TheSportsCampus

Lewis Hamilton dominated the Singapore Grand Prix to take his and McLaren-Mercedes' second win of the season. Hamilton, in imperial form, didn't put a foot wrong all race long, and finished ahead of Timo Glock in the Toyota and Fernando Alonso in the Renault in an incident-prone, if processional, night race around the Marina Bay circuit.

 

Hamilton led away at the start and despite an intermittently working KERs system and strong challenges from Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel in the early and middle stages of the race, romped home to victory. Both Rosberg and Vettel self-destructed with mistakes that earned them drive-through penalties, only making the Briton's job easier .

"This is the perfect end to a fantastic weekend," said Lewis afterwards. "The race was physically very tough for all the drivers, but it was actually quite straightforward for me. I made a good start and I knew I was running longer than the guys behind me, so I was able to bridge the gap back to them. It was a very nicely controlled race in that way.

"The team did radio me about a small problem with KERS - but I didn't have a problem in the cockpit and was able to just disable it and then re-engage it. It worked fine after that.

"We came here hoping for a good result - and I wanted to redeem myself after the last lap in Monza - and we got it!"

Glock and Alonso drove nondescript races that saw them move ahead when Rosberg and Vettel made mistakes. Toyota and Renault - two beleaguered manufacturer teams - could use the good news. Toyota's F1 future is still unclear and Renault can use any good news after a week from hell, when they were found guilty of fixing last year's Singapore race.

Sebastian Vettel was 4th and the German will be bitterly disappointed. He was third in the early stages of the race and looked set to finish second - perhaps even the top step if Hamilton were to make a mistake or with a opportunistic safety car - but all that went pear shaped when with 20 laps left, Vettel conspired to destroy his own race - by speeding in the pit lane and earning a drive-through penalty. He duly came in and dropped behind both Glock and Alonso. Till then it looked like Vettel might make a real dent on Button's championship lead, but in the end all he gained was just a point on Button.

Button himself resurrected his afternoon and his championship by finishing a strong 5th, having started 12th. He had a steady early part of the race and then when the safety car came out, he pitted at the right time and made the most out of it. His strong race pace meant that he even finished ahead of team mate Rubens Barrichello and extended his lead in the driver's championship.

The two Red Bulls had a torrid afternoon. Not only did Vettel earn that drive through but also ran over the kerbs at one point and destroyed his diffuser - the under-floor aerodynamic devise that provides much of the downforce in a F1 car. Mark Webber did the same thing in the race, but his race was run when he came into the pits for his second stop and it was evident that he had no brakes left. The team checked the right front disc, thought it was ok, sent him back out, but a lap later the Australian was in the barrier at turn 1 - his right front disc exploding in a plume of black smoke. Red Bull didn't expect to be quick here, but they were in qualifying, and will be bitterly ruing their missed opportunity.

Heikki Kovalainen in the other McLaren was 7th. There was nothing wrong with the Finn's driving but it was just not good enough on a day when his team mate was spraying champagne from the top step of the podium. It looks increasingly likely that he'll be replaced by the other Finn on the grid - Kimi Raikkonen - who is reportedly being asked to leave Ferrari to make way for Fernando Alonso.

Robert Kubica in the BMW was the last of the point scorers. BMW were perhaps hoping for more from this race given the new package they'd bought. At least Kubica got a point; Nick Heidfeld saw his race destroyed early on when he collected a spinning Adrian Sutil in the Force India.

That incident brought out the only safety car of the race. It didn't do as much damage as safety cars in the past have except with Nico Rosberg's race. Nico, who had been running 2nd, and looked set to replicate his 2nd place finish here last year, had already dented his chances of a good result by crossing the white line at the pit exit after his first stop. He duly earned a drive through for the offense, but right after it was announced, the safety car was deployed and when Nico took his penalty, he dropped all the way down to 14th. He never really recovered from that and finished 11th - disappointment for the German and the Williams team.

Of the others, Ferrari had a torrid race. The F60 is beginning to show its age as the others have continued to develop the car. Raikkonen could only manage 10th and Fisichella was 13th. They both had average starts, toiled around in the midfield all race long and finished there. The Scuderia will be hoping for better things at Suzuka next week.

As for the Force India's, Sutil lost patience behind Jamie Alguesuari and spun and was collected by Heidfeld. The other - Liuzzi - was 14th and dead last. This was not a circuit well suited to them, and they will be relishing the prospect of Suzuka next week, with its fast sweeping Spa-like corners.

As Hamilton sprayed the champagne, Button probably smiled contentedly. His championship lead could've been seriously dented here, but wasn't. His opponents conspired to self-destruct. The Briton has been lucky - very, very lucky - all season long. Button may have won 6 races this season - more than anyone else - but has not so much as led a lap since the 7th race of the season at Turkey in May - 7 races ago! He's been lucky because he's not had a serious challenger who has been able to stitch a season together. First it was Vettel who looked to be the closest contender, then Webber, then Barrichello. Then when it looked like Red Bull might challenge again, they conspired to wreck their own races. With three races left this season, it does finally look like it will be Button's year; he'll need a Lewis Hamilton-like meltdown in 2007 to lose the championship from here on.

Singapore Grand Prix Race Result:

1. L Hamilton, McLaren, 1h56:06.337
2. T Glock, Toyota, + 9.634
3. F Alonso, Renault, + 16.624
4. S Vettel, Red Bull
5. J Button, Brawn
6. R Barrichello, Brawn
7. H Kovalainen, McLaren
8. R Kubica, BMW Sauber
9. K Nakajima, Williams
10. K Raikkonen, Ferrari
11. N Rosberg, Williams
12. J Trulli, Toyota
13. G Fisichella, Ferrari
14. V Liuzzi, Force India
15. J Alguersuari (ret.), Toro Rosso
16. S Buemi (ret.), Toro Rosso
17. M Webber (ret.), Red Bull
18. A Sutil (ret.), Force India
19. N Heidfeld (ret.), BMW Sauber
20. R Grosjean (ret.), Renault

Photograph courtesy: McLaren.com