September 29, 2008

SPANIARD Fernando Alonso snapped a year-long win drought to take the Singapore Grand Prix, winning a drama-filled first night race as a comical error cost Felipe Massa dearly.

It was the Renault driver's first victory since the Italian Grand Prix last year and capped a remarkable weekend that saw him top two of the free practice sessions but start 15th on the grid after a mechanical problem in qualifying.

He claimed his 20th career triumph by 2.95sec over German Nico Rosberg in a Williams and British world championship leader Lewis Hamilton in third.

Toyota driver Timo Glock was fourth with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel following up his win in Italy this month with fifth. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld took sixth.

"It is fantastic, I am extremely happy. I can't believe it right now and it will take a few days to realise what we have done," said Alonso.

"Winning had seemed impossible all season but we have been competitive all weekend. The car was super."

The race was a new experience for every driver on a street circuit under powerful spotlights and it turned out to be one of the most exciting of the season.

Despite dark clouds lurking, Singapore's notorious tropical downpours stayed away and the whole race was run in dry, but hot and humid conditions.

Rosberg scored his best ever finish and was over the moon.

"The car felt pretty good and we knew we could be strong on this track and for once the luck went with us," he said.

Similarly, Hamilton was happy to get points while Massa didn't.

"I enjoyed driving here and I'm pretty happy," he said. "It was a tough weekend but we got some good points."

Ferrari's Massa started from pole but a disastrous mistake cost him the race and valuable points in his push for the world title.

His 13th place finish means he is now seven points behind Hamilton in the championship hunt with just three Grand Prix left at Japan, China and Brazil.

The Brazilian was in the pits on lap 15 when he was given the green light and drove off with the fuel hose still attached to his car, leaving one of the pit crew floored and subsequently carted off in a neck brace.

Massa ended up sitting in his Ferrari at the end of the pit lane as the crew ran after him and managed to pull the hose free, but it ruined his chances. He was given a drive through penalty and rejoined in 18th place.

It was a miserable night for Ferrari with defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen ramming his car into the barriers with just four laps left.

The Massa drama occurred after the cars came in when Nelson Piquet careered into the wall, causing massive damage to his Renault.

He climbed out unscathed but the safety car was deployed.

Massa was leading at the time with Hamilton second but at the restart, Rosberg was in front and Alonso fifth.

But Rosberg was subsequently slapped with a 10-second stop penalty for coming into the pits before it had opened after the Piquet crash.

The complicated scenario saw Toyota's Jarno Trulli in the lead on lap 28 but without having pitted with Alonso second, Rosberg third and Hamilton charging in sixth.

With Trulli taking his first pit stop soon after Alonso amazingly found himself in front just after the halfway mark with a 4.9 second lead over Rosberg.

Alonso came in for his second pit stop on lap 41 and came out still ahead, marginally ahead of David Coulthard and Hamilton.

Remarkably, when Coulthard pitted soon after, he too drove off with the fuel pipe attached, knocking over a mechanic who was stretchered off with an injured ankle.
There was more action to come.

Alonso was cruising with a 23 second lead when Adrian Sutil shunted his Force India into the wall, bringing the safety car out again and wiping out the Spaniard's advantage.

When they restarted with seven laps left it was a sprint to the finish and two-time world champion Alonso made no mistake, writing his name in the record books as the first winner of a Formula One night race.


F1GP - SIngapore Grand Prix
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired
1 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:57:16.304
2 7 Nico Rosberg Williams +2.9 secs
3 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren +5.9 secs
4 12 Timo Glock Toyota +8.1 secs
5 15 Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso +10.2 secs
6 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +11.1 secs
7 9 David Coulthard Red Bull +16.3 secs
8 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams +18.4 secs
9 16 Jenson Button Honda +19.8 secs
10 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren +26.9 secs
11 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber +27.9 secs
12 14 Sebastian Bourdais Toro Rosso +29.4 secs
13 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari +35.1 secs
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India +43.5 secs
15 1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari DNF
16 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota DNF
17 20 Adrian Sutil Force India DNF
18 10 Mark Webber Red Bull DNF
19 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda DNF
20 6 Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault DNF

F1 Drivers Ladder
Driver Team Pts
1 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 84
2 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 77
3 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 64
4 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 57
5 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 56
6 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 51
7 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 38
8 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Toro Rosso 27
9 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 26
10 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 20
11 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 20
12 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 17
13 Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault 13
14 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Honda 11
15 Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams 9
16 David Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull 8
17 Sebastian Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso 4
18 Jenson Button (GBR) Honda 3
19 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India 0
20 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 0
21 Takuma Sato (JAP) Super Aguri 0
22 Anthony Davidson (GBR) Super Aguri 0

Team Pts
1 McLaren 135
2 Ferrari 134
3 BMW Sauber 120
4 Renault 51
5 Toyota 46
6 Toro Rosso 31
7 Red Bull 28
8 Williams 26
9 Honda 14
10 Force India 0
11 Super Aguri 0