Hamilton urging caution, despite extending championship lead in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton has vowed not to rest on his laurels despite tightening his grip on the world championship with a commanding win in Singapore.

Hamilton heads into the concluding six rounds of the season with a 40-point lead over Sebastian Vettel, who finished only third at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Sunday.

The slow-speed temporary track was expected to be a bogey venue for Mercedes, but Hamilton's brilliant pole lap in qualifying paved the way for victory.

On a brilliant night for Hamilton, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished ahead of Vettel following a curiously premature pit stop by Ferrari.

Hamilton, who heads to Thailand for a sponsorship commitment on Monday before taking a couple of days off, is now the overwhelming favourite to claim his fourth championship in just five years.

But the 33-year-old Briton insisted he will not be taking his foot off the accelerator with 150 points still on the table.

"I've been here a long, long time so I know I can't get ahead of myself," Hamilton said. "We have to continue to remain humble and just keep working as hard as we can.

"Right now, I just feel, job done and I'm really happy with it, but there are still lots of points available.

"With this performance, and this focus that we have as a team, I truly believe that we can deliver impactful weekends like this for the rest of the season. That is our goal."

On his arrival in Singapore, the 33-year-old batted away suggestions that the promotion of his debut Tommy Hilfiger fashion collection in Shanghai and New York – a journey that saw him rack up a staggering 25,000 air miles in just 10 days – was something of a gamble. Here, on Sunday, he was vindicated.

"I know there were questions at the start of the week as to whether these things outside of Formula One are a distraction to me," Hamilton said.

"I came here, and I thought, 'Jeez, if I put one foot wrong, people are going to point to the things I do as a result of it'.

"But you can see that it doesn't affect my performance and, if anything, those things add to the performance. The last two weeks have been intense so I am looking forward to a couple of days off."

This was supposed to be a Ferrari circuit, but Vettel will leave the Far East staring down the barrel at another title defeat to his relentless rival.

He added: "Lewis said he didn't expect to come here and gain 10 points and we didn't come here expecting to lose 10 points.

"But there is still a long way to go. Our car is working pretty much everywhere so there is no need to be afraid about what is coming."

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