Victorious Hamilton handed lead after Rosberg’s retirement in Singapore GP

Briton driver heads championship standings for second time in 2014.

SINGAPORE: Lewis Hamilton regained the lead in the Formula One drivers’ world championship on Sunday when he capitalised on Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg’s reliability problems to claim a dramatic victory in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The 29-year-old Briton led almost throughout from pole position to dominate before and after a Safety Car intervention had reduced his lead and forced him to attack again in the closing stages.

“I had a dream this would happen last night,” said Hamilton. “But, you know, dreams don’t always work out!

“A huge thanks to the team. What we’ve done this year is incredible. I know we have a car we can fight with and it was a great feeling throughout the race.

Hamilton moved on to 241 points and leads Rosberg by three points with five races remaining in one of the most  closely-fought championships of recent years.

Hamilton came home 13.534 seconds ahead of Vettel. It is the second time this year that he has led the championship after having recovered from a difficult start to overhaul Rosberg at the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was third in the second Red Bull ahead of a revived Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Felipe Massa of Williams.

“It’s a circuit I really enjoy,” said Vettel, a podium finisher in the last five Singapore races.

Job-hunting Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, due to be replaced by 16-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen next year, finished sixth for Toro Rosso ahead of Mexican Sergio Perez of Force India, Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, German Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and Dane Kevin Magnussen of McLaren.

That’s the way it is: Rosberg

Rosberg started from the pit lane but retired after 14 of the 61 laps and watched the finale of an incident packed race from the Mercedes pit wall.

“It wasn’t so much a rollercoaster ride because it was all downhill for me,” he said.

“It was very frustrating to drive behind a Caterham and sit on a grid and watch everyone else leave.

“I was stuck with no power and was only able to shift
gear pedals, but even then not every gear. It was all over the place.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2014.

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