Sebastian Vettel won his fourth Singapore Grand Prix but the most memorable moment was an intruder walking on to the track halfway through the race.
Lewis Hamilton found the day particularly forgettable. He had to retire his car on the 32nd of the 61 laps as his Mercedes team-mate and main championship rival Nico Rosberg, who was fourth, closed the gap to 41 points.
While this race will not be remembered for its overtaking moves – apart from Max Verstappen's brilliant charge near the end – there was no shortage of incident. The first of the two safety cars came out on the 13th lap when Nico Hulkenberg crashed into Felipe Massa. That put HUlkenberg out of the race immediately and Massa retired later.
The second safety car came out after someone was seen walking down the track on the fast Esplanade Drive on the 38th lap, seemingly oblivious to the stark dangers that surrounded him. He disappeared as quickly as he had arrived but by then the safety car had been deployed.
It was a major breach of security. There have been a few incidents of this type before, most memorably when Irishman Neil Horan found his way on to the Silverstone track in 2003.
As for the race, it was an easy win for Vettel, his 42nd, taking him past Ayrton Senna and into third place on the all-time list, behind only Michael Schumacher (91) and Alain Prost (51).
Vettel led from start to finish, coming home ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton’s unhappy weekend continued into the race. He was unable to make any progress from his starting position of fifth and on the 26th lap suddenly lost power and collapsed down the field.
In the end, he was almost pleading with his Mercedes team to let him come in. “Guys, we could be killing the engine here. Why don’t we save it. I’m just going further and further back.” Eventually, he was told to box.
There was more misery for McLaren. First Fernando Alonso and then Jenson Button retired before the end of the race with gearbox issues, although in the closing laps Button also made contact with Pastor Maldonado.
(Guardian service)
