Lewis Hamilton retakes championship lead with Singapore GP victory

The 14th round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship in Singapore has gone to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. This marks Hamilton's 29th career win and his seventh of 2014. 

He was followed by the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in second and third. Ferrari star Fernando Alonso was a close fourth and Williams' Felipe Massa rounded out the top five.

Vergne's spectacular drive

There was an enthralling fight from sixth on back in the late going that saw Jean-Eric prevail in sixth, matching his best result ever. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that with just a handful of laps to go, he was running tenth and handed a five second penalty for exceeding track limits. Despite all this, he pushed forward and managed to secure a great result for Toro Rosso.

Sergio Perez placed seventh, followed by Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg, and Kevin Magnussen. Valtteri Bottas fell out of the points on the final lap when he suffered a puncture.

Rosberg's troubles

Nico Rosberg's dramas began before the race even got underway. The car would not go and he was forced to start from the pit lane. After 15 laps of struggling to pass the likes of Marussia and Caterham, he came in for his first pit stop with no pit limiter or clutch to assist him.

The car once again would not go. The team scrambled around the car for about 30 seconds before retreating back to the garage and retiring from the GP. 

Retirements

A total of five drivers failed to finish the GP. Joining Rosberg in the garage before the race's completion were Jenson Button, Kamui Kobayashi, and the Sauber teammates Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil.

Strategy

A safety car intervention for front wing debris from Sergio Perez caused split strategies throughout the field. Most of the frontrunners opted to pit and have that be their final stop of the day. Hamilton stayed out on softs and was told that it's 'Hammer time,' meaning he had to get a 28 second gap before he finally pitted. He failed to do so but after exiting the pits in second place, he quickly caught up to Sebastian Vettel.

With seven laps remaining, he blew by the four-time World Champion and sailed off into the distance, capturing the checkered flag.

Championship

Lewis Hamilton now holds a slim three point advantage over Nico Rosberg in the championship standings. Daniel Ricciardo gained ground as well, now 60 points adrift of the lead. F1 now heads to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix. Just five events remain before we crown a World Champion.