The 2014 Singapore Grand Prix (formally the 2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 21 September at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore. It was the 14th round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the seventh Singapore Grand Prix held as part of the series. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 60-lap race from pole position. The Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were second and third. It was Hamilton's seventh victory of the season and the 29th of his career.
Nico Rosberg led the World Drivers' Championship while his team Mercedes led the World Constructors' Championship heading into the event. Hamilton won the pole position by posting the fastest lap time in qualifying and maintained the lead into the first corner. Rosberg, his teammate, had a wiring loom steering problem and began from the pit lane. Hamilton remained in the lead after the first round of pit stops before ceding it to Ricciardo for one lap in the second pit stop phase. In the final laps, Hamilton made his final pit stop to switch tyres and rejoined just ahead of Ricciardo. Vettel led for one lap until Hamilton passed him on lap 54 to win. There were four lead changes among three different drivers during the course of the race.
The result returned Hamilton to the lead of the World Drivers' Championship with 241 championship points, three ahead of teammate Rosberg who retired after 14 laps after his problem could not be rectified. Ricciardo maintained third place, with Fernando Alonso and Vettel passing the non-scoring Valtteri Bottas to move into fourth and fifth. Mercedes further extended their lead in the Constructors' Championship to 182 championship points over Red Bull in second. Williams and Ferrari maintained third and fourth and Force India overtook McLaren for fifth with five races left in the season.
Background
The 2014 Singapore Grand Prix was the 14th of the 19 rounds in the 2014 Formula One World Championship, and the seventh Formula One Singapore race. It was held on 21 September at the 23-turn Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay. The official name was the 2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix, and was scheduled to last 61 laps. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the red-banded super-soft "options" and yellow-marked soft "primes" dry tyre compounds to the race. There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) fielding two race drivers for the Grand Prix.
The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race; one was from turns five and seven, and the second was on the start/finish straight from the final to first corners. Parts of the track parts of the circuit were resurfaced with a mandatory track jet sweeper used to ensure the grip on the new asphalt equalled that from the old surface following the 2013 race. The outside turn seven barrier on the run-off area was realigned to allow traffic to drive behind it and the pit lane's fast section was resurfaced.
Before the race Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led the Drivers' Championship with 238 championship points, 22 ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton in second. Daniel Ricciardo was a further 50 championship points behind in third place. Valtteri Bottas was fourth with 122 championship points, one ahead of Fernando Alonso in fifth. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship with 454 championship points, and Red Bull were second on 272 championship points. Williams in third had 172 championship points, Ferrari in fourth had 162 and McLaren were fifth with 110 championship points.
At the previous race in Italy, the gap between Rosberg and Hamilton closed to seven championship points. Hamilton started from pole position ahead of Rosberg, but a poor start dropped him to fourth. He retook the lead after Rosberg braked late and went straight on at the first turn and used the escape road to rejoin the track. Hamilton remained in the lead for the rest of the race to win. With six races left in the season, Hamilton said he was aware he could not lose any further ground to Rosberg in the championship and was pleased to have improved after winning at Monza: "Despite the highs and lows, I'm still well and truly in the hunt for the championship and that is something that gives me huge motivation for the final six races – starting in Singapore." Rosberg admitted Hamilton's form and past experience in championship battles could possibly be advantageous but was unconcerned about it and focused on himself: "At the moment, I am enjoying the moment more than I ever have in the sport because I get to a race and I have a car where I know I can be on pole and I can win," Ricciardo stated that while he was aware he had an unrealistic chance of winning the championship, he would take a race-by-race approach, and hoped to win one of the next two races to draw closer in the title battle: "All it takes is a couple of wins and a couple of bad races for the championship leader, and all of a sudden everything's possible again. So let's see what happens."
In the weeks before the race, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) race director Charlie Whiting, introduced a ban on certain pit-to-car communications, with a particular emphasis on banning driver "coaching"—such as describing their sector times relative to another competitor—under the sporting regulations stating a driver must drive the car "alone and unaided". Additionally, in the week of the race, the FIA banned teams from sending drivers coded messages either by radio or pit board, and decided that at the following round in Japan, they would be prohibited from sending information concerning tyres and brake wear. After team principals raised concerns about the extent of the ban three days before the race, the FIA revised what teams could tell their drivers by radio, including car performance and safety concerns. After persistent media speculation about his future at Caterham, the team confirmed that Kamui Kobayashi would enter the race.
Practice
There were three evening practice sessions—two 90-minute sessions on Friday and a single 60-minute session on Saturday—preceding Sunday's race. In the first practice session, Alonso lapped fastest at 1:49.056, one-tenth of a second quicker than Hamilton in second. Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, Jean-Éric Vergne, Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Pérez were in positions two through ten. Although several drivers narrowly avoided damaging their cars, the session passed relatively smoothly. Vergne's battery was changed, causing him to miss the first hour. After setting his fastest lap, he stopped with an energy recovery system failure, ending his session early. Räikkonen's session also ended early with brake fire. Vettel stopped at the pit lane exit with a sudden loss in oil pressure; he avoided a ten-place grid penalty because he used an older engine.
Hamilton, who had brake vibrations, set the day's fastest lap of 1:47.490 on the super soft compound tyres in the second practice session; Alonso, Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Vettel, the McLaren pair of Kevin Magnussen and Button, Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg and Kvyat followed in the top ten. The session was disrupted halfway through when Pastor Maldonado overdrove through turn 10, lost control of his car's rear, and slid into the right-hand exit barriers, damaging the front-right hand corner. After the session, Lotus constructed a new E22 chassis overnight for Maldonado for the remainder of the event. In the final practice session, held in cloudy weather, Alonso set the fastest lap of the weekend so far at 1:47.299, 0.051 seconds faster than Ricciardo in second. Rosberg was third after a slow first sector and went over the turn 11 kerbs. Vergne, Vettel, Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Bottas, Räikkönen and Esteban Gutiérrez completed the top ten.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first session ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect, requiring drivers to reach a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify. The second part lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final session ran for 12 minutes determined pole position to tenth. Cars in the final session were not allowed to change tyres, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times in the second session. Although Hamilton lost two-tenths of a second locking his tyres entering turn one and subsequently missing its apex, he set the fastest time in the final session to achieve his sixth pole position of the season, and the 37th of his career with a lap of 1:45.681. He was joined on the grid's front row by Rosberg, who called it "the most difficult qualifying of my career so far" because he had difficulty finding a rhythm and changed his brakes for qualifying. Ricciardo took third and had pole position until both Mercedes drivers went faster in the session's final seconds. He was ahead of teammate Vettel in fourth who believed pole position could have been his after feeling he overdrove. Alonso made a minor set-up change, giving him confidence; he qualified fifth. Massa took sixth, ahead of Räikkönen, who was quickest in the first session, and was satisfied with his car's handling, but his engine shut down while preparing for a second timed lap in the final session.
Bottas's preparation for his final timed lap was slightly compromised, and an error in the first turn left him eighth. Magnussen took ninth and Kvyat was tenth after only having the super soft compound tyre available. Button was the fastest driver not to qualify for the final session; he locked his front tyres at the turn 13 hairpin on his final timed lap and went wide, losing him time, and struggled with front grip despite a change of engine and differential settings. Vergne had front grip issues, and locked his tyres, putting him 12th. Force India's Hülkenberg and Pérez qualified 13th and 15th respectively after being unable to improve on their second attempts; Gutiérrez's faster Sauber car separated them. Romain Grosjean was the slowest driver in the second session; a turbocharger wastegate problem slowed him and he radioed his frustration to Lotus after being eliminated. Adrian Sutil failed to advance beyond the first session due to energy management and engine problems. Maldonado had the same turbocharger issue as his teammate and qualified 18th. Minor errors on Jules Bianchi's first timed lap left him 19th. Bianchi was ahead of Kobayashi in 20th. Max Chilton, 21st, could not extract full engine power on his first attempt because of mapping problems and had to prepare for another lap. Marcus Ericsson ventured onto the track late in the first session after his team worked quickly to rectify an electrical issue and qualified 22nd.
Qualifying classification The fastest lap in each of the three sessions are denoted in bold.