Singapore Grand Prix LIVE: Latest as Lewis Hamilton leads Max Verstappen after Red Bull pass Sebastian Vettel
Follow the latest from the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore
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Your support makes all the difference.Lewis Hamilton started the Singapore Grand Prix from a surprise pole position alongside Max Verstappen after Sebastian Vettel could only manage third in qualifying, despite looking to have the fastest car in the field.
With Hamilton 30 points ahead of Vettel in the drivers’ championship standings, the Mercedes driver knows he will leave Singapore ahead of his Ferrari rival no matter what, but on the tight and twisty streets of the Marina Bay Circuit he stands a great chance of extending hit lead in the race to a fifth world title.
But Verstappen could easily upset the party on a track that favours the Red Bull, although he heads into the start of the race with concerns over how long his Renault engine will last after gremlins emerged during practice. Vettel, starting in third, has Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas alongside him, while Kimi Raikkonen is joined by Daniel Ricciardo on the third row.
Follow the live action below...
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What time does the race start?
The Singapore Grand Prix begins at 1:10pm BST on Sunday 16 September.
Where can I watch it?
The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 from 11:30am BST, and on Channel 4 from 12pm BST.
Starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 36.015secs
2 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:36.334
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:36.628
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:36.702
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:36.794
6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:36.996
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:37.985
8 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:38.320
9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:38.365
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:38.588
11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:38.641
12 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:38.716
13 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.747
14 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.453
15 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.691
16 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:39.644
17 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.809
18 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:39.864
19 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:41.263
20 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:41.334
Esteban Ocon makes a thinly-veiled comment about what caused the accident:
I think it's clear and I think everyone saw what happened. I'm not going to comment as I want to see what happened and see the images
Lap 4: Safety car in this lap, with no further action from the stewards against Perez.
Lap 4: Verstappen has a few issues again, as he reports more false neutrals inside his Red Bull.
Lap 6: Hamilton nails the restart and already has a 1.2s lead over Vettel by the end of the lap, with DRS not yet activated. Behind it's very much line-astern although the Mercedes of Bottas is looking racey behind Verstappen.
All according to plan for Hamilton so far
Lewis Hamilton leads from the start of the Grand Prix
Lap 8: The lead out in front is fluctuating from around a second to 1.5s between Hamilton and Vettel, but we're very much in an endurance phase here. Hamilton is lapping a ridiculous 11 seconds slower than his pole time, while both Verstappen and Vettel look happy to cruise around too. It's a case of who can make their hyper-softs last the longest...
Lap 11: The pace is just starting to drop for the top six - have the tyres gone already?
Lap 12: Hamilton disagrees. "There's a lot left in these tyres." Needless to say it's not making it the most enjoyable of races so far, but here's hoping it will comes alive if anyone tries to undercut the leader.
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