Hamilton supreme in Singapore to take title lead

Lewis Hamilton took a superbly dominant victory under the lights of the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore which looked closer than it ever really was. He got a perfect start from pole position and took a comfortable lead for the early part of the race.

The tyre degradation all the teams faced amid the humid temperatures meant most went for a three stop strategy which was thrown out of the window when the safety car came out on lap 31 for debris strewn across the track after Sergio Perez’s Force India lost its front wing underneath the car following contact with the Sauber of Adrian Sutil.

Hamilton had only stopped for the second time for his third set of super softs five laps previously and stayed out on track. All his immediate competitors had pitted either just before or during the safety car period for the more durable soft tyres and were now trying to make it to the end without a third stop.

Even if Hamilton could have made the super softs last he would have had to stop again to take on the soft tyres as he hadn’t used them yet. After a race in which the action had been relatively sedate compared to recent Grand Prix, the chase was now on. When the safety car came in at the start of lap 38 of 61 Lewis had to make a gap of 28 seconds to come out still in the lead.

Behind him Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso circled closely together on the slower soft tyre but could, just perhaps, be in front of the Mercedes driver once he pitted. As is so often said on the team radio, it was ‘Hammertime’ and the #44 Merc flawed it while at the same time trying to stretch his super-softs as far as they could go.

Despite several reassurances from his team Lewis kept on doubting he’d be able to make it as far as they wanted him to go, but keep on going he did and at such a pace he was often over three seconds a lap faster than his pursuers. By lap 52 with his tyres near to breaking point he was still going faster than his rivals but no longer by enough. He pitted for the final time and exited behind Vettel but crucially ahead of Ricciardo and Alonso.

In truth even if he had come out behind them he was on such fresher rubber that he’d have cruised ahead with not much trouble but it would have eked out the tension just that little bit more. As it was he was nearing two seconds behind Vettel when he came out of the pits but by turn 6 on the very next lap he shot through a tightening gap in the DRS zone and from there the race was his.

He maximised his opportunity today and was never really troubled at all. Significantly Lewis also for just the second time of the year headed the championship table with a three point gap to his team mate Nico Rosberg. The race could have been so much different if it hadn’t been for a technical problem that robbed Rosberg of the ability to even pull away from the line on the formation lap.

He did manage to get going from the pit lane but despite having had a steering wheel change, could not engage first gear at the start, the gear changes would go up two at a time, his DRS couldn’t be enabled and it hurt his energy recovery systems. He failed to make much progress, stuck behind Marcus Ericsson for some time before pitting. His problem meant he had no pit lane speed limiter so practically crept into his pit box, but could not re-engage first gear and that was that for the day.

After such a close qualifying when he’d failed to get pole by just 0.007 this was expected to be quite the showdown, but if anyone believes in karma then Nico is certainly getting his back on him since Spa. A 29 point lead after Belgium is now a three point deficit. There are still 150 points left to play for including the stupid double points race in Abu Dhabi, but the momentum is with Lewis now and after the race Nico certainly looked crestfallen as he faces the prospect of having to chase down the fastest man in the sport.

Has the tide now swung definitively in Lewis’ favour? That can’t be judged yet but despite the mental strength that Nico has shown this year, he now trails Lewis in points and by four wins to seven. Another defeat in Japan and could it all be game over? Not mathematically, the Mercedes performance advantage is still strong over the rest of the field, this will go to the last but mentally it could be the finishing move. The only thing both have to worry about is reliability and that could still be a crucial deciding factor.

As for Lewis he looked supremely confident after the race, he looked like a man who knew he’d made a statement of intent. Presuming no mechanical issues then it’s going to be very tough for him to get knocked off the points lead for a second time.

Vettel suffered a troubled weekend again but still came away with second. He lost a lot of time in practice, had issues in qualifying that left him over driving the car and throwing away a possible tilt at pole position. He lined up fourth behind Ricciardo but after Rosberg’s issue he had an open gap to attack down to the first corner.

He made sure he was the first Red Bull there and once Alonso gave up his second place after over shooting the first turn from fifth on the grid he managed to maintain a strong second place right through to the second stops.

Alonso undercut Vettel at the second time of asking resulting in Vettel being the first to put on the soft tyres on lap 25 with the aim of a long stint followed by the super softs to potentially attack Hamilton who appeared to still be in range. However, when the safety car came out the Ferrari came back in to put softs on as well, exiting behind Vettel and Ricciardo who was suffering some sort of intermittent problem.

They ran second, third and fourth to the flag with Vettel only moving into the lead for a single lap, amazingly the first time he's been out in front all year. They held their tyres together, but none more impressive than Vettel who made them last for 35 laps. One more lap and he may have been in trouble but luckily the last lap was dropped as the race timed out at two hours thanks to the safety car problem.

Everyone in qualifying looked closer to the Mercedes cars, especially the Ferrari’s and particularly Kimi Raikkonen who looked like he could have had an attack at a top three spot if it hadn’t been for an engine problem in Q3. Kimi has no luck other than bad in 2014 and while he sometimes looked fast during the race, lucked out in the pit stops to end up only eighth.

Alonso kept the good pace up during the race so there were things to be happy about at last but still no match for the Mercedes. Behind this trio, Felipe Massa ran the same strategy but didn’t have the pace in fifth while his Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas was running sixth but just ran out of grip on the last lap when everyone came by. He came home only 11^th. The Force India’s came charging through with Perez having had a nose change coming back to finish seventh, once again ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in ninth.

Kevin Magnussen produced a heroic drive while being cooked in the cockpit of his McLaren. While Jenson Button retired towards the end with a technical problem after a solid opening lap charge, Magnussen suffered burns which he had to have checked out after the race. So hot was it in the cockpit he even claimed his drinks bottle was burning his mouth. A point was the least he deserved.

Esteban Gutierrez retired for Sauber but felt he could have had a point and Marcus Ericsson had his best race of the year as he beat the Marussia’s for the first time. The Lotuses also looked potential point scorers but ran out of grip while Daniil Kvyat had probably his least convincing performance to date as he suffered dehydration due to his drinks bottle packing up on the formation lap. A skinny lad, it showed just how on the edge a lot of drivers are on weight due to the heavier energy recovery technology requiring drivers to have the minimum of fat on them. Thankfully the weight limit of the cars is to rise next year.

The last five laps were the boiling point of the race and Jean-Eric Vergne was the hero as he fought his way into the points. After suffering a five second penalty for exceeding track limits he received another to be added to his race time. He took full advantage of his fresher rubber, one of the few to remain on a three stopper.

With the Bottas train circulating slowly, he cruised up to the back of them before taking in quick succession Hulkenberg, Perez, and then an absolutely beautiful opportunistic move on Kimi into the first turn and then in a rush, he easily got ahead of Bottas. He pushed on so his five second penalty wouldn’t drop him back and pulled out the gap within two laps to secure his best finish of the year and remind people what a racer he can be. It was a result he needed and for once firmly put Kvyat in the shade at Toro Rosso.

So onwards to Japan and the wonderful Suzuka track in two weeks time. The title battle has swung in Lewis’ favour but he and Rosberg know it can swing back just as easily.