Sebastian Vettel took victory for Red Bull ahead of McLaren Mercedes driver Jenson Button and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in an action-packed Singapore GP that saw the safety car come out on two occasions. This is the German’s second victory of the season after The Bahrain Grand Prix in April.
Vettel’s main rival for the weekend Lewis Hamilton who took pole on Saturday was forced to retire on lap 22 with a suspected gearbox problem. Pastor Maldonado who was second on the grid and looked good enough for a podium retired with a hydraulic issue on lap 38. His team mate Bruno Senna retired on lap 58 with a KERS problem.
The safety car came out twice; once after Narain Karthikeyan crashed his HRT heavily on lap 33 and second time when seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher ran into the back of Jean Eric Vergne on lap 39. The Rainmeister has been handed a 10 place grid penalty for the upcoming Japanese race as a result of the incident.
Needless to say, two safety car periods left most of the teams in a fix over race strategies, most notably Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and designer Adrian Newey who wore a look of tension until Vettel crossed the finish line.
Behind the top three, Force India’s Paul di Resta kept a cool head and managed to bring his car home in fourth while team mate Nico Hulkenberg came home in fourteenth place. This is the best result for the team after Giancarlo Fisichella’s second place in the 2009 Belgian GP. Nico Rosberg in the surviving AMG Mercedes came came fifth while the Lotus duo of Kimi Raikonnen and Romain Grosjean came sixth and seventh.
Felipe Massa drove hard and hustled his way up to eighth from thirteenth place despite suffering a puncture on the first lap. Torro Rosso scored points courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo in ninth. Hero of the Italian GP Sergio Perez was promoted from eleventh to tenth place after Mark Webber was given a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage by going off the track while overtaking Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi near the closing stages of the race.
In the drivers’ championship, Fernando Alonso continues to lead with 194 points while Sebastian Vettel who now has a points tally of 165 has brought himself back into contention for the 2012 crown. Lewis Hamilton has moved to fourth place with 142 points.
Among the constructors, Red Bull Renault continues to lead with 298 points while McLaren Mercedes are in second place with 261 points.
