Singapore GP - Vettel shines in the dark, as Hamilton's hopes fade

It was sadly ironic that, just after everyone escaped unscathed from a massive first corner accident at the last race, Prof. Sid Watkins, who had done such great work improving the safety of F1, should pass away.

There are many drivers racing, and retired, who owe him their lives, not just through his life-saving treatment, but his tireless work to prevent them from being in a situation that would require it. Rest in peace, Sid. And thanks.

The week prior to the race also brought the news that the man we all thought was BBC through and through, Jake Humphrey, will be leaving his role at anchorman of the channel’s coverage to become a Footballerism pundit for a new station run by BT. Would the last member of the Beeb team please remember to turn the lights out when they go...

Singapore has rapidly become one of my favourite races. The spectacle of it always amazes me, and fans are plentiful and enthusiastic. The fact that they seem to have got Safety Car appearances written in to the race contract helps, too.

Q1 saw an out-of-sorts Kobayashi drop out, whilst Massa and Raikkonen both fell by the wayside in Q2 and Senna made it a hat-trick when he clonked the wall terminally (repeating his exploits from previous practice sessions), before a gearbox change saw him plummet to 22nd on the grid. Grosjean gave the wall a fairly aggressive snog too, but got away with it.

Vettel had been the man most likely to bag pole all weekend, but Hamilton was on-form (if not particularly cheerful again) and clinched it comfortably, with Maldonad’oh a surprise 2nd, and Seb only 3rd. Honourable mention to di Resta too – 6th of the grid (and ahead of Webber) was tidy work indeed for the Team Fifi man.

The potential for Hamilton/Maldonad’oh catastrophe at the first corner didn’t materialise, and both Seb and Jenson passed Pastor rapidly. Back down the pack, the Caterham boys did the unthinkable and collided, Petrov limping back to the pits for a new nose. Massa was also in the wars with a puncture, crawling back to the pits and returning so far behind, you probably needed to turn the timesheet over to spot him.

Webber stopped first on lap 9, whilst Hamilton had pulled out a comfortable 2 second lead, and looked to be controlling the race easily. Pic took his turn to bite a chunk out the wall, but managed to get away with it.

Over the next few laps, Vettel pitted, followed by Alonso and Hamilton, leaving Button out front on lap 13, pursued by Pastor. Once everyone had finally pitted, Lewis once again led from Vettel.
Hulkenberg and Perez stuck it out until lap 19, but were looking pretty slow by the time they eventually came in.

On lap 23, the all-too-familiar sight of a slowing McLaren heaved itself into sight, and this time it was Lewis, frantically trying to select a gear to no avail, who was out, with a message from the team suggesting it was a known problem that they’d been unable to do anything about.

A doubtlessly chuffed Vettel now led from JB and Maldo.

Webber stopped again on lap 29, just short of half distance. Was he going to be able to run to the end of the race? Seemed to be a pretty big ask. Maldonad’oh and Alonso were in together on the next lap, retaining their positions, and as the race hit mid-point, Seb was in front of JB by 3 seconds from di Resta, Rosberg and Grosjean. Weirdly, it was starting to look like a less than thrilling race...

Rosberg, Grosjean, Maldonad’oh and Alonso were all slugging it out for 4th place, with Fernando piling the pressure on a surprisingly controlled Venezuelan.

Everything changed on lap 33, as Karthikeyan failed to negotiate the corner, and slammed his Hispania into a wall. Safety Car deployed, Pastor surprisingly stopped for the second time in 2 laps, with just about everyone deciding to do likewise.

Whatever Williams were gambling on we’ll never know, as Maldy was called in by the team with a terminal hydraulic problem whilst the Safety Car was still out. It took him 2 laps to finally come in, but he did manage to have a clean race for a change.

As the battle recommenced on lap 39, JB almost rammed Vettel, as the German appeared to be speeding up, but then braked hard again. The two scampered off, leaving Alonso (who was apparently polishing his steering wheel or something) wondering where they’d gone. Ever the opportunist, Webber snatched 5th from Hulkenberg.

Before the lap was over, Schumi piled heavily into the back of a blameless Vergne, retiring both of them, and proving that even 7 times World Champions can make the same mistake twice. At the same circuit. 2 years in a row. The stewards didn’t buy his claim that he didn’t know why the car wouldn’t slow down, and he’ll be taking a 10 place grid penalty at the next race. It looked like Mercedes couldn’t quite believe it either, radioing him with a startled “What happened there?!” I think we know the answer – brain failure.

As the Safety Car took to the circuit again after just 2 laps off, Webber, Hulkenberg and Perez all pitted, along with Petrov. All got going again, but Petrov was minus a wheel nut, and had to wait at the wrong end of the pit lane whilst his mechanics raced along in the heat to push him back and try again.

Lap 43 saw the race under way once more, with Massa and Senna locked in an epic Brazilian battle, which both of them were lucky to escape from unscathed. Massa eventually wiggled past Bruno into 9th. On a bit of a roll, Felipe then took Ricciardo for 8th a few laps later.

A fins scrap was going on for the honour of 11th place between Kobayashi, Webber, Hulkenberg and Perez, but it all got a bit too close for Nico and Sergio, with the smiley Mexican losing his from wing.
Hulky wasn’t done with collisions either, tangling with the other Sauber of Kobayashi, Kamui losing his front wing as well, and Nico picking up a puncture, wrecking their chances of points.

With so much time behind the Safety Car, the race was now limited to the maximum 2 hours, and with 7 minutes left, Webber nicked the final points-paying place from Senna. Not that it ultimately mattered for Bruno – he conked out on the last lap.

Vettel crossed the line at the timer hit zero, with Button and Alonso behind, and di Resta a fine 4th. Massa somehow managed to come home 8th after his early woes, and Perez eventually got a point after Webber had 20 seconds added to his race time for being so far off the track during an overtake, he needed an A-Z of Singapore to find his way back.

Full credit to Vettel, for his eloquent and intelligent dedication of his race win to the Prof. He may only be 25 years old, but he’s a bright lad... and back in contention for the title?

(CD tonight - bit of 90's dancey stuff from Robert Miles - Dreamland. I know. Not like me at all, is it?)