Vettel reigns supreme in Singapore GP
24 Sep 2012 3:19 AM GMT
A disciplined drive from Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel proved enough to win a chaotic Singapore Grand Prix night race after Lewis Hamilton retired from pole position.
Vettel’s second win of the season played into the hands of championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who was third but extended his lead in the title standings to 39 points thanks to Hamilton pulling out with a gearbox problem.
Second place went to Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who almost took himself and Vettel out of the race at one stage, narrowly avoiding a collision after some erratic driving.
Reigning champion Vettel is now Alonso’s closest rival, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Hamilton, with six of the 20 races remaining.
‘Yes, we did it! Thank you boys, this one is for you,’ Vettel said to the Red Bull team in televised comments.
The win makes Vettel the first man to win two Singapore Grands Prix back-to-back, and the first man to win Formula One’s only night race without starting from pole position, barring Alonso’s win in 2008, which was influenced by a conspiracy to fix the result.
The safety car came out twice for accidents and the delays resulted in the race being cut to 61 laps to meet the two-hour time limit. The race saw plenty of action, with Felipe Massa pulling off an eye-catching move on Bruno Senna while Nico Hulkenberg’s attempted overtake on Kamui Kobayashi ended up with both cars damaged and their drivers’ hopes of points in ruins.
Further down the field, Paul di Resta earned the best result of his F1 career with fourth for Force India just above Niko Rosberg.
Vettel’s second win of the season played into the hands of championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who was third but extended his lead in the title standings to 39 points thanks to Hamilton pulling out with a gearbox problem.
Second place went to Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who almost took himself and Vettel out of the race at one stage, narrowly avoiding a collision after some erratic driving.
Reigning champion Vettel is now Alonso’s closest rival, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Hamilton, with six of the 20 races remaining.
‘Yes, we did it! Thank you boys, this one is for you,’ Vettel said to the Red Bull team in televised comments.
The win makes Vettel the first man to win two Singapore Grands Prix back-to-back, and the first man to win Formula One’s only night race without starting from pole position, barring Alonso’s win in 2008, which was influenced by a conspiracy to fix the result.
The safety car came out twice for accidents and the delays resulted in the race being cut to 61 laps to meet the two-hour time limit. The race saw plenty of action, with Felipe Massa pulling off an eye-catching move on Bruno Senna while Nico Hulkenberg’s attempted overtake on Kamui Kobayashi ended up with both cars damaged and their drivers’ hopes of points in ruins.
Further down the field, Paul di Resta earned the best result of his F1 career with fourth for Force India just above Niko Rosberg.
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