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After many previous attempts, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) hosted the first Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 – it was F1’s first night race and Asia’s first street circuit around the Marina Bay streets.
It had and has, what the F1 fans want – action on the track and fun off the track. STB promoted the Singapore Grand Prix hard with a host of fashion shows, parties, and music concerts, and the race had enough action thanks to the street circuit with 23 corners.
#1 2008: The inaugural race, a race no one would forget for wrong reasons
Fernando Alonso wasn’t even an outsider to win the race in F1’s inaugural night race when his qualifying run was ruined by a fuel feed problem and started 15th on the grid.
Massa, the pole-sitter, had a good start and looked to have the race under his control. Alonso pitted as early as the 12th lap, having started light on fuel, to emerge last – an astonishing 85 seconds behind the lead car. A couple of laps later, the infamous Piquet Jr crash unfolded.
Ferrari sent out Massa’s car with fuel hose and was released unsafely. The time taken to remove the fuel hose and drive-through penalty for unsafe release mean Massa scored no points, denting his driver's championship hopes.
When the safety car period ended, the top six were Nico Rosberg, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella, Robert Kubica, Alonso, and Mark Webber. Kubica and Nico had drive-through penalties for diving into pit stops before the pits were officially opened for servicing the cars (remember those the days, when race control had to give clearance to open the pits after safety car deployment?).
Alonso pitted on lap 41, having created enough advantage, and helped by traffic (Hamilton) or car failures (Webber suffered gear issues; Trulli hydraulic issues), he stormed to an infamous victory at the inaugural edition of Singapore Grand Prix.
Till date, Massa believes he was short-changed by FIA (referring to Piquet Jr crash and how FIA didn't annul the final race classification.
#2 2009: Hamilton's Year
Chaka Khan, Travis, and Backstreet Boys performed during the event, but on the track, it was Lewis Hamilton all the way, driving a flawless race under the hot, sweltering Singapore climate. He benefitted from errors from other drivers.
Rosberg, then driving for Williams, could have exerted pressure on Hamilton but was given a drive-through penalty for trespassing the white line on pit exit.
Sebastian Vettel, another possible contender for the race victory, was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Mark Webber crashed out.
Finishing behind Hamilton on second place was Timo Glock of Toyota and the other podium went to the Spaniard, Alonso driving for Renault, who were weathering a torrid time off-the-track as FIA banned their former team principal, Flavio Briatore, for the Piquet crash.
Although Button finished fifth behind Vettel, he was able to extend his title lead by one point to stretch his points to 84 points.
Having qualified 12th, the British driver would have satisfied with the final outcome. His title rival and teammate Rubens Barrichello finished a place behind at sixth.
Coming back to Hamilton’s drive, it was a dominating drive from the pole position, all the way to the chequered flag, and winning by a 9.6 seconds margin.
The victory was also impressive, as the team had to rebuild his car, as it was diagnosed with a failure in electrical wiring deep in the car, and the mechanics toiled late into Friday night to get the car ready for qualification.
Lewis would also have had his heart on the mouth, when the team engineer radioed to inform about a (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) KERS-related issue in his car, during the race. The issue was fixed during the race, fiddling some buttons in Lewis’ car. On that day, no one could deny Lewis Hamilton the topmost place on the podium.
#3 2010: Fernando Alonso's Grand Chelem
Singapore GP has some championship defining races, and 2010 race was one; which ended Hamilton’s chance of driver championship of 2010, when he collided with another championship contender and then leader, Webber at lap 36, after a safety car restart.
The battle for race victory was between Vettel and Alonso, and for the Spaniard, who started at pole position, it was a light to chequered flag victory.
Although the Spaniard came under sustained pressure from the German driver, the RedBull car didn’t have the pace to make the move on the Ferrari.
When the lights went off, the grid behaved well. But Webber gambled with an early pit for medium tires, at lap four, when the safety car came out to clear Liuzzi’s car, which brushed with the barrier.
The early stop helped him to jump the two McLaren’s ahead when they had their scheduled pitstops (Hamilton on lap 28 and Button on lap 29), later. Webber made series of impressive moves to climb up the order.
The McLarens, with fast-degrading tires, finally pitted on laps 28 and 29, Hamilton first, and both returned to the track behind Webber.
Meanwhile, both pit walls of front-runners decided to undercut, but on the same lap – lap 29. A moment of engine stuttering took away any chance of Vettel emerging ahead of Alonso.
Although Vettel was much quicker in the second stint, he couldn't find a way past one of the five championship contenders.
Alonso could breathe briefly when Kamui Kobayashi came in contact with the barrier at turn 18 and Bruno Senna crashed into him.
The restart saw Webber struggling to get past the backmarkers, and Hamilton tried to pounce on, but a tap from Mark Webber front-right wheel tagged Hamilton’s left-rear.
The contact was enough to put Hamilton out - but Webber hanged on to finish third, in spite of clear damage to the front wheel.
The final laps saw Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus going up in flames on start-finish line, which prevented Sebastian from making any move on Alonso.
In the end, Alonso crossed the victory line, just three-tenths of ahead of Vettel.
Another notable drive under the lights was Robert Kubica, who made a late pit stop for a puncture, which the team picked on telemetry.
Kubica then made some stunning passes on Toro Rossos, his teammate Vitaly Petrov, Massa, Hulkenberg and on Adrian Sutil.
Without a doubt, the weekend belonged to Fernando Alonso, who achieved the F1’s Grand Chelem of clinching pole position, setting the fastest lap of the race, and leading every lap of the race.
The race was also voted as the favorite Singapore Grand Prix by fans and critics.
#4 2011: Massa and Lewis Hamilton Come Together, on and off-the-track
Sebastian Vettel dominated the weekend and moving within a solitary point of winning the drivers’ championship, with five race to go.
But two controversies took center stage – one coming into the weekend, and another borne out of the race, the clash between Hamilton and Massa.
Coming to the race week, Red Bull Racing was accused of violating the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA), an agreement between F1 teams to minimize costs.
A Dutch consultancy firm reported that Red Bull violated the RRA, with other teams like Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes coming clean.
The weekend, though, saw the Red Bull utterly dominating the proceedings, with Vettel drove a lights-to-flag win. Britain and McLaren driver, Button finished second, on a day, his teammate and compatriot Hamilton had a troubled race.
Vettel enjoyed a superb getaway, and pulled away frantically; Button took second place off the other Red Bull of Webber.
A move by Hamilton on Webber did not stick, and both Ferraris went ahead, so as Nico Rosberg, and by turn seven, Michael Schumacher moved ahead, only to get the back place sooner using DRS, and the other Mercedes in the following laps.
But a similar move on Felipe Massa resulted in a collision. Hamilton tried to squeeze behind the Ferrari at turn seven, clipping Massa’s right rear wheel, damaging his front wing and puncturing Massa’s tire.
Add a drive-through penalty, he slipped to 19th. Hamilton, though made a successful move on Massa, on his recovery drive to claim 12th, and eventually, he finished fifth.
The race also saw Schumacher spectacularly crashing out on his duel with Perez, then driving for Sauber. The resultant safety car saw cars diving for pits for fresh boots; which energized the rest of race, with some drivers like Button putting better lap times, exerting pressure on the drivers ahead. But no one could deny Sebastian Vettel, his victory.
Post race saw, more fireworks between Massa and Hamilton, with latter cutting short his media duties.
#5 2012: Vettel’s Championship Surge
The grid mourned for the death of Eric Sidney Watkins, who was famously called as Professor Sid, the man who played crucial roles in F1’s safety and medical aspects, and the race winner fittingly dedicated the victory to Professor Sid.
The pole-sitter Hamilton got a good head away, but a mechanical failure ended his race prematurely, and even his championship fight. Pastor Maldonado, who started in second, slipped to fourth, as Button and Alonso surged ahead of him in the first lap, perhaps the Lotus driver took Hamilton’s previous day advise of a clean start, pretty serious.
When a crash involving Narain Karthikeyan's HRT brought out the safety car in lap 33, Maldonado dropped further down the order after pitting to change tires, even though he did his second pit stop just four laps before, alongside Alonso.
The Venezuelan retired even before the safety car returned into the pits, because of a hydraulics problem.
The re-start was on lap 39, but it was momentary as Michael Schumacher reared Jean-Eric Vergne, who was battling for position with Sauber's Sergio Perez.
Incidentally, he had crashed into the back of Perez previous year and reared into Bruno Senna in the season’s Spanish Grand Prix earlier.
The crash with the Toro Rosso driver earned him a 10-place grid penalty for the following race at Suzuka.
After the second safety car, the race restarted at lap 42, and it was pretty clear that the full 61 laps could not be completed within the two hours time, and eventually, the race was completed at lap 59. The period between saw Massa making a scintillating move on Bruno Senna.
Sebastian Vettel had a measure of Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso nursed his tires to hold Force India's Paul di Resta who finished fourth, securing a career-best finishing position. Alonso left Singapore still with 29 points lead in the championship battle.
#5 2013: A Fernando Alonso Masterclass
Yes, Fernando Alonso finished the race second; but the lingering memories from the weekend were of the Spaniard’s brilliant drive from P7 to finish P2, and he giving a ride back to the pits for Red Bull’s Mark Webber, which was duly reprimanded later for obvious reasons.
In a weekend, where Red Bull christened RB9 once again proved its mettle on high downforce tracks, there was no one to stop the marauding Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel.
Challengers fizzled out as early as lap 1, when Nico Rosberg starting from second on the grid, edged ahead on turn one but to run wide in turn two to give the lead back to Vettel who built a 5.6 seconds lead in the first three laps.
From thereon, Vettel controlled the race masterly until the chequered flag. Safety car period because of the crash of Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso did not bother the German that he could still finish the race 32 seconds ahead of the second placed car. This was the German’s third victory in a row at this bumpy street circuit.
The last few laps were electrifying as close battles unfolded between the drivers who opted to stay out (likes of Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton) during a mid-race safety-car but made their final pit stops later and those who stopped during safety car period (likes of Fernando Alonso).
Romain Grosjean, who impressed during the free practice and qualifying had to retire with engine air pressure when he was sniffing at a possible podium place. Consolation for Lotus was his teammate Kimi who finished third, after making his way up gradually from 13th place on the grid.
Behind Vettel, Alonso, and Kimi Raikkonen, the top ten include Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez, and Adrian Sutil.
#6 2014: Hamilton Shines under Lights
Lewis Hamilton came out victorious in this edition of Singapore Grand Prix, which vaulted him into the lead of the World Drivers Championship, only for the second time in the season.
The Briton’s route to his seventh win of the season started on a positive note when his team-mate-cum-title rival suffered a steering loom failure, which forced out Rosberg's W05 from the grid to the end of the pitlane to join at the back of the field.
The German had to fight hosts of electronically-related glitches, which rendered one of the two fastest cars unfit to take on the pack on a hot, humid night. The hitherto championship leader had to retire from the race on lap 15.
Up ahead, Hamilton was on his way to inflict maximum damage on his teammate, as he pulled away from the chasing gang, initially from Ferrari bound Sebastian Vettel and then from Ferrari departing Fernando Alonso.
But his charge was halted, when Singapore’s routine mid-race Safety Car threw race strategies out of the window and spiced up the proceedings, which made the lone Mercedes driver’s route to the victory rather, bit complicated.
After the safety car period, Red Bulls of Vettel and Ricciardo, having already used both soft and super soft tires, switched to run the remaining 30+ laps without stopping, which helped them to jump Fernando Alonso who had to make the third stop later to make the mandatory switch to yellow-colored soft tires.
Hamilton was able to build a huge lead over the two Red Bull drivers to build a one-complete pit stop advantage over Vettel. He built a 26 seconds lead in 15 laps of what now famously called as “Hammertime”.
Although he emerged behind Vettel after his stop, new tires mean he could leapfrog in one lap over the Red Bull, which was struggling for grip, and the Briton eventually won by a 13-second margin.
Behind the top four, Felipe Massa secured fifth for Williams, Jean-Eric Vergne (out of a drive for 2015) finished sixth, ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
#7 2015: Vettel Turns the Clock Back
The master controller is what pundits called him when he was with Red Bull for his knack of building an early lead and controlling the rest of the race from there.
The 2015 Singapore Grand Prix saw that, as Vettel turned the clock back, this time though, driving the Scuderia Ferrari’s SF-15T.
His third victory was never in doubt. The all-conquering Mercedes could not find the right set up or the pace to challenge neither the Ferraris or the Red Bulls. Their weakness is the high downforce circuits.
Lewis Hamilton had to eventually retire, suffering power loss. Nico Rosberg finished a distant fourth, closing the gap to Lewis Hamilton to 41 points in the championship, with Sebastian Vettel just eight points adrift after Singapore Grand Prix.
In the race, Hamilton and Rosberg who ran the opening stint - fifth and sixth - unable to stay afloat with the Ferraris and Red Bulls running ahead.
Vettel, though, pulled out a three seconds gap at the end of the first lap and five seconds at the end of lap three, from where he controlled the race.
There were two safety car periods, one was triggered by Nico Hulkenberg’s contact with Massa, who was rejoining after his first pit stop.
Once safety car period was over, Vettel tried to back up Ricciardo into Raikkonen, for the latter to jump the Australian for second place for a duration of eight laps.
Once it did not work out, Sebastian Vettel zoomed ahead, pulling out a 2.7 seconds gap in a solitary lap, and a four-second gap in three laps before backing off again to stabilize his lead.
Safety car made its appearance for the second time in the night, when a man entered the race track, jaywalking. This closed the field, and there were frantic moves down the grid. This saw Button colliding with Pastor Maldonado.
Behind the top four, Valtteri Bottas driving the Williams finished fifth, ahead of second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat, Force India’s Sergio Perez, and tussling Max Verstappen (who did not obey team orders to let Carlos Sainz ahead) and Carlos Sainz.
At the end of the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel remains the most successful driver in the street circuit, winning four of eight races.
#8 2016: Nico Rosberg’s Salvo
An innocuous race, in what looked like Nico Rosberg driving a lights-to-flag race, suddenly got enlivened when Mercedes moved Lewis Hamilton to a three-stop strategy to take back the third position from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Remember, for this edition of Singapore Grand Prix, Pirelli had brought softest of all tire compounds, the ultrasoft, spicing up the race.
The Lewis Hamilton’s third stop on lap 45 had a domino effect, with Ferrari responding to it by stopping Kimi, and Red Bull responding to Kimi’s stop by pitting Daniel Ricciardo.
This, in turn, forced Mercedes to contemplate about bringing in Rosberg to protect his place from Ricciardo who was trying to use his new tires to more than makeup for the pit stop loss over Nico with old tires.
Nico Rosberg hung on to the lead for the last 14 laps to take the chequered flag by a slender 0.488 seconds to reclaim the championship lead and his eighth victory of the season.
An impressive out lap and Nico hitting back markers forced Mercedes to leave Nico out, in a circuit, where track position is critical.
Below the top four, Sebastian Vettel drove an impressive race, starting from last on the grid because of engine related penalties to finish fifth. He started on soft, running long, before opting for two back-to-back ultrasoft runs.
The other top ten drivers were Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Danii Kvyat, and Kevin Magnussen.
At the start, Nico Rosberg waltzed ahead. Unlike in the previous races (particularly in Hungary and Germany), he did not expose him to the fast-starting Hamilton.
At the end of the formation lap, Rosberg slowed his pace - backing up the pack and controlling everyone's tires, engine, brake and clutch temperatures. A decisive moment, not only in the race but also in the 2016 championship battle.
#9 2017: Vettel's Costly Squeeze
After qualifying, Lewis Hamilton said, he required a miracle to win at Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit, and on race day, within few seconds of the lights going out, his main championship rival Sebastian Vettel was eliminated.
Lewis Hamilton, who saw the race more of damage limitations, had his championship lead extended to 28 points, at the end of the race, which was called off after two hours and 58 laps.
For the first time in the hybrid era, Ferrari was challenging Mercedes, particularly in circuits that favored high downforce. Having already won at Monaco and Hungary, two circuits that reward cars with high downforce, Ferrari started favorites.
At cue, Sebastian Vettel took the pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on a frantic Saturday night. On Sunday night though, torrential rain made the track slippering, and the cars started on inters, some on full wets.
When lights went out, Vettel started from pole and moved across to his left to squeeze Max Verstappen, not sighting the fast-starting teammate, Kimi Raikkonen from fourth place on the grid.
The contact resulted in Max Verstappen collecting Raikkonen, and an innocent Alonso who nicely claimed from eight position into the barriers at turn one. Between turns two and three, Vettel too had to retire, as his car spun off because of coolants leaking from his car.
The safety car was deployed to move the crashed cars, and when the race restarted, Lewis Hamilton pulled ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was nursing a gearbox issue and comfortably dictated the race.
Two additional safety car periods could not stop him on a night, the racing gods were smiling at him.
Behind Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, Bottas finished third, Carlos Sainz took a famous fourth place for Toro Rosso, the last race before he moved on to Renault, Sergio Perez secured fifth place for Force India, Jolyon Palmer finished sixth, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, Lance Stroll, Grosjean, and Esteban Ocon.
The 2017 race was one of the championship defining moments, and 2018 could well be another.
