page_title: 2015 Singapore Grand Prix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Singapore Grand Prix / Report / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: Lewis Hamilton at the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix
context_page_description: The 2015 Singapore Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 20 September 2015 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore. The race was the thirteenth round of the 2015 season. It was the eighth time the race was run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
  Defending race winner Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes entered as the leader in the World Drivers' Championship with 252 points, 53 points ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and 74 points ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes came into the race leading the Constructors' Championship by 181 points ahead of Ferrari, with Williams a further 82 points back in third place.
  Vettel won the race from pole position, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in second and Vettel's Ferrari teammate Kimi Räikkönen in third. The Mercedes team struggled at Singapore; Lewis Hamilton recorded his first retirement of the season, while Nico Rosberg managed only fourth place, closing the gap in the championship to 41 points.
  It was the only occasion in 2015 where neither of the Mercedes cars started on the front row for a race, and was the only time that a team other than Mercedes secured pole position.
context_section_description: Before the formation lap, Rosberg appeared to have an issue with his car, when he stopped at the end of pit lane on the way to the start grid. However, his mechanics were able to rectify the problem, described by Niki Lauda as "a glitch", and he made it to the grid. With everyone starting on the super-soft tyre compound, a race with two pit stops was expected for most drivers. At the start, all drivers at the front of the field held their positions, while further back, Nico Hülkenberg, who had a good start, and Sergio Pérez nearly collided while fighting for position. Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso STR10 stalled on the grid and was pushed back to the pit lane, only to start his race shortly after, more than one lap down on the leaders. Vettel was able to build a gap to Ricciardo behind him quickly, leading the Red Bull by three seconds after the first lap. Fernando Alonso, who had enjoyed a decent start to move up into eleventh, came under pressure from Sainz by lap four, followed by Grosjean, who lost places at the start because he had to move around the stationary Verstappen. While Vettel's lead was about five seconds on lap five, Verstappen unlapped himself by lap six and posted fast lap times. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg held off the two Williams cars of Bottas and Massa, while Lewis Hamilton in front was able to move clear of the pack fighting for sixth place. Kimi Räikkönen in third place was held at a distance by Ricciardo, trailing him by 1.6 seconds on lap nine. A lap later, Grosjean became the first driver to pit. More cars came in on lap eleven, leading to heavy traffic that prevented Sainz and Alonso from leaving their pit boxes, costing time. Alonso emerged from pit lane ahead of Grosjean, who moved past him into thirteenth. Felipe Massa had a slow stop of 4.8 seconds when he made a pit stop at the end of lap 13. When he emerged from pit lane, Nico Hülkenberg was approaching on the racing line. Both drivers collided, with Hülkenberg being catapulted off Massa's front right tyre, causing him to retire from the race. A Virtual Safety Car period ensued, that saw all drivers pit that had not done so before. Since Kvyat had made a pit stop shortly before the safety car was deployed, both Mercedes cars were able to move in front of him, leaving Kvyat in sixth place. Jenson Button's stop took a long time, dropping him to 16th place. By lap 16, the virtual was replaced by the actual safety car, which stayed out until the end of lap 18.
  At the restart, Sainz was caught out by his car being stuck in neutral, losing many places and dropping back to 18th position, but managed to continue. The safety car had meanwhile allowed his teammate Verstappen to move closer to the pack, being about half a lap down on lap 20. The next laps saw Vettel setting a steady pace at the front to conserve his tyres, leading Hamilton to declare that "Vettel's backing up Ricciardo" on team radio. On lap 26, Hamilton reported a loss of power to his crew. He subsequently lost positions rapidly, dropping back to ninth by lap 28, eventually retiring on lap 33. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa had problems with his car as well. Similar to Sainz, he saw his car switch to neutral. After driving through pit lane without stopping on lap 30, he retired a lap later, with Fernando Alonso also ending his race on lap 34 with a defective gearbox. On the same lap, Daniil Kvyat came in for his second pit stop, but trouble with the tyres caused him to lose positions as he dropped to ninth. Around the same time, Vettel held a five-second advantage over Ricciardo, while Pérez overtook Grosjean for ninth on lap 36.
  A second safety car period was caused on lap 37 by a man walking on the track. Several drivers again used the safety car to pit for new tyres, including Jenson Button, who emerged in tenth place. By lap 40, Alexander Rossi was instructed to unlap himself behind the safety car, but when he failed to do so in an acceptable time, the race was resumed on lap 41, with Rossi stuck between the front runners. By lap 42, Button was racing Pastor Maldonado for position, when bo
caption: Lewis Hamilton retired from a race for the first time since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.
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