Hamilton can gain more ground on rattled Rosberg at Singapore GP

In what will be the Singapore Grand Prix’s seventh edition on the Formula 1 calendar, it is the 2009 winner of this circuit, Lewis Hamilton, who goes into this night race as the odds-on 4/5 favourite.

The Englishman has gained ground on his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg (2/1) to be 22 points behind with six to go, after the German effectively handed Hamilton victory in Monza.

This season has certainly stirred up one of the most exiting duels in Formula 1 history, but the Italian Grand Prix saw Rosberg inexplicably miss the first chicane twice – the second time allowing the Brit to pass.

There were theories and rumours going around that Mercedes chief Toto Wolff had issued orders to the German Drivers’ Championship leader to let Hamilton win, following the controversial crash the race before in Belgium. It seems, however, that the latter incident simply affected Rosberg, which led to errors under pressure.

Formula 1’s governing board have now created a new rule mid-season that means no constructor can give radio orders during the race, though.

Both title rivals Hamilton (4/5 odds-on favourite) and Rosberg (evens) seemed to welcome the idea, with the former answering whether it means he’ll have the edge on his teammate. “I hope so,” he said. “I remember way back from when we were in karts, the cool thing in karting [is] you don’t have any data – or we didn’t back then. So no one could ever see where I was quick.

“Maybe that’s a little bit more of a step in that direction because now you have so much data you can see everything, everything I do, any trick that I have. Every driver in every team will see that from his teammate, but hopefully this is one step in that [other] direction.”

One man who will be hoping to spoil Mercedes’ party, though, is forgotten man Sebastian Vettel, who happens to have won on this Singapore track the last three seasons. The four-time world champion has yet to finish top of the podium this year, but is a tempting 16/1 chance for his fourth consecutive victory in Singapore.