The 2017 Singapore Grand Prix is in the books – and that’s good news for Lewis Hamilton but bad news for Sebastian Vettel – Hamilton won the race after Vettel’s self-inflicted first-turn crash eliminated what was looking like it was going to be an easy victory for him.
Vettel’s Ferrari sat on the pole and Hamilton started his Mercedes in fifth but a terrific start by Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen as he rocketed from the second row, meant the two Ferraris had Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pinned down going into the first turn and that meant disaster for all three as they took each other out of the race. That sloppiness cleared the way for Hamilton to easily dominate and run away from a game Daniel Ricciardo in second and Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas was a distant third. As Hamilton was essentially unchallenged from the second lap onward, ASN awards top points to Ricciardo for staying as close as he could to the much faster Hamilton, second points to Hamilton and the final point to McLaren-Honda’s Stoffel Vandoorne – who grabbed seventh place and his highest finish yet in the underpowered McLaren-Honda.
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award has to go to Vettel for aggressively creating the three-car pile-up in the first turn and potentially taking the prospects of winning a fifth Formula One season driver championship with him.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award goes to Verstappen for rightly saying afterward that “I couldn’t get out of that [Ferrari] sandwich.”
The Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award goes to the Singapore Grand Prix officials whose track security was exposed by a fan who – prior to the race – claimed to have bribed a security guard into allowing him and a lady friend onto the track and taking their picture. Nice.
2017 ASN Formula One Driver Rankings – After Singapore Grand Prix
1] Sebastian Vettel – 27 points
2] Lewis Hamilton -18
3] Valtteri Bottas – 12
4] Daniel Ricciardo -10
5] Esteban Ocon – five
6] Fernando Alonso/Kimi Raikkonen – four
8] Stoffel Vandoorne – three
9] Sergio Perez – two
10] Romain Grosjean/Lance Stroll/Max Verstappen – one
2017 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award [after Singapore Grand Prix]
1] Perez – three
2] Daniil Kvyat/Carlos Sainz, Jr./Verstappen/Vettel – two
6] Grosjean/Kevin Magnussen/Jolyon Palmer/Vandoorne – one
2017 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award [after Singapore Grand Prix]
1] Alonso – three
2] Vettel – two
3] Bottas/Jenson Button/Grosjean/Hamilton/Mercedes [Bottas pit]/Ocon/Red Bull [Verstappen pit]/Ricciardo/Verstappen – one
2017 Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award [after Singapore Grand Prix]
1] Bernie Ecclestone – three
2] Australian Grand Prix officials/Bottas/British Grand Prix officials/Canadian Grand Prix officials/Force India/Goodwood Festival of Speed/Hamilton/Mercedes marketing/Singapore Grand Prix officials/Stroll/Williams – one