For two races in a row, Lewis
Hamilton has won Grand Prix that he arguably shouldn’t have. After stealing the
Italian Grand Prix from under Ferrari noses, Hamilton produced another dominant
display in Singapore, seeing off the challenge of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to
increase his lead in the title race over arch rival Sebastian Vettel, who could
only finish third.
With Ferrari calling him in for
fresh rubber on lap 14, he was unable to make the undercut on Hamilton work,
ending up behind Verstappen after the first round of pit stops. From
then on, Vettel was in damage limitation mode, as he was forced to watch on as
his 2018 championship hopes took a further hit. As the chequered flag fell on
Hamilton’s 69th career win, the British driver earned himself 25 points to
Vettel’s 15, the gap between them in the drivers’ standings now up to a full 40
points.
Behind the podium finishers,
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas just managed to hold off his fellow Finn Kimi
Raikkonen for fourth place as Daniel Ricciardo, who’d come away from qualifying
puzzled at his lack of pace, could only manage sixth. Further down the
order, it was a great day for McLaren, as Fernando Alonso used his free choice
of tyres resulting from qualifying 11th to end up seventh and ‘best of the
rest’ in the race, ahead of the Renault of Carlos Sainz, while Charles Leclerc
put in yet another impressive 2018 race performance, the newly-minted Ferrari
driver ending up P9.
The
second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten, but ultimately, once
again they day belonged to Mercedes and Hamilton who once again triumphed on a
track that was not expected to suit the W09.
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