Lewis Hamilton moved into a 28-point championship lead by winning the Singapore Grand Prix on a disastrous day for Ferrari.
His top championship rival Sebastian Vettel was eliminated on the first lap of the race following a crash which also claimed the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Hamilton swept around Daniel Ricciardo at the start to lead the race and the pair finished in that order through a total of three Safety Car periods due to various incidents. Valtteri Bottas rose to join them on the podium.
Nico Hulkenberg was on course for fourth place until technical problems forced him out. That promoted his future Renault team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr to a best-ever finish of fourth.
Renault had one car home in the points as the under-fire Jolyon Palmer claimed his best finish with sixth. He followed home Sergio Perez, who was the highest finisher to have started the race on full wet weather tyres.
Stoffel Vandoorne took seventh for McLaren after pursuing Palmer. Lance Stroll, Romain Grosjean and Esteban Ocon completed the points-scorers. Felipe Massa, one of the first drivers to switch to slicks, and Pascal Wehrlein were the only other runners at the end.
Following the first restart the subsequent Safety Car periods were triggered after separate crashes for Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson. The latter spun to a stop on the Andersen Bridge and his damaged Sauber took several laps to recover.
2017 Singapore Grand Prix reaction
- Check back shortly for more race reaction
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 15:15
I just don’t know what to say… Every time, every single effin’ time a podium looks possible a ridiculous issue stops Hulk from getting it. Every time. He’s like the Chris Amon of podiums. Last year, at Monaco he gets given a worse strategy so Perez gets handed the podium even though Hulk was ahead, and then at Brazil he hits a bit of debris that wasn’t cleared up and gets puncture. And now this. And that’s not even looking at races before 2016. I just can’t comprehend how unlucky this guy is. It’s ridiculous.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
17th September 2017, 15:33
He could’ve gotten that podium in Baku or Brazil 2012 if he hadn’t blew those chances away. Hard to feel sorry for Hulk after all the bad luck his team mate has gone through this season.
NeutronStar
17th September 2017, 15:38
@huhhii While I agree with your mention of the opportunities Hulk has missed, it’s ridiculous to bring Palmer into this discussion since that’s completely besides the point. Jolyon never was in podium contention in all those retirements you’re so keen to point out, was he?
The simple fact is, that although Hulk HAS missed opportunities, he has also suffered bad luck a ridiculous number of times, especially when he seems to be performing really well. You can’t argue with that.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
18th September 2017, 9:23
@NeutronStar Of course Hulk has to be compared to his team mate when regarding bad luck, especially now when we’re talking about technical problems. Hulk hasn’t really retired due to technical problems up until now whereas Palmer has had difficulties to finish practice sessions let alone races because of technical problems at nearly every GP weekend. They haven’t cost Palmer podiums but Hulk can consider himself lucky he doesn’t have a reliability of his team mate.
Aaditya (@neutronstar)
18th September 2017, 11:14
@huhhii You are correct when you say that Hulkenberg has been much luckier than Palmer, but again, that has absolutely nothing to do with what Hugh was pointing out. The point is that at least half of his podium chances (scarce as they are) have been ended by bad luck, or in other words, bad luck loves to strike him when he’s performing really well.
No one is complaining about Hulk’s overall career luck or specifically his luck this season, which has been fairly decent in my opinion.
Anyway, I do believe that he’ll score that elusive podium this season.
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 15:41
Baku he was off the pace, Brazil okay it was his mistake but still, it was a little slide and if Hamilton didn’t have to duck to the inside to overtake the backmarkers there wouldn’t have been contact and Hulk would’ve still been on the podium. Either way, you can’t deny that he’s deserved about 5 podiums over his career that have gone due to things out of his control.
Blazzz
17th September 2017, 16:53
Sorry but this is nonsense. Each time Hulk has been in a podium position (apart from today maybe but Renault pitted him when they didn’t have to) he has thrown it away. Brazil 2012 Hamilton gave him the entire corner- and still managed to lose it under braking. I think Hulk’s a solid points scorer but so far hasn’t shown he has that spark to seize the moment.
Aaditya (@neutronstar)
17th September 2017, 17:01
It’s not nonsense. I’m not sure you even looked at Hugh’s original comment, where he has mentioned two incidents where Hulk missed out a podium because of his luck.
Which stop are you referring to?
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 18:27
‘Each time’… How about Hungary 2015 as another example, as well as the 3 I’ve mentioned before, where he could’ve easily had a podium but the front wing exploded. Someone, somewhere, doesn’t want this guy to get it. In F1, there’s not many possible occasions for midfield teams to get podiums, and whenever he does he seems to get bad luck. Twice (Baku, where he hit the wall, but he was behind and slower than Stroll anyway round that track, as the Williams was good, so probably won’t have had a podium anyway) and Brazil 2012 did he throw it away. Every other occasion (probably 6 or 7) he has lost it to something out of his control.
Blazzz
17th September 2017, 21:05
@neutronstar each to their own. Hulk pitted for inters after the safety car when they didn’t need to. The second pitstop was the fateful one when they had to pump oil into the system when changing to the slicks.
Patrick (@paeschli)
17th September 2017, 21:42
That’s objectively false, look at Monaco last year.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
17th September 2017, 15:43
@hugh11 He was never in the contention of podium after the first SC car period. It’s already going to be hard task keeping a Red Bull and a Mercedes behind, but pitting a lap late and giving the position freely to them just eliminate the chance for podium right there.
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 15:56
I think he was. After the cars all switched onto dry tyres, Hulkenberg closed the gap to Bottas by 2 seconds over as many laps, down to 1.3s, before the problem started a few laps later and he lost 4s over a few laps.
Sundar Srinivas Harish
17th September 2017, 16:02
I wanted to smash my computer screen when I saw that late pit call. He had a decent chance of a podium considering how forgettable Bottas’ driving was throughout the weekend.
Miane
17th September 2017, 16:47
Hulk lost the podium when he pitted under safety car.
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 16:53
He had to pit because he had a problem… That’s why the pit stop took so long
Blazzz
17th September 2017, 16:56
That was the second stop.
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 17:13
Well, the first stop, he was on wets, and switched to inters, which was clearly the right decision considering how much Massa dropped when he didn’t pit. And it’s better to have pitted under the safety car as he’ll have lost less positions that way.
Blazzz
17th September 2017, 21:08
@ Hugh but the 1st stop they pitted him under race conditions, not during the SC like RIC. In any case they say “track position is crucial” on street circuits. I take yor point about Massa- but it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Massa was in a Williams which struggles in changing conditions and at the very least they should have covered RIC.
Aaditya (@neutronstar)
17th September 2017, 17:04
@hugh11 There’s no point in being sad about it anymore. He seems almost destined to either screw up himself or have luck kick him in the face when he’s in a good position.
Kribana (@krichelle)
17th September 2017, 15:21
Who thinks penalty points are headed for Vettel? How do you expect Max to avoid that? Lift off the throttle? Seriously.. Lewis is absurd in the rain… In spite of the issue in Daniel’s car, this guy is crazy in the rain…
Martin
17th September 2017, 15:28
He did lift. The initial contact between Verstappen and Raikkonen was front left to rear right. Verstappen could do nothing. If he moved to the left he would have hit Raikkonen, if he moved to the right he would have hit Vettel, if he has slowed down (which he says he did) he hits Raikkonen (which is what happened) if he sped up or stayed the same he hits Vettel.
Vettel created the situation, Vettel’s fault 100% and for ending two other drivers races a penalty might not be unwarranted.
renton
17th September 2017, 15:51
Let’s assume – which is pretty much the most likeliest thing – Max was the only one who was aware of the situation. Vettel did what everybody would’ve done after a bad start or in a position like this: forcing the guy inside to break earlier by closing the line. Max gradually followed Vettel’s lead, while assuming, he can get to a line a that is parallel that of Kimi’s. And then… Kimi cut outside slightly. But why? Even if he wasn’t aware of the situation Max was in, that cut inside was uncalled for, since they were pretty far away from the corner.
Small error of margin but the only illogical move was Kimi’s
Yeezy918 (@)
17th September 2017, 15:38
As its a first lap incident I don’t think it deserves penalty points, but it was 99% Vettel’s fault.
Ajaxn
17th September 2017, 16:11
I blame Verstappen, who clearly psyched Vettel out of a professional start. ;)
Going into the race Verstappen was talking about the possibilities off a good start.
In the end, Verstappen’s reputation was Ferrari’s undoing.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
17th September 2017, 18:36
Hamilton already warned yesterday that something might happen at the start.
KimiRaikkonen1207 (@kimiraikkonen1207)
17th September 2017, 15:22
In my opinion, a podium finish was on the cards for Alonso before he was taken out (although he might have been mugged by Bottas as the track dried). He gets my vote for Driver of the Day because of his start, and although it is difficult to judge long term performance by small samples, I still believe he could have brought McLaren some serious gains in the constructor’s championship. On the other aspects of the race, I believe Vettel was mostly at fault for the collision, squeezing Verstappen into Raikkonen. It is also arguable that it was a racing incident though. Great win for Hamilton, surely boosts his title hopes, but unfortunately for us it means we may be robbed of an exciting finish to the season. Also, as a casual Vettel fan, this somewhat disheartens me. Hulkenberg too had a great race, though not a great result, and in my opinion, deserved 4th place. Overall, great race in terms of action, though I was expecting/hoping for Red Bull to put up more of a fight.
matt
17th September 2017, 16:09
giving alonso driver of the day is ridiculous.
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2017, 16:43
+1 Ridiculous indeed. Max Verstappen was clearly the best driver while he was still in the race.
Damon (@damon)
17th September 2017, 15:23
Could’ve been a top-4 finish for Alonso. If not better.
KimiRaikkonen1207 (@kimiraikkonen1207)
17th September 2017, 15:33
Reminds me of Damon Hill’s time at Arrows and Jordan – a great driver and world champion in a terrible car, who occasionally shows promise of returning to the podium, only to have it ripped away / slightly lessened (Hill in Hungary).
matt
17th September 2017, 16:10
alonso had 0 chance to win
Copersucar
17th September 2017, 20:19
With Max and both Ferraris out he might well have been best-of-the-rest meaning 4th. But I don´t think he could have kept neither Valteri Bottas nor Dan Ricciardo behind. DRS to blame for that.
Henrik
17th September 2017, 15:23
After the 2012 Belgian GP, Romain Grosjean was fined €50,000 and was given a one-race ban at the Italian Grand Prix for his role in the crash at the start. It is high time to revoke Mad Max’s Super License, there’s a reason why teenagers should not be in F1 same as in many countries there’s L-plates and insurance is very expensive for people under 24 years of age. They are an accident waiting to happen and Max has had far too many through his recklessness.
Michael Brown (@)
17th September 2017, 15:25
Oh, come off it. Even a hardcore Vettel fan such as myself can see Vettel was at fault here.
Hugh (@hugh11)
17th September 2017, 15:25
I’m sorry but that is never Max’s fault. He leaves about a car and a half for Kimi on the inside, and Seb is just squeezing them both into the barrier. He even lifted off a bit to get out of it but then that’s when the contact with Kimi happened. It’s either Seb’s fault or a racing incident.
MacLeod (@macleod)
17th September 2017, 15:29
Vettel should let Max pas and take second but he would be takenout by Torpedo Kimi anyway.
Martin
17th September 2017, 15:32
Not Verstappens fault but you do have a point about the 1 race ban. 1 race ban for Vettel? I don’t see how what Grosjean did was any worse that what Vettel did.
For the record I think Grosjean getting a 1 race ban was ridiculous.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
17th September 2017, 15:35
I see that the Social Media Machine is already trying to influence whoever is absolutely clueless.
Henrik
17th September 2017, 15:39
Grosjean was punished because he tangled with Lewis Hamilton and took out Alonso, two championship contenders. The punishment was served in order that he might “cool his head”, something Verstappen REALLY would benefit from. Just like Grosjean did, he thinks he’s entitled and “if they don’t back off and we crash”…
Funny how Lewis predicted this even before the race – he would not have done so is there not “something speacial about that Max”.
colin larkin
17th September 2017, 16:37
not a verstapen fan but no way was this his fault
Dom (@3dom)
17th September 2017, 16:47
@henrik grosjean was punished because he was at fault. Verstappen wasn’t at fault here.
It would be simply ridiculous to blame anyone but Vettel here. Just because someone is towards the front in the world championship doesn’t mean another driver who isn’t can’t race against them!
Verstappen may have had the odd collision here and there, but so did most of the other world champions, and they have done it at times where they had more experience than he has. Verstappen’s talented and worthy of his place up at the sharp end of the grid.
Yeezy918 (@)
17th September 2017, 15:40
The Vettel apologists will be out in force for this one. Anyone who thinks that wasn’t Vettel’s fault is the same sort of person that doesn’t recognise his Baku contact was intentional.
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2017, 16:52
If you go back over Vettel’s career, he has a history of aggressive P1 starts where he angles the car towards the P2 car and drives right over to block them off.
Whatever idea he had in his head to be cool or not at the race start, instinct took over into the first corner and he went to squeeze Verstappen rather than thinking ahead (like a smarter driver like Hamilton would have done).
Bram (@br444m)
17th September 2017, 15:41
I agree. A one race ban for Vettel, considering he cannot contain himself in situations where it gets really tight. Last time in Baku he somehow came away because Lewis’ car wasn’t damaged. Based on that alone he shouldn’t have been a contestant at all in the championship at this point.
It’s more then time for a serious punishment.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
17th September 2017, 15:46
Vettel needs a one race ban. He has no respect for other cars. Look at what he did in Baku too.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
17th September 2017, 18:52
@blackmamba
one could say that about HAM after 2011, but he’s bounced back very very well since then without a race ban.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
17th September 2017, 18:51
no
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
17th September 2017, 15:30
Does Palmer and Sainz’s performance makes the pre-Malaysia swap (Sainz to Renault, Gasly to Toro Rosso and Palmer to Sky Sports) impossible?
bonbonjai
17th September 2017, 15:42
yes, me thinks. I suspect palmers contract seems from the outside anyway water tight.
Neil (@neilosjames)
17th September 2017, 15:32
I’d say the start was more racing incident than anything, but Vettel was definitely more at fault than anyone else. It’s not the first time he’s decided to move onto a piece of tarmac at the start without giving due consideration to the fact that someone else might already be there.
Obviously sad that it took so many cars out, but mostly disappointed for Alonso because he made a great start and it would have been his only true shot at a podium since he arrived at McLaren.
benny
17th September 2017, 15:33
So Max gets a good start and keeps a straight line into Turn 1. Vettel gets a slower start and swipes across the track. That’s not a matter of opinion, its a matter of fact. That’s what happened. Who in those two situations caused the crash ?
The only question now is do you give Seb a penalty. I believe the answer should be yes. If it was anyone else it would be yes, but because he’s second in what could become an easy Championship for Hamilton there’s 100% no way they will give him a penalty. Oh and he’s Vettel.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
17th September 2017, 15:41
I’d say “Yes”, but Verstappen did fault at bit here…
bonbonjai
17th September 2017, 15:49
Absolutely not. Where, exactly, was Verstappen suppose to disapear to on that track. I say blame lies with vettel for this one. We have seen it so many times with vettel, when ever he is on pole, and gets a bad start, he gives others who have had better starts that him, the sqeeze.
On the 1st lap of races that is only going to lead to multiple cars been taken out.
Yeezy918 (@)
17th September 2017, 15:42
Agree 100% except a penalty is unlikely because it was first lap, not because it’s Vettel. Also I want Hamilton to beat him without the moaners having something the FIA did to add to their list of excuses.
bonbonjai
17th September 2017, 15:51
Absolutely not. Where, exactly, was Verstappen suppose to disapear to on that track. I say blame lies with vettel for this one. We have seen it so many times with vettel, when ever he is on pole, and gets a bad start, he gives others who have had better starts that him, the sqeeze.
On the 1st lap of races that is only going to lead to multiple cars been taken out.
bonbonjai
17th September 2017, 15:55
Here is another reason vettel won’t get much of a penatty. After the baku wheel banging, the stewards reason for the lenient penatly given was that a more severe one whoch damage the championship standing.
If they did nothing then, or very little, it unlikely they will do anything now.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
17th September 2017, 20:09
Don’t worry, the F1 W08 will do it anyway. The “experts” predicted this is a Ferrari/RBR track. It was until the race. In the race Mercedes was stronger than RBR. If it wasn’t for all those SC periods, HAM would have finished like 20-30sec ahead of RIC. Plus, if BOT wouldn’t have lost so much time behind slower cars in the early part of the race, could have been a Mercedes 1-2 on pure merit. And this was a “bad track” for Mercedes…
MG1982 (@mg1982)
17th September 2017, 20:12
So, yeah, I guess VET chances are pretty much over, and not only because of HAM, but because of F1 W08 too, if not mostly.
Blazzz
17th September 2017, 21:30
Two words- changing conditions.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
17th September 2017, 15:58
Not to mention : this probably never happens if RAI doesn’t have a terrific start. I’m not sure VET can see that RAI is on VER’s left, so he closes in on VER, thinking that VER has quite a bit of space to his left. Only he doesn’t.
Yeezy918 (@)
17th September 2017, 17:01
@mxmxd yeh exactly, he just didn’t leave enough margin to close Verstappen off.
He banked on Kimi underperforming like he’s meant to…
audifan
17th September 2017, 17:30
and don’t forget FIA still applies
Ken
17th September 2017, 15:44
https://streamable.com/nmrn6
Vettel was definitely aggressive, but these onboards make it seem as though Kimi misjudged where max was when we went to pinch him
qazuhb
17th September 2017, 16:29
Don’t know who is to blame, must view all the camera angles to say, but in my opinion and from VET point of view, he should have left a little more room. Verstappen had much less to lose, Seb could have finished second but ahead of HAM, instead he has all but handed over the WDC to Lewis…
Mikkke
17th September 2017, 17:13
What a race!! Hamilton once more did a very good job, Sainz fantastic with a TR!!!
ThierryBoutsen
17th September 2017, 17:18
I’ve been following F1 for almost 40 years and I have seen quite a few really idiotic moves by some drivers. But what Massa has done the last couple of races is beyond any serious comment. In a row and in consecutive races: PER, VER, GRO, VAN, MAG.
Please Felipe, retire ASAP and do ever think of coming back.
ThierryBoutsen
17th September 2017, 17:20
*do not
WeatherManNX01
17th September 2017, 18:15
Verstappen got sandwiched by the Ferraris and had nowhere to go. Period.
I have a feeling this race is the one that is the difference in the title. I just don’t see that Vettel can finish ahead of Hamilton in each race remaining AND pick up enough ground in the point differential.
I think this race also proves that even on a circuit where Mercedes is not favored, once Hamilton gets in front, he can keep it there. This win was a gift to Hamilton from Ferrari – without that crash at the start, he might have struggled to get past the Ferraris and Red Bulls.
Jimmy5.0L
17th September 2017, 23:22
More bad luck for Kimi. He has an unbelievable start and gets taken out because of Max and Seb. He has the worst luck of any driver I have seen in F1 since 2001. Furthermore, Seb is like a woman. He never take responsibility for his mistakes and laughs it off as no big deal.
Nikola Kochovski (@nikolakoco)
18th September 2017, 12:12
Palmer scored points, there is nothing left to say