Rosberg wins Singapore Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Nico Rosberg has won the Singapore Grand Prix, leading from start to finish, but eventually coming very close to losing the win on the final lap of the race. Daniel Ricciardo came close but finished second while Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line in third place.

Prior to the start of the race, Haas found an issue on Romain Grosjean's car, eventually ending up to be a problem with the brake by wire system. The Frenchman returned to the pits after a single installation lap. The team initially reported all would be fixed soon, before reverting to a pitlane start, and eventually retiring the car, and hence not starting the race.

At Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel's car was given a complete power unit change, along with a new gearbox. He was already set to start from the back of the grid anyways, so no effective penalty incurred for him. Vettel started the race on soft tyres.

Spectacle begun as soon as the lights went out, with a slow starting Max Verstappen causing cars behind to take evasive action, resulting in a clash between Hulkenberg and Sainz, sending the German into the wall and out of the race. Fernando Alonso could handily profit from the events, passing 4 cars on the outside to move up into 5th position.

Jenson Button also incurred a broken front wing while Valtteri Bottas had a rear left puncture.

The result was an early safety car that made triggered pitstops for several drivers. Everybody drove through the pitlane however to allow the marshalls to their work on the pit straight.

After the safety car, Rosberg was still in the lead, ahead of Ricciardo, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kvyat, Sainz, Verstappen, Massa, Magnussen, Ericsson, Gutierrez and Perez. Vettel by then had moved up into 17th position, in between both Manor cars and ahead of all others who had changed tyres or required car repairs in the pits.

By lap 7 it was obvious that Alonso really punched above his weight at the start, forming a train of cars behind him, while falling 14s down on the race leader. Sainz however was given a black and orange striped flag for a loose sidepod panel from the start. He pitted on lap 8, changing to soft tyres at the same time. The Spaniard rejoined the race in 18th, behind another train of Ocon, Bottas and Button.

On lap 10, both Mercedes drivers got warnings from their engineers to manage their brakes following overheating front brake discs. Images showed glowing hot brakes for both cars, even though they were not closely following other cars at the time. Both Ricciardo and Raikkonen were quickly informed to try to push the Mercedes a bit, knowing their issues.

On lap 14, Verstappen got pitted by Red Bull, changing to another set of super softs. It wasn't that the tyres were gone, but instead the team opted to get him in clear air, rather than being stuck behind Alonso and Kvyat. It appeared to pay off at first, as once past Ocon, he had quite a bit of space ahead of him. McLaren reacted the next lap and pitted Alonso who returned to the track just behind Wehrlein, but still comfortably ahead of Verstappen. Toro Rosso similarly reacted the next lap and pitted Kvyat, who returned to the track exactly between Alonso and Verstappen.

Another lap later, Ricciardo pitted for super softs while Hamilton changed to soft. The latter wasn't all that happy with those tyres though, saying he needed "a strategy to pass" instead. On lap 17, Rosberg pitted as well, also for a change to soft tyres, leaving Raikkonen to lead the race. That lasted for only a single lap, as the Finn pitted the next lap and changed to super softs.

In the next laps, action was provided by Verstappen and Kvyat, albeit their positions remained unchanged as Kvyat repeatedly managed to keep Verstappen behind. 5 laps later and a complaint to his team later, Verstappen's attack faded. It also resulting in Alonso gaining 4 seconds on the two, only to see them come back half a second a lap once their own fight had ended.

On lap 25, Vettel eventually pitted and changed to new ultra soft tyres, with Perez also getting rid of his initial set of softs on the next lap. That moved Alonso back up into 5th, 44 seconds behind the leader and 30 seconds behind 4th placed Raikkonen. The latter was also following Hamilton closely, with the Mercedes driver saying "that's all the pace I've got with the (overheating) brakes".

2 laps later, Verstappen pits early again, taking on super softs. This resulted in a speed advantage that got him past Perez on lap 32 and past Gutierrez another 4 laps further in the race.

Meanwhile Ricciardo pitted on lap 33 for new softs, while Raikkonen got past Hamilton for third place after Lewis had locked up under braking for turn 1. At the end of that lap, Rosberg and Raikkonen both pitted, both taking on a set of soft tyres. One lap later, Hamilton pitted as well and rejoined the race 4 seconds down on Raikkonen.

Alonso pitted to rejoin in 9th, followed by Verstappen moving up to 6th by passing Magnussen.

On lap 45, things turned around at the front, with Hamilton pitting first for super softs. Ferrari reacted with ultra softs for Raikkonen, but found themselves outwitted as the Finn fell back behind Hamilton. Ricciardo pitted another lap later, also to super softs. This immediately forced Rosberg to continue on his softs, as the new tyres proved to be around 3 seconds a lap quicker.

With 10 laps remaining, Ricciardo was 18s down on Rosberg, but on track to catch Rosberg 4 laps from the end. Hamilton followed in third, 7 seconds down on Ricciardo, with Raikkonen right on his tail in 4th. Vettel was 5th, 14s further down the road, with Alonso 6th, a distant 30 seconds behind, and only 3 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

Ricciardo's challenge went well and on target, until 5 laps from the end, when suddenly his progress faded. He did come close, but the soft tyres on Rosberg's car lasted long enough to allow him to take this victory.