Hamilton leads title race yet insists he will keep attacking
BRITAIN’S Lewis Hamilton says he still feels like he’s playing catch-up in the Formula One title race, despite yesterday’s victory in the Singapore Grand Prix propelling him to the top of the world rankings.
Hamilton’s team-mate and closest rival, Nico Rosberg, suffered a car failure, his Mercedes sitting immobile on the starting grid while the rest of the pack completed the formation lap. With Rosberg forced into an early retirement, Hamilton held off the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo to win his seventh grand prix of the season.
“I still feel like I am hunting, I still feel like I am chasing – and that’s a good feeling,” Hamilton said. “This is game time. This is about hunting. In my head, I don’t think I’m leading the championship. There are still five races left, all I’m going to do is what I’ve done in the last two races – just attack every session.”
Starting on pole, Hamilton looked on track for a simple win as he pulled away from the Red Bulls and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Yet a safety car on lap 31 closed the gap, with the Brit still needing to make one more pit-stop.
After full racing resumed on lap 38, Hamilton sped off and opened a 25-second lead. He emerged from the pits behind Vettel on lap 53, but overtook the German just one lap later to comfortably claim victory.