Singapore analysis - Alonso on the march
Fernando Alonso’s rise up the championship table continued apace on Sunday as he won for the second race in succession. There was little to choose between his Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, but a stout defence of P1 at the start helped secure the Spaniard a crucial victory, his fourth of the season. With both cars on the podium, and an extended lead in both tables, Red Bull had little to complain about. Indeed, of the title contenders, only at McLaren did you find long faces. We take a team-by-team look at how events at Marina Bay played out…
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P1
Felipe Massa, P10, classified P8
Though he almost lost the start to Vettel, Alonso never put a wheel wrong in a hot and humid race which very nearly went to its two-hour time limit. The Spaniard showed all his usual flair with a superbly judged victory under pressure for the entire distance, especially after the switch to Bridgestone’s harder tyre handed the speed advantage to challenging Vettel’s Red Bull. Massa started at the back and finished 10th on the road, which was not a bad result in trying circumstances.
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, P2
Mark Webber, P3
If Red Bull couldn’t win, they did the next best thing by taking second with an aggressive Vettel and third after some brilliant strategising with Webber. While Vettel fought Alonso every inch of the way to finish only two-tenths of a second adrift of the Ferrari, they figured Webber’s best chance of vaulting past the McLarens was to pit for hard compound Bridgestones on the third lap. This worked handsomely even though the Australian got caught for a long time behind Barrichello, though he was lucky to escape with just a serious front-end vibration after his 36th-lap clash with Hamilton. Red Bull still lead the constructors’ points, and Webber extended his lead to 11 points over Alonso as Vettel came to within a point of Hamilton in third.
McLaren
Jenson Button, P4
Lewis Hamilton, retired lap 36, accident damage
McLaren could see their drivers’ and constructors’ championship chances slipping after heavy rear tyre wear kept the MP4-25s well off the pace of the Ferrari and the Red Bulls in the early running. Things were better on the harder Bridgestone tyre, but Hamilton didn’t last long on his as he was pushed into a big slide - and subsequent retirement with broken suspension, when he and Webber tangled while fighting for third place on the 36th lap. Button was a distant fourth.
Mercedes GP
Nico Rosberg, P5
Michael Schumacher, P13
Yet again Rosberg thoroughly outclassed Schumacher. While the young German raced to a solid fifth place, his older compatriot was turfed into a half spin by Kobayashi on the 30th lap, then spun after shoving into Heidfeld later in the race. He finished 13th.
Williams
Rubens Barrichello, P6
Nico Hulkenberg, P9, classified P10 after 20s penalty for leaving circuit
Barrichello drove superbly all afternoon and thoroughly deserved his sixth place, especially after withstanding very heavy pressure from Webber for a long time. Hulkenberg was less effective than he had been at Monza, but finished ninth on the road until he was given a 20s post-race penalty for going off track and gaining an advantage on the first lap.
Renault
Robert Kubica, P7
Vitaly Petrov, P11
Kubica was his customary feisty self, getting everything out of his Renault R30. A late, lap 45, stop for fresh tyres dropped him from sixth to 13th, but fresh rubber combined with fantastic determination and racecraft saw him repass the Toro Rossos, Petrov, Massa, Hulkenberg and Sutil to get back to seventh by the finish. Petrov finished 11th.
Force India
Adrian Sutil, P8, classified P9 after 20s penalty for leaving circuit
Vitantonio Liuzzi, retired lap 2, suspension damage
Sutil ran wide at Turn Seven on the opening lap, for which he was later penalised 20s after finishing a solid eighth. A similar penalty for Hulkenberg, however, moved him back up to ninth. His clash with Heidfeld on that first lap sent the BMW Sauber driver into his own team mate, Liuzzi, resulting in broken suspension for the Italian. Not a happy race for the team, which had expected more.
source: formula1.com
