Singapore Grand Prix

It was a night to remember for Lewis Hamilton as he stormed to victory in last weekend’s spectacular Singapore grand prix. Under the floodlights the McLaren ace was in dominant form, leading the incident packed race from lights to flag.

Behind the defending champ, Toyota’s Timo Glock and the Renault of Fernando Alonso secured well-deserved podium positions. The French team’s third place was particularly welcome after the recent race fixing scandal.

Championship leader Jenson Button also received a boost at Formula One’s only night race. Despite starting in a lowly eleventh place on the grid, the Brawn GP star clawed his way back up to fifth, allowing him to extend his advantage at the top of the table by one point with three rounds left to run.

The race started in controversial circumstances after Red Bull’s Mark Webber was ordered by organisers to let Glock and Alonso past after the Australian was deemed to have gained an advantage by effectively running wide and off the track, which allowed him to get better acceleration up to the next corner.

Shortly after this incident, the Williams of Nico Rosberg served a drive-through penalty while in a strong second place. The young German was hit with the punishment after crossing the white line on the exit of the pitlane.

Further down the field Force India’s Adrian Sutil spun while trying to overtake the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari, then smashed into the side of BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld as he tried to retake the track. The resulting debris meant the safety car was called into action, which allowed Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to close in on Hamilton.

However, the German’s charge was brief, as he too was hit with a drive-through penalty, this time for speeding in the pit lane. To add insult to injury one wing mirror fell of his car, then his rear diffuser was damaged after he ran wide over a kerb. Despite these issues he still managed to bring his car home in fourth.

Team mate Webber was less fortunate. After having let Alonso and Glock through, the Australian struggled to match the pace of the front-runners, before brake failure meant his race ended in the barriers.

But all these problems occurred far behind eventual winner Hamilton. “The hot conditions made it very tough, but generally the race was pretty straightforward for me,” he explained. “I got a good start and I just managed to bridge a big enough gap. I came here hoping to have a good result, hoping to kind of redeem myself after the last race and we did it and we are very, very happy.”

The teams now have a break of just a week before heading to the famous Suzuka circuit for the Japanese grand prix on 4 October.

Results

1. Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes
2. Timo Glock         Toyota
3. Fernando Alonso        Renault
4. Sebeastian Vettel        Red Bull-Renault
5. Jenson Button        Brawn-Mercedes
6. Rubens Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes
7. Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes
8. Robert Kubica        BMW Sauber
9. Kazuki Nakajima      Williams-Toyota
10. Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari
11. Nico Rosberg       Williams-Toyota
12. Jarno Trulli        Toyota
13. Giancarlo Fisichella    Ferrari
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes

Driver Championship

1. Jenson Button      84
2. Rubens Barrichello     69
3. Sebastian Vettel     59
4. Mark Webber     51.5
5. Kimi Räikkönen     40
6. Lewis Hamilton     37
7. Nico Rosberg     30.5
8. Fernando Alonso     26
9. Timo Glock     24
10. Jarno Trulli     22.5

Constructor Championship

1. Brawn-Mercedes      153
2. RBR-Renault     110.5
3. Ferrari     62
4. McLaren-Mercedes     59
5. Toyota     46.5
6. Williams-Toyota     30.5
7. Renault     26
8. BMW Sauber     21
9. Force India-Mercedes     13
10. STR-Ferrari     5