September 28, 2009

Lewis Hamilton produced a masterful drive to win Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso as Jenson Button got more points on the board to shore up his championship lead.

Starting from first on the grid, Hamilton led from start to finish in difficult driving conditions to take the chequered flag in his McLaren, 9.6 seconds ahead of the Toyota.

It was his second win of the season, after Hungary, and the 11th of his career.

Spain's Alonso, who won in Singapore last year in controversial circumstances when Nelson Piquet junior deliberately crashed, brought some cheer to Renault with a hard-fought third to make the podium again.

It left Germany's Sebastien Vettel to take fourth but it could have been much better.

The Red Bull driver was second and in a close-fought battle with Hamilton, but after pitting for a second time on lap 39, exited too quickly and incurred a drive-through penalty.

At least he finished one place ahead of championship leader Button, but with just three races left the gap between the two is 25 points and Vettel's chances of catching the Briton are disappearing.

Button now has 84 points with his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello 15 behind after finishing sixth under the lights in Singapore.

Vettel has 59 points and teammate Mark Webber remains fourth with 51.5, the Australian failing to finish the Singapore race.

Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren finished seventh and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was eighth.

The Brawn pair now look certain to deliver the constructors' championship to their eponymous team-chief Ross Brawn in the outfit's first season, with one of them being crowned world champion.

The front row of the grid was always going to be decisive on the bumpy Marina Bay street circuit, where overtaking is difficult, and Hamilton made the most of starting on pole.

Driving with aplomb and assurance on a track that demands precision, nerve, and confidence, he came through the opening corner scramble in prime position.

Nico Rosberg got past Vettel to be in second and Alonso had a storming start, powering to fourth from fifth.

But by the end of the first lap, the Spaniard was down to sixth with Webber and Glock getting past him. Button was up one place to 10th and Barrichello was seventh.

Webber was subsequently asked by his team to move aside and let Glock and Alonso back past him as his overtaking move on that opening lap was deemed to be illegal as he marginally left the track.

Hamilton and Rosberg were trading fastest times but by lap 10 the Briton was 2.2 seconds clear and over 10 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Glock.

Vettel was the first to pit from third on lap 17, followed by Rosberg and Hamilton four laps later.

It was bad re-entry by Rosberg, who clumsily bounced over a painted line on his exit and was handed a drive-through penalty.

Just minutes later and Force India's Adrian Sutil spun and then slammed into Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber as he attempted to get going again, leaving the track littered with debris and forcing the safety car out.

When they resumed, Hamilton only had a 0.5 second lead ahead of Rosberg, then Vettel, Glock and Alonso. Barrichello was sixth and Button was up to eighth.

When Rosberg went in to serve his penalty the top 13 all moved up a place with the German dropping down to 14th.

It set the scene for a dramatic second half of the race. Hamilton and Vettel pulled away from the pack and with less than a second separating them it looked like an exciting finish.

But Vettel pitted again on lap 39 and pushed too hard coming out, speeding in the pit lane to be slapped with a drive-through penalty, ruining his night.

Singapore Grand Prix Results
1. Lewis Hamilton (ENG/MLA) 1hr 56min 6.337sec
2. Timo Glock (GER/TOY) +9.634
3. Fernando Alonso (ESP/REN) 16.624
4. Sebastian Vettel (GER/RBR) 20.261
5. Jenson Button (ENG/BRA) 30.015
6. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/BRA) 31.858
7. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/MLA) 36.157
8. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW) 55.054
9. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN/WIL) 56.054
10. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/FER) 58.892
11. Nico Rosberg (GER/WIL) 59.777
12. Jarno Trulli (ITA/TOY) 1min 13.009
13. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/FER) 1min 19.890
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA/FOR) 1min 33.502
Not classified: Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/TOR) 14 laps
Sebastien Buemi (SUI/TOR) 14 laps
Mark Webber (AUS/RBR) 16 laps
Adrian Sutil (GER/FOR) 38 laps
Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW) 42 laps
Romain Grosjean (FRA/REN) 58 laps

F1 Drivers Ladder F1
1 Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn 84
2 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Brawn 69
3 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 59
4 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 51.5
5 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 40
6 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 37
7 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 30.5
8 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 26
9 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 24
10 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 22.5
11 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 22
12 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 22
13 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 12
14 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 9
15 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India 8
16 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 5
17 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso 3
18 Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso 2
19 Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams 0
20 Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault 0
21 Luca Badoer (ITA) Ferrari 0
22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India 0
23 Romain Grosjean (FRA) Renault 0
24 Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso 0

Team Pts
1 Brawn 153
2 Red Bull 110.5
3 Ferrari 62
4 McLaren 59
5 Toyota 46.5
6 Williams 30.5
7 Renault 26
8 BMW Sauber 21
9 Force India 13
10 Toro Rosso 5