Singapore GP: Bottas 5th from Williams Martini

Qualifying for the sixty one 2015 Singapore Grand Prix would see Williams Martini drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa start from seventh and ninth. For Valtteri it would be his 50th Formula One start while for Felipe his race would start right behind his team-mate. On the front row would be Vettel on pole and Ricciardo. Row two was Raikkonen and Kvyat. The Mercedes cars were in fifth and sixth followed by Valtteri, Verstappen, Felipe, and Grosjean. The top ten were all on the option tyre while the rest of the field had followed them. There would be several tyre strategies for the race as the grid formed up. The lights would go on and off and it would be Vettel away first followed by Ricciardo. Valtteri was in seventh with Felipe eighth Valtteri was attacking sixth placed Rosberg. Verstappen had stalled his car on the grid at the start and had to be pushed off after the field got away.

Verstappen would get going and enter the race from the pit lane. Vettel was leading by 3.0 seconds over Ricciardo. Valtteri was 0.6 behind Rosberg with Felipe 1.0 second behind his team-mate. Third was Raikkonen followed by Kvyat, Hamilton and Rosberg. Hulkenberg and Perez were ninth and tenth behind the Williams pair. Valtteri was now 0.7 behind Rosberg with Valtteri saying that his pace compared to Rosberg was looking pretty good. He would also say that he was suffering some rear right degradation. Felipe was now 1.1 seconds ahead of Hulkenberg with seven laps completed. Vettel was 5.2 seconds ahead of Ricciardo with Raikkonen 1.5 seconds behind the Red Bull.

If the teams were going to run a three stop strategy they would expect to come in on lap sixteen. Grosjean would pit early taking on the soft tyre. Ricciardo had closed the gap to Vettel on lap eleven to 4.5 seconds. Lap twelve and Alonso would pit followed by several drivers behind him, including Sainz, Ericsson, and Maldonado. All had taken on the soft tyre with the front runners yet to stop. Hulkenberg had pitted from ninth also taking the soft tyre. Vettel was now leading by 3.6 seconds with Kvyat pitting on lap fourteenth taking on the option tyre again. Felipe would also pit and coming out of the pits Felipe would make contact with Hulkenberg who had pitted earlier. Hulkenberg would fly off the track and into the barrier ending his race. Felipe would continue while the crash would see the virtual Safety Car be deployed out. There would be a rush of drivers coming in while out on the track Felipe would say that the team must check his car.

With the stops Vettel was still leading from Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Rosberg, and Kvyat. Of these drivers only the Mercedes pair had gone onto the soft tyre. Felipe would pit switching to the soft tyre after suffering a puncture as a result of the accident. Valtteri was now seventh and still on the option tyre so the Williams pair were on opposite strategies. Replays had shown that Felipe had stayed to the left of the track as he came out of the pits and Hulkenberg had turned across onto the Williams. Felipe was now down in fourteenth with the real Safety Car now out on the track as the marshals cleared the debris from the Hulkenberg crash. The field was now running behind the Safety Car with Ricciardo now right behind Vettel.

Lap twenty and the Safety car would come in with Vettel making a great start. Valtteri was running behind Kvyat with Perez behind the Williams. Vettel again started to extend his lead over Ricciardo with Raikkonen still third. Hamilton was fourth followed by Rosberg, Kvyat, Valtteri, Perez, Nasr, and Grosjean tenth. Felipe was now up to thirteenth behind Maldonado. Raikkonen was closing the gap to Ricciardo while it was announced that Hulkenberg had been giving a penalty for causing a collision. He would drop three grid positions at the next race. Ricciardo was told that Vettel was not pushing and that he should look after his tyres. Valtteri would tell his engineer that his tyres all felt ok. Hamilton would come on the radio saying he had lost power seeing Rosberg, Kvyat, and Valtteri all pass him. Valtteri was now sixth as Hamilton continued to drop down the order. Felipe was now twelfth as Ericcson and Sainz pitted. Felipe would pit again on lap thirty one with his car dropping into neutral. Felipe would say that he was worried that he would destroy his gearbox. The team would tell him to retire the car.

Valtteri was still in sixth. Hamilton was told to pit his car to retire. Kvyat had pitted but would have issues seeing him drop down the order but for Williams this would see Valtteri now fifth. Alonso would also retire his car with a gearbox issue. At the front Vettel was leading by 3.9 seconds from Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Valtteri, Kvyat, Button, Verstappen, Perez, and Grosjean in tenth. Verstappen would pit coming back out in thirteenth. The Safety Car would be deployed as it was seen that their was a member of the public on the track. The top three would all pit seeing Vettel take on the soft tyre. Rosberg and Valtteri would also come in with all the front runners taking the soft tyre. Valtteri would say to his team "Good stop guys .. nice one." It was now looking like all the front runners would run to the end on the prime tyre.

The Safety Car would pull in on lap forty two with Vettel again controlling the restart. Button and Maldonado would make contact with Button losing part of his front wing. He would have to pit to get the front wing replaced. Vettel was now leading by 2.7 seconds over Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Valtteri, Kvyat, Perez, Grosjean, Verstappen, and Sainz. tenth. With fifteen laps remaining there were questions as to whether the race would be completed within the two hours. The incident between Maldonado and Button was under investigation. Valtteri was in a lonely fifth while Verstappen would get past Grosjean for eighth. Sainz would also pass the Lotus seeing Grosjean drop to tenth. Button was told to retire his car as they were taking too much of a risk with the gearbox. Valtteri was told to look after his gearbox on the downshifts.

Valtteri would start his final laps still in a comfortable fifth with Vettel still leading Ricciardo. The leader would start lap sixty while Grosjean would lockup allowing Nasr past and into tenth. Vettel would start his last lap in what was a dominate performance. Verstappen was told to let his team-mate past told his engineer no. Vettel would complete his final alp with take victory from Ricciardo and Raikkonen. Rosberg was fourth with Valtteri taking fifth. Kvyat was sixth followed by Perez, Verstappen, Sainz, and Nasr securing the last point. For the Williams team their race was one of securing a reasonable points scoring result but with the retirement of Felipe that goal was somewhat limited. The team must be keen to put this race behind them and move onto Japan, a circuit that should suit the FW37 far better.