2017 Singapore Grand Prix Explained

Details Ref:[1]
Type:F1
Country:Singapore
Grand Prix:Singapore
Image-Size:250px
Year:2017
Date:17 September
Official Name:2017 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix[2] [3]
Race No:14
Season No:20
Location:Marina Bay Street Circuit
Marina Bay, Singapore
Course:Temporary street circuit
Course Km:5.065
Course Mi:3.147
Distance Laps:58
Distance Km:293.633
Distance Mi:182.455
Scheduled Laps:61
Scheduled Km:308.828
Scheduled Mi:191.897
Weather:Wet at start, then drying. Air temperature: 28°C (82°F)
Attendance:260,400[4]
Pole Team:Ferrari
Pole Time:1:39.491
Fast Driver:Lewis Hamilton
Fast Team:Mercedes
Fast Time:1:45.008
Fast Lap:55
Fast Country:GBR
First Driver:Lewis Hamilton
First Team:Mercedes
First Country:GBR
Third Driver:Valtteri Bottas
Third Team:Mercedes
Third Country:FIN
Previous Round:2017 Italian Grand Prix
Next Round:2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

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. 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. 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

DriverConstructor
Q1Q2Q3
15 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:43.3361:40.5291:39.4911
233 Max Verstappen1:42.0101:40.3321:39.8142
33 Daniel Ricciardo1:42.0631:40.3851:39.8403
47 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:43.3281:40.5251:40.0694
544 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:42.4551:40.5771:40.1265
677 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:43.1371:41.4091:40.8106
727 Nico HülkenbergRenault1:42.5861:41.2771:41.0137
814 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1:42.0861:41.4421:41.1798
92McLaren-Honda1:42.2221:41.2271:41.3989
1055 Carlos Sainz Jr.Toro Rosso1:42.1761:41.8261:42.05610
1130 Jolyon PalmerRenault1:42.4721:42.10711
1211 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes1:43.5941:42.24612
1326 Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:42.5441:42.33813
1431 Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1:43.6261:42.76014
158 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:43.6271:43.88315
1620 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:43.75616
1719 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1:44.01417
1818 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1:44.72818
1994 Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1:45.05919
209 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1:45.57020
107% time

1:49.150

Source:[13]
Notes

Race

DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
144 Lewis HamiltonMercedes582:03:23.544525
23 Daniel Ricciardo58+4.507318
377 Valtteri BottasMercedes58+8.800615
455 Carlos Sainz Jr.Toro Rosso58 +22.8221012
511 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes58+25.3591210
630 Jolyon PalmerRenault58+27.259118
72McLaren-Honda58+30.38896
818 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes58+41.696184
98 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari58+43.282152
1031 Esteban Ocon58+44.795141
1119 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes58+46.53617
1294 Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari56+2 laps19
Ret20 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari50Engine16
Ret27 Nico HülkenbergRenault48Oil leak7
Ret9 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari35Accident20
Ret26 Daniil KvyatToro Rosso10Accident13
Ret14 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda88
Ret5 Sebastian VettelFerrari0Collision damage1
Ret33 Max Verstappen0Collision2
Ret7 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari0Collision4
Source:[14]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
DriverPoints
1 Lewis Hamilton263
2 Sebastian Vettel235
3 Valtteri Bottas212
4 Daniel Ricciardo162
5 Kimi Räikkönen138
Source: [15]
Constructors' Championship standings
ConstructorPoints
1 Mercedes475
2 Ferrari373
3 230
4 Force India-Mercedes124
5 Williams-Mercedes59
Source:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Singapore. Formula One World Championship Limited. 2017. Formula1.com. 14 September 2017.
  2. Web site: 2017 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes – The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project. Malcolm. Mitchell. www.progcovers.com.
  3. Web site: Singapore (Marina Bay) – The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project. Malcolm. Mitchell. www.progcovers.com.
  4. News: F1 reveals overall rise in 2017 attendance. GPupdate.net. JHED Media BV. 8 December 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171209011037/https://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/361717/f1-reveals-eight-per-cent-rise-in-2017-attendance/. 9 December 2017.
  5. Web site: Practice – Results – Singapore Grand Prix – 2017 – Formula 1. BBC Sport. 15 September 2017.
  6. News: Singapore GP: Daniel Ricciardo top with Lewis Hamilton fourth. 15 September 2017. BBC Sport. 15 September 2017. en-GB.
  7. News: Singapore Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel storms to stunning pole position. 16 September 2017. BBC Sport. 16 September 2017. en-GB.
  8. Web site: Qualifying – Results – Singapore Grand Prix – 2017 – Formula 1. BBC Sport. 16 September 2017.
  9. News: Hamilton dodges first lap carnage to win Singapore GP, F1's first wet night race. 17 September 2017. MotorSportsTalk. 17 September 2017. en-US.
  10. News: Lewis Hamilton wins Singapore Grand Prix after Sebastian Vettel crashes out. Richards. Giles. 17 September 2017. The Guardian. 17 September 2017. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  11. News: Lewis Hamilton wins in Singapore after Ferrari crash. Benson. Andrew. 17 September 2017. BBC. 18 September 2017. en-GB.
  12. News: Lewis Hamilton wins in Singapore after Ferrari crash. 17 September 2017. BBC Sport. 17 September 2017. en-GB.
  13. Web site: Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2017 – Qualifying . Formula1.com . Formula One World Championship Ltd . 16 September 2017 . 16 September 2017.
  14. Web site: Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2017 – Race Result. Formula1.com . Formula One World Championship Ltd . 17 September 2017. 17 September 2017.
  15. Web site: Singapore 2017 – Championship . StatsF1.com. 3 June 2021.