Wet conditions and a stunning starting accident, which took out three drivers, including his main title rival Sebastian Vettel, gifted Hamilton victory in a race where damage limitation had originally been the only aim for the team.
The Briton now leads the championship 28 points ahead of Ferrari’s Vettel with six races left, the biggest gap of the year.
He has won all three races after the summer break to go top and dominating the Grand Prix where Vettel and Ferrari were big favourites along with Red Bull made it all even sweeter.
But the win in Singapore means Hamilton now remains the overwhelming favourite to win the title. Hamilton was well aware that the Formula One gods had been on his side during a weekend where he managed no better than fifth in qualifying.
The rain on Sunday changed the conditions to such an extent that any advantage the Ferraris and Red Bulls may have had was erased. The accident involving Vettel, his teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen seconds into the race was then simply too good to be true for Hamilton.
“What a day – I can’t believe it, I’m so happy!” he said.
“I came in today and I saw that it was raining and I knew that this balances everything out. I love racing in the rain, then everything unfolded in the beginning.”
Hamilton easily held off Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull in the difficult conditions with three safety car stages as he celebrated his seventh season win and became only the second driver to win 60 career races, the other being record champion Michael Schumacher who has topped 91 Grands Prix.
But Hamilton is firmly keeping his feet on the ground when it comes to winning a fourth world title, as there are still six long races to contest.
“Whatever it is with the approach that I have, there’s no reason to change it,” he said. “It’s a perfect balance of being aggressive and cautious at the same time. So, the formula works at the moment, so I’ll just continue with it. Right to the last race.”
It was only the second time that both Ferrari drivers failed to finish in 11 years and Verstappen rubbed it in by suggesting that Vettel was to blame for the incident because he moved to his left, leaving no place for him with Raikkonen on the other side.
And while Hamilton is the favourite for the championship crown by a long mile, Ferrari would still be fancying their chances. If things can go wrong for them, they can also for Mercedes in a sport that is prone to springing surprises.
