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Story highlights
Lewis Hamilton wins Singapore Grand Prix
Takes over at top of the F1 standings
Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg forced out of race early
Sebastian Vettel takes second for Red Bull
The F1 title race may have taken a potentially decisive twist Sunday as Lewis Hamilton took ruthless advantage of the misfortune which befell Mercedes teammate and bitter rival Nico Rosberg to win under the Singapore floodlights and leapfrog him in the standings.
Rosberg, who led by a commanding 22 points coming into the 14th round of the championship, was left stranded in the pit lane after failing to move off his second spot on the grid for the formation lap and later retired as the electrical malfunction could not be remedied.
Hamilton, who has won two straight races after claiming the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month, has taken a three-point advantage over Rosberg, with five races remaining.
Read: Hamilton on pole by a whisker
He was made to work for his victory by four-time reigning champion Sebastian Vettel, who took the lead after Hamilton pitted for fresh tires in the closing stages, but could not hold off the charging Briton, who eventually won by over 13 seconds.
It was his seventh win of the season with Vettel and his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his former teammate Felipe Massa, now with Williams, claimed fourth and fifth.
Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, who is set to be replaced at Toro Rosso by 16-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen next year, finished sixth, holding off a fast-finishing Mexican Sergio Perez of Force India.
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Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg for Force India and McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen completed the points scoring on the Marina Bay street circuit.
Hamilton, who has taken over in the title lead for the first time since May, was delighted by the reversal of fortunes on claiming his 29th career F1 win.
“Things have changed for me absolutely. I looked for a clean weekend and this was it. We always strive to get both cars 1-2 that was our goal, so things still to work on,” he said during the podium presentations.
Rosberg also acknowledged that despite the dominance of Mercedes they still had work to do, with the German the victim of misfortune this time.
“Sitting on the grid, seeing everybody go by was a horrible feeling,” he admitted.
“Reliability has again proven a weakness, which is something we must improve on.”
They will head to the 15th round at Suzuka, Japan in a fortnight with the momentum now with Hamilton, who is looking to add to his 2008 championship triumph with McLaren.
