Crashes, Clashes and Penalties: Vettel wins as Hamilton retires

Sebastian Vettel ended McLaren’s winning streak after taking victory in Singapore today. Vettel beat Jenson Button to the top step of the podium in a crash strewn race that saw Lewis Hamilton retire from the lead with a mechanical issue.

The Singapore race was dictated by crashes and safety cars and had to finish on the two hour limit rather than full race distance. Hamilton looked to be comfortably leading and heading for almost certain victory when he lost drive on lap 22 and was forced to retire. Vettel took over the lead and was untroubled by Hamilton’s teammate Button for the remainder of the race.

Vettel seemed unfazed in his quest for victory when the first safety car was deployed on lap 33 following Narain Karthikeyan stranding his HRT after hitting a wall. The safety car period lasted 6 laps whilst marshals removed the vehicle and within seconds the second safety car was deployed after Michael Schumacher drove into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso. Schumacher was later given a ten place grid penalty for Japan after admitting to causing the accident. The second safety car lasted until lap 42 by which time Pastor Maldonado had retired with hydraulic problems.

Vettel continued to stay in front for the remainder of the race with Button posing little challenge. Fernando Alonso finished third after a quite race for him and Paul di Resta finished a career best of fourth demonstrating the strength of the Force India on the Singapore track. Nico Rosberg finished a strong fifth keeping the Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean behind whilst Felipe Massa drove a good recovery race after a first lap puncture to finish eighth.

Daniel Riccardo finished ninth ahead of Mark Webber who thought he had scored the final point before he was later penalised with a 20 second penalty and finished 11th. Sergio Perez collected the final point after a battle with Nico Hulkenberg that resulted in Hulkenberg hitting both Sauber drivers and suffering a puncture. Kamui Kobayashi also collected damage after being hit by Webber and was forced to make another pitstop.

The battle of the backmarkers intensified after Timo Glock finished an impressive 12th to lift Marussia above Caterham and HRT in the battle for tenth in the constructors championship.

Vettel dedicated his win to the late Professor Sid Watkins at the first Grand Prix since his death. His win helps extend Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ standings whilst moving him up into second in the drivers’ standings. Red Bull will hope that their return to winning ways will help them secure both the constructors’ and drivers’ for a third successive season.

Hamilton on pole after championship rivals fail to challenge

Lewis Hamilton took a comfortable pole position for McLaren on Saturday in Singapore beating Williams’ Pastor Maldonado and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton looked comfortable throughout all three qualifying sessions and was not challenged by fellow championship rivals Vettel, who could only manage third, and Fernando Alonso who qualified fifth. Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button qualified fourth ahead of Alonso, whilst Mark Webber could only manage seventh.

There were plenty of shocks in the session as Maldonado took a surprising second on the grid for Williams in a mixed day for them with Senna qualifying 17th after another brush with the wall. Paul di Resta qualified a strong sixth for Force India, whilst teammate Nico Hulkenberg starts 11th after being knocked out of the top ten in the dying moments of Q2 by both Mercedes drivers. Mercedes went onto qualify ninth and tenth after deciding to not set a time in Q3.

Lotus’ quest for Kimi Raikkonen to win the drivers championship was stalled by him only managing to qualify 12th. He has come from worse positions to score this season already so they will be hopeful of still being able to make an impact on tomorrows race. Sauber will be disappointed to only qualify 14th with Sergio Perez and 18th with Kamui Kobayashi,who failed to make it out of Q1, after such a strong result in Monza.

Back-markers Charles Pic and Pedro de la Rosa both picked up penalties over the course of the weekend. De la Rosa has a five place grid penalty for a gear box change but it will make no difference to the grid placings tomorrow after he qualified last. Pic will have 20 seconds added to his race time tomorrow after overtaking a car under red flag conditions in practice.

Hamilton will hope to continue McLaren’s winning form and pick up a second straight win for himself and four consecutive wins from four races for his team. He is likely to face strong challenge from Vettel and Alonso as they continue to battle it out for the championship. Maldonado could possibly challenge, as seen previously in Barcelona, however he is reliant on Williams having optimised their car for the race, rather than for making gains in qualifying. If Hamilton can be as dominant as he was in Italy then he stands a good chance of securing his fourth win of the season.

Red Bull and Vettel back on track in Singapore

Sebastian Vettel topped both Free Practice one and two on Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix, in a race that is pivotal in his quest for a third consecutive drivers Championship.

Vettel battled with Lewis Hamilton in the first session for the top spot coming out on top by just hundredths of a second.The session started in mixed conditions following a downpour prior to practice which meant the drivers began FP1 on the intermediate tyre. In comparison in free practice two the conditions were dry and it was the other McLaren of Jenson Button that Vettel found himself beating to the top of the time sheets albeit by a more comfortable margin of a couple of tenths.

In both sessions all the championship contenders were at the top of the time sheets. With Vettel, Button,  Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Hamilton making up the top five in FP2. Fellow championship contender Kimi Raikkonen finished both sessions in 12th position in a car that should be capable of points on Sunday.

Force India looked impressive finishing session one in seventh and eighth and session two in sixth and seventh, Nico Hulkenberg won the teammate battle in FP1 before Paul di Resta took the honours in FP2.  The team are hoping for a good points haul this weekend as they attempt to overhaul Sauber for sixth in the constructors championship, though this is unlikely considering they are 37 points behind.

Mercedes tested their new exhaust in both free practice sessions, finishing 14th and 18th in FP1 and eighth and 11th in FP2. It is unlikely that any judgements can be made about the effectiveness of the exhaust until it has been run for the whole race weekend.

All eyes were on Romain Grosjean in his return to action after a one race ban and he managed a respectable 15th place in FP1 despite taking a trip down the escape road, before he finished tenth place in the second session. Grosjean was not the only driver to suffer an incident as Bruno Senna caught the wall at turn 19 in FP2 causing a red flag whilst his car was removed.

Vettel will be glad to find himself back on top of the time sheets after a couple of difficult weekends. A strong win in Singapore would keep in contention for a third consecutive title but he will be hoping that any issues surrounding the car failure at the Italian Grand Prix have been resolved.