Singapore GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Max Verstappen to victory

                                                   

Lewis Hamilton has extended his world championship lead to 40 points with a consummate victory of the Singapore GP.

Faultless and supreme, Hamilton defied the hot and humid conditions to keep his cool to beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen to his 69th F1 win.Faltering title rival Sebastian Vettel was third. But, on a circuit where Mercedes were forecast to struggle, the Ferrari driver crossed the line almost 40 seconds behind Hamilton having angrily denounced his team's strategy after being leapfrogged by Verstappen at the pit-stops.

"Keep pushing, we've got these guys," Hamilton said over team radio as he celebrated his victory.

With six races remaining, Hamilton's title lead has grown to an advantage of ominous substance.

"He is starting to look unbeatable," opined Sky F1's Martin Brundle. "He has one hand now reaching out for that world championship trophy."

A downbeat Vettel conceded: "With the way we raced today we didn't have a chance.

"I said before the weekend we could only beat ourselves and today we didn't get everything out of our package."

A smart getaway was followed by smart strategy as Hamilton kept Vettel, who snuck ahead of Verstappen at Turn Seven just before the Safety Car was deployed on the opening lap, at arm's length before switching to soft tyres.

Hamilton's only moment of alarm came when he suddenly lost time in traffic with 20 laps remaining and was briefly challenged by Verstappen. But after holding off the Red Bull, Hamilton immediately responded by streaking clear again and his race-winning margin ultimately stood at nearly 10 seconds.

"We knew they [Ferrari] were going to be spectacular here this weekend and we knew it was going to take something quite special to beat them," said Hamilton.

"It is quite a monumental moment for us as a team."

Singapore GP race result

Driver	Team	Time
1) Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:51:11.611
2) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 8.961
3) Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 39.945
4) Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	+ 51.930
5) Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	+ 53.001
6) Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	+ 53.982
7) Fernando Alonso	McLaren	+ 1:43.011
8) Carlos Sainz	Renault	+ 1 lap
9) Charles Leclerc	Sauber	+ 1 lap
10) Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+ 1 lap
11) Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	+ 1 lap
12) Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	+ 1 lap
13) Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	+ 1 lap
14) Lance Stroll	Williams	+ 1 lap
15) Romain Grosjean	Haas	+ 1 lap
16) Sergio Perez	Force India	+ 1 lap
17) Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	+ 1 lap
18) Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 2 laps
19) Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	+ 2 laps
20) Esteban Ocon	Force India	DNF

Drivers' Championship - top six

Driver	Team	Points
1) Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	281
2) Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	241
3) Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	174
4) Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	171
5) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	148