Mercedes made their weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix perfect with first place for Lewis Hamilton and third place for Valtteri Bottas.
The team rounded off their strong performance with a one-two win in the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award. The Silver Arrows pit crew completed the two fastest tire changes of the race just as they had done two weeks ago in Monza.
Race winner Lewis Hamilton made his only pit stop on lap 29 during the longest race of the year. The switch from intermediate to ultrasoft tires took only 2.27 seconds – the fastest swap in Singapore. On the previous lap, Mercedes had bolted on slicks for Valtteri Bottas in 2.40 seconds, thus demonstrating faultless teamwork twice within a very short space of time.
“This is a brilliant result for both titles and, of course, we leave Singapore with a spring in our step,” said Mercedes Technical Director James Allision, summing up the race from a Silver Arrows perspective.
After Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, Hamilton now leads the driver’s world championship by 28 points and Mercedes are 102 points up on Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
Singapore experienced a first during the tenth edition of the night race, as rain fell for the first time during the grand prix, which resulted in numerous pit stops. The drivers started the race on intermediates and later switched to slicks.
A total of 32 pit stops were completed at the Marina Bay Street Circuit – four by Sauber drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson. 16 of these tire changes were completed in less than three seconds.