2017 Singapore Grand Prix

2017 Singapore Grand Prix
Race 14 of 20 in the 2017 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Marina Bay Street Circuit
Race details[1]
Date	17 September 2017
Official name	2017 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix[2][3]
Location	Marina Bay Street Circuit Marina Bay, Singapore
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	5.065 km (3.147 miles)
Distance	58 laps, 293.633 km (182.455 miles)
Scheduled distance	61 laps, 308.828 km (191.897 miles)
Weather	Wet at start, then drying. Air temperature: 28°C (82°F)
Attendance	260,400[4]
Pole position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Time	1:39.491
Fastest lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:45.008 on lap 55 (lap record)
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Third	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2017 Singapore Grand Prix (formally known as the 2017 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 17 September 2017 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore. It was the fourteenth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the eighteenth running of the Singapore Grand Prix, the tenth time the race had been held at Marina Bay.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a three-point lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the World Drivers' Championship, with Valtteri Bottas third. In the Constructors' standings, Mercedes led Ferrari by 62 points, while Red Bull Racing were third.

The race was won by Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton who took the lead on the first lap following a significant collision between Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen. Daniel Ricciardo finished second with Valtteri Bottas taking third. This result increased Hamilton's lead in the Drivers' Championship to 28 points and increased Mercedes's lead in the Constructors' standings to 102 points.

Report

Practice

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo went fastest in first practice with a time of 1:42.489.^[5] He was followed by the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Max Verstappen while championship leader Lewis Hamilton was only fourth fastest.^[6] Ricciardo was also quickest in second practice, followed by Verstappen and Hamilton.^[5]

Qualifying

Max Verstappen was quickest in both Q1 and Q2 as Red Bull seemed to have the advantage over Mercedes and Ferrari.^[7] However, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took pole in the final session with a lap time of 1.39.491, ahead of Verstappen and teammate Ricciardo.^[8] Championship leader Lewis Hamilton could only take fifth on the grid with teammate Bottas sixth.

Race

Rainfall prior to the race start meant that the race would be the first night-time Grand Prix staged under wet conditions in Formula One history.^[9] Despite this, the race was started under normal racing conditions without the safety car as per 2017 rule changes. At the start, Räikkönen had an excellent start compared to his teammate Vettel and Verstappen of Red Bull. Verstappen ended up sandwiched between Vettel and Räikkönen with nowhere to go. Verstappen's tyres touched Räikkönen's car, which went out of control and he hit left sidepod of his teammate Vettel's car, causing significant damage to both. His car then slid forward into turn 1, where it hit Verstappen's car yet again, causing the Red Bull car to collide with Fernando Alonso's car. This resulted in the immediate retirement of both Räikkönen and Verstappen. Vettel was initially able to continue despite noticeable damage, followed by Hamilton, who had a good start with Ricciardo behind. However, Vettel soon spun due to the damage and subsequently retired. Alonso retired on lap 9.^[10] The collisions on the opening lap brought out a safety car that led the field until lap 4.^[10] This marked the first occasion in Formula One history when both Ferraris were eliminated on the opening lap.^[11] At the restart Lewis Hamilton continued to lead, followed by Daniel Ricciardo in second and Nico Hülkenberg in third. Hamilton then was able to pull away and establish a comfortable lead over Ricciardo.

There were two further safety car periods over the course of the race. One on lap 11, after Daniil Kvyat crashed at turn 7, and one on lap 38 after Marcus Ericsson spun.^[10] Bottas managed to get up to third and Carlos Sainz to fourth after the first safety car period as those on full wets ahead of them pitted for inters, the tyres Bottas and Sainz were already on. Hamilton was again able to get away well at both restarts. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg – from 4th position after passing Sainz in the second safety car period – would both retire later in the race with mechanical issues. Hamilton won the race from Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas took the final podium place, while Sainz achieved his then career-best finish of 4th place. Jolyon Palmer came home in 6th place for his first points finish of the season, on the same weekend it was announced he would be replaced by Sainz at the end of the season. The drivers did not complete the scheduled race distance of 61 laps due to the 2-hour time limit being reached, so the chequered flag was shown on lap 58.^[12]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:43.336	1:40.529	1:39.491	1
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:42.010	1:40.332	1:39.814	2
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:42.063	1:40.385	1:39.840	3
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:43.328	1:40.525	1:40.069	4
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:42.455	1:40.577	1:40.126	5
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:43.137	1:41.409	1:40.810	6
7	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:42.586	1:41.277	1:41.013	7
8	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1:42.086	1:41.442	1:41.179	8
9	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	1:42.222	1:41.227	1:41.398	9
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:42.176	1:41.826	1:42.056	10
11	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:42.472	1:42.107		11
12	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:43.594	1:42.246		12
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:42.544	1:42.338		13
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:43.626	1:42.760		14
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:43.627	1:43.883		15
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:43.756			16
17	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:44.014			17
18	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:44.728			18
19	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	1:45.059			19
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:45.570			201
107% time: 1:49.150
Source:[13]

Notes

• ^1  – Marcus Ericsson received a 5-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	2:03:23.544	5	25
2	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	58	+4.507	3	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	58	+8.800	6	15
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	58	+22.822	10	12
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	58	+25.359	12	10
6	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	58	+27.259	11	8
7	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	58	+30.388	9	6
8	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	58	+41.696	18	4
9	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	58	+43.282	15	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	58	+44.795	14	1
11	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	58	+46.536	17
12	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+2 laps	19
Ret	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	50	Engine	16
Ret	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	48	Oil leak	7
Ret	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	35	Accident	20
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	10	Accident	13
Ret	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	8	Collision damage	8
Ret	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	0	Collision damage	1
Ret	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	0	Collision	2
Ret	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	0	Collision	4
Source:[14]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 263 2 Sebastian Vettel 235 3 Valtteri Bottas 212 4 Daniel Ricciardo 162 5 Kimi Räikkönen 138 Source: [15]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 475 2 Ferrari 373 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 230 4 Force India-Mercedes 124 5 Williams-Mercedes 59 Source: [15]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References