Singapore win leaves Vettel 1 point away from title

Sebastian Vettel comfortably controlled the Singapore Grand Prix, to leave him a point away from the championship.

Sebastian Vettel is now just one point away from winning his second consecutive world championship after a dominant display in Singapore. The Red Bull man was in his usual imperious form as he took the win leading virtually the whole race unchallenged. Jenson Button moves up to 2nd in the championship after finishing just 1.7 seconds behind Vettel, while Mark Webber was third. Fernando Alonso was fourth, and Lewis Hamilton was fifth after contact with Felipe Massa earlier in the race.

The German got a good start from pole, while Button took second off Webber, who broke early for Turn 1, costing Lewis Hamilton positions. Alonso made a beuatiful start yet again and was up to 3rd. Hamilton was down to eighth as both Ferrari's and both Mercedes' had made it through.


A dominant Vettel now just needs one point to seal the title

The McLaren driver quickly made it past Schumacher and Rosberg, and was now set with passing Massa, for fifth. This ended in disaster, with Hamilton clipping Massa's rear tyre, damaging his front wing, and puncturing the Brazilian's tyre.

Both pitted for repairs, but Hamilton was then handed a drive-thru' penalty for causing the collision, dropping him down as far as 19th.

Mark Webber had made a bad start, slipping into fourth, but he pounced on the rear tyre degradation of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, who duly pitted. Most cars also pitted, apart from Paul di Resta, who was now in third. Hamilton was beginning to progress, passing Felipe Massa more successfully this time for 12th. Rubens Barrichello wasn't difficult to pass for the McLaren driver either. Rosberg, Perez and Schumacher were ahead of Hamilton. Rosberg made a slight mistake, getting onto the marbles, into the final corner, and Perez saw an oppurtunity to attack. Into Turn 1, the Mexican made a move, but contact was made and Perez was forced onto the run off.

Schumacher moved in to capitalised and chased Perez around turn five and down to Memorial corner. The Sauber driver forced him to the outside and continued to cover the position as they headed to turn eight.
Schumacher made to pass Perez down the inside but hit the Sauber, his car rearing up in the air and landing hard before crashing nose-first into the barrier. Schumacher extracted himself without injury while Perez was able to continue. The safety car was deployed while Schumacher’s car was recovered and most drivers took the opportunity to make their second pit stops.

This helped Lewis Hamilton, who was now into eighth. Vettel's lead was cut, but the traffic between him and Button helped the German. Alonso had undercut Webber at the stops, until the Australian made an oppurtunistic move into Turn 10. After a few overtakes, Hamilton was into fifth, behind Vettel, Button, Webber and Alonso.



Glorious scenes at the podium ceremony

 At the final round of stops, Hamilton dropped back behind Perez, Sutil, Rosberg and di Resta, meaning he had to pass them all again. Sure enough, he did, and finished fifth. Vettel was uncontrollable, and not bothered until Jarno Trulli almost took him out in the pitlane. From then on, Button went on a real charge, taking massive chunks out of Vettel's lead every lap, just as he did in Canada. The German had more traffic, losing him more time. However, there was not to be a repeat of Montreal, when Button got past, as Vettel won by just under two seconds. Button and Webber completed the podium, while Alonso was fourth. Hamilton was fifth, and a great drive from Paul di Resta gave him his best ever result, with sixth. Rosberg and Sutil were seventh and eighth, while Felipe Massa passed Sergio Perez late on for ninth.

Vettel needs just a point now to take a second world title, a quite ridiculous stat considering his young age.