Lewis Hamilton WINS the Singapore Grand Prix – Vettel THIRD for Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton wins the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position, increasing his drivers title lead over third place Sebastian Vettel by 10 points.

Lewis Hamilton delivered a terrific left hook to Ferrari  in qualifying by taking pole position for today’s 2018 Singapore Grand Prix, and he turned that in to a knockout punch today, winning the race and increasing his lead in the drivers title race, with Vettel only managing third place.

Vettel managed to pass Verstappen on the opening lap, just before a safety car after a coming together between the two Force Indias, but Ferrari threw that away by blinking first and bringing Vettel in for ultra-softs on lap 14, but Hamilton made hay on the next lap, pitted for softs and came out still ahead, with Vettel languishing behind Perez.

That delay behind Perez left Vettel vulnerable when Verstappen pitted on lap 18, and the Dutchman came out between Hamilton and Vettel, and that’s how its stayed, almost upset by Verstappen’s crack at Hamilton when the Mercedes was held up by backmarkers, but Hamilton managed the issue and drove to victory.

Behind the top three it was Bottas in fourth for Mercedes and Raikkonen in fifth, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing where he started and Fernando Alonso delivering what must have felt like a win for McLaren with a seventh place finish. The final points places went to Sainz, Lecelrc and Hulkenberg.

But it wasn’t an exciting race, with the pace dictated by a dominant Hamilton at the front to manage tyres. If only Ferrari hadn’t made such a mess of their strategy it could have been very different.