In the sweltering heat of the Singapore Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton turned up the heat on Sebastian Vettel a notch further. He won comfortably from pole position on Sunday, extending his Formula One championship lead over Vettel to 40 points.
Winning from pole on one of the hardest tracks for overtaking in F1 was nothing special in itself. But Hamilton’s masterclass in qualifying was exceptional as he recorded one of the best pole positions of his career — described as epic within his Mercedes team.
It gave him the advantage of a more relaxing race than initially expected. Considering Vettel makes more mistakes than Hamilton, a 40-point gap looks a huge advantage with only six races left.
Especially as Hamilton has no intention of easing up.
The British driver is on a major roll after winning four of the past five races, pinning Vettel firmly on the ropes in their bid for a fifth F1 title.
“I think the approach I have is working really well, so I don’t see the point in changing,” Hamilton said after his seventh win of the season and 69th in F1.
“I’ve been (around) a long, long time and I know I can’t get ahead of myself, we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Hamilton said. “I truly think we can deliver like this for the rest of the season, and that is the goal.”
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was nine seconds back in second place, with Vettel way back in third.
Traffic chaos was about the only thing that troubled @LewisHamilton at the #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/y42FM2G61T
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2018
Vettel was unhappy with his team for qualifying in third place behind Verstappen. On the other hand, the only thing Hamilton seemed bothered about were the conditions. Despite the night-time start, the temperature was around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and the humidity intense.
“I’m spent,” Hamilton said moments after victory, crouching down by his car.
His team mate Valtteri Bottas was fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, who won the inaugural race here 10 years ago, was seventh for McLaren.
Hamilton’s stunning pole Saturday was a record-extending 79th.
“It’s so hard to overtake here,” Hamilton said. “So positioning is everything.
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-News24
