gasly 15 L. Strol 16 S. Perez 17 B. Hartley 18 K. Magnussen 19 S. Sirotkin RET E. Ocon
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX! A dominant victory for the Briton sees him beat Max Verstappen who finishes a lonely second. And third is no consolation for Sebastian Vettel, who was left ruing in the wake a strong weekend for their title rivals.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 61/61: FINAL LAP
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60/61: Vandoorne in a last minute scrap with Ericsson for P11, rather than the points over which they were battling over prior to their pit-stops.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 59/61: 3 LAPS TO GO
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 58/61: Hulkenberg laps Sirotkin, which puts the Williams now in the way of Bottas, as the Mercedes AMG still tries to fend off the challenge from Räikkönen.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 57/61: 5 LAPS TO GO
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 56/61: Bottas unhappy about the lack of blue flags being shown to Hulkenberg, though the Renault seems out of range from the Mercedes AMG. Hardly holding him up?
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 55/61: Räikkönen still very much within a second of Bottas, as the laps begin to run out for the Iceman to make a move.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 54/61: Ricciardo has all of a sudden dropped off from his challenge on Räikkönen.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 53/61: Ricciardo now within the DRS range of Räikkönen, as Bottas' P4 is going to be contested by the Red Bull as well as the Ferrari.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 52/61: Magnussen now with the fastest lap of the race and lap record; 1:41.905. More like a glory lap, being on fresh tyres down in P18.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 51/61: Räikkönen suddenly finds himself within a second of Bottas, as the two Finns look set to lock horns for fourth. Ricciardo also looking to join this fight from sixth.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 50/61: Fastest lap of the race from Ricciardo with a 1:43.335.