Lewis Hamilton led every lap as he converted pole into a commanding victory at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver survived a brief scare against traffic mid-race but, apart from that, comfortably had the pace to keep his rivals at bay crossing the line nine seconds clear of Max Verstappen.
For Sebastian Vettel, he appeared to have the hard work done when he produced a bold move on the Red Bull into Turn 7 on the opening lap to move up to second.
That came just moments before a Safety Car was called for an incident involving the two Force India’s, as Sergio Perez punted Esteban Ocon into the wall on the exit of Turn 3.
However, Ferrari’s strategy would let him down as an attempted undercut on Hamilton left him stuck behind Perez for a lap and allowed the Dutchman to go three laps longer after a steady first stint protecting his tyres and emerge ahead to retake second.
The top three ran pretty equidistantly for much of the race as again protecting tyres proved crucial to making a one-stop strategy work, particularly for Vettel after he was put on the Ultrasoft tyre at his stop with those around him on Soft.
Their respective teammates battled it out behind as Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top six, with the Australian the last of the lead drivers to pit on lap 28 and looking to attack in the second half of the race.
Further back, a poor start for Perez was compounded as Force India reacted to early stops by Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg behind only to emerge stuck behind the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin.
Despite having much more pace, the Mexican couldn’t find a way through as he complained about the Russian going slowly through apexes and then bolting out of corners.
Eventually, the frustration became too much as Perez had a second collision of the race hitting Sirotkin as they battled in front of the grandstand section, earning himself a drive-through penalty.
The Williams then almost played another crucial factor as, with Romain Grosjean now on his tail, Hamilton tried to lap them but couldn’t find a clean way past allowing Verstappen to almost squeeze past the Mercedes approaching Turn 10.
The Haas driver would later be given a five-second time penalty for what FIA race director Charlie Whiting called “one of the worst” instances of a driver ignoring blue flags.
Lewis would defend his place, however, and once back in clear air pulled away from the Red Bull, who suffered from false neutrals and other engine gremlins throughout the race.
With the top three settled, as Vettel fell further and further back in third, the main battle was between Bottas, Raikkonen and Ricciardo for fourth.
Despite the Ferrari and Red Bull being faster, the difference in pace was never enough to allow Kimi the chance to attack as the three drivers finished in that order from P4 to P6 and covered by just two seconds over the line.
In the midfield, a longer strategy proved decisive as Fernando Alonso gave McLaren their best result since Australia in seventh, holding off the man who’ll replace him next season, Carlos Sainz in eighth.
Charles Leclerc scored his first points since Austria in ninth with Hulkenberg completing the top 10 in the second Renault.
Though Marina Bay is known as an attritional race, Ocon would be the only retirement as Sirotkin’s evening as a roadblock saw him the last of the 19 finishers.
In the championship, Hamilton now holds a 40-point lead over Vettel with six races to go, the first of which is the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on September 30th.
Full results from the Singapore can be seen below:
