F1 2014 / Race / Singapore

A hard fought win for some and a bitter pill to swallow for others, Singapore may have robbed us on yet another promised duel but the race did heat up the championship fight even more.

After the amazingly close qualifying where Lewis Hamilton snatched poll from his team mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.007 seconds. We all watch in anticipation of what promised to be an epic battle between the two Mercedes driver. But even before the race began it was clear that we were once again going to have to wait for this fight as the reliability plagued Mercedes again and a system wide fault in Rosberg’s electrics forced him to start from the pits with a new steering wheel and rebooted system. 

Unfortunately this did not mean we would get to see the young german fight his way to the top as it was soon clear he was unable to get the car to reset properly and soon retired after struggling to keep pace with the back markers.

With the battle for first pretty much won, other than a safety car period bringing the pack back together briefly, it was the battle for the top five spots that provided the most action. Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo struggled to catch his team mate Sebastian Vettel due to a fault in his energy recovery system still managed to come in third behind his team mate as the pair took the bulk of constructors points, eating into Mercedes lead. 

Meanwhile Fernando Alonso yet again manage to out drive his Ferraris performance to bring home fourth ahead of former teammate Felipe Massa in the Williams. Jean-Eric Vergne, Sergio Perez, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen filling out the top ten. 

Jenson Button once again seems to have come out the biggest loser when he was forced to retire after what was a very good drive. His strategy taking him up to second at one point in the race and lending towards a possible to five finish. 

Race Results

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 60 laps 2hr 00m 04.795s 
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 13.5s 
3. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 14.2s 
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 15.3s 
5. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes +00m 42.1s 
6. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault +00m 56.8s* 
7. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes +00m 59.0s 
8. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 00.6s 
9. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 01.6s 
10. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes +01m 02.2 

11. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes +01m 05.0s 
12. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault +01m 06.9s 
13. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +01m 08.0s 
14. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault +01m 12.0s 
15, Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault +01m 34.1s 
16. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari +01m 34.5s 
17. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Ferrari +1 lap 

Rtd Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 52 laps completed 
Rtd Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari 40 laps completed 
Rtd Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 17 laps completed 
Rtd Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 13 laps completed 
Rtd Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault 0 laps completed 

* includes 5secs post-race penalty 

Fastest lap: 
Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 50.417s lap 39 
all results unofficial

As the points now stand Hamilton leads Rosberg by just three points. With Ricciardo still within reach, just 60 points behind, if reliability page Mercedes in Japan and he takes double points in the final race. As for the rest of the grid, any real hope seems too far from reality but the fight for the constructors is where the money lys for the teams. 

Drivers Points

Is this the end of Rosberg’s championship fight or will he come back to beat Hamilton in Suzuka?  Let us know in the comments below or join the conversation in the Forums.
Images, results: Crash.net
Roger Baillie (Twitter @Rojn8r)