Kobayashi was fine after his brief meet with the barriers, and is seen here waving at the crowds on the driver's parade lap, via @OfficialSF1Team.
Tweet from @TheFifthDriver: One hour left until the start of the Singapore Grand Prix - both drivers v relaxed. It's going to be a long and unpredictable ride!
Lewis Hamilton suffered a puncture in qualifying yesterday (potentially from the Sauber's crash) and had to settle for fourth place. McLaren asked the FIA for a new set of tyres but have been refused, so they're having to rethink their strategy.
If you haven't voted on the poll via the live thread or Facebook, we've just created a Google+ option as well: https://plus.google.com/112564622463572350003/posts/68rhzF6oeuv You just plus one your vote.
A couple of drivers sat out the final session of qualifying yesterday, with more information available here: https://sidepodcast.com/f1-big-picture/super-savers
Michael Schumacher, Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil all failed to set a time in Q3. Afterwards, Paul said: "For some of the slower teams, we have to use an extra set in Q1 to go through... in order to do that we used another two sets in Q2. There's no point in going out because you're fighting a losing battle."
Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Everything is ready in our garage. No major repairs needed under the parc fermé regime.
Marina Bay Street Circuit | |
---|---|
Local timezone | +0800 GMT |
First race | 2008 |
Number of laps | 61 |
Circuit length | 5.073km |
Race distance | 309.316km |
Start offset | 0.137km |
If you want a fancypants commenting solution, I recommend the Sidepodcast dashboard - tweets, comments, and the Factbyte Factbox all in one place and no need to refresh: https://sidepodcast.com/dashboard
Sebastian Vettel secured his 11th pole position of the year yesterday. He's well on his way to the pole position record, which I think is 14 in one season.
Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Pit lane speed limit here is 60 kph, not the usual 100 kph, so the time lost during the pit-stops will be higher.
Interview with Paul di Resta: "I think given the circumstances on Friday... we got both cars into Q3, I was a little bit behind Adrian, a small mistake. I think the simulator helps... all we can really reference our performance on is the other chassis and tyre wear. The degradation, I'm not sure how it's going to be. All we can do is go with an aggressive strategy that will hopefully keep us in front of the Saubers. This is madly tough, you sweat a lot, you're going to lose a lot of liquid, to the point where I think we're going to have to weigh before the race! When you're fighting midpack, it's a fight all the way to the end."
Interview with Kamui Kobayashi: "This is not really my favourite corner, definitely not nice for F1 as well, because it's a bit too high. Today I'm quite confident. This track, with DRS system, we have a lot of overtaking chances as well. It's quite a long race, there's going to be a lot of chances for myself. I hope to make a great race here."
Pos | Driver | Total |
---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | 8 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | 2 |
3 | Jenson Button | 2 |
4 | Fernando Alonso | 1 |
Bernd Maylander prepares for the long Singapore GP, via @easonF1. There's quite a high chance of the Safety Car appearing, with the average per race standing at 1.7.
(data from Williams F1) | |
Fuel consumption | 2.6kg/lap |
Fuel laptime penalty | 0.3s/10kg |
Top speed | 302kph |
Average speed | 172kph |
Pit lane loss | 30s |
Pit lane length | 404m |
Tweet from @eddstrawF1: Ambient temperature is 30 degrees. Around 10 warmer in the garages. And the mechanics involved in the stops are wearing overalls. Tough job.
The pit lane is open now, drivers are being strapped into the cars, engines are being fired up.
Turn 1 | |
---|---|
(forecast data from Brembo) | |
Initial speed | 294km/h |
Final speed | 147km/h |
Stopping distance | 89m |
Braking time | 1.53s |
Maximum deceleration | 4.25g |
Maximum pedal load | 104kg |
Interview with Lewis Hamilton: "It's supposed to be a two-stop, but the wear life is not a problem. They can go for a long time, the tyres, but it's the temperatures. Fingers crossed my tyres will last."
Interview with Vijay Mallya: "We were very happy that both cars made it into Q3. Hopefully, we will have a double points finish today."
Interview with Sebastian Vettel: "It's a long race, it's one of the toughest all year. The challenge is big round here. It's hot, we sweat a lot.
"I think everyone is in the same boat, depending on how big your fuel tank is, I think we should be fine. If the safety car comes out, it helps all of us.
"I think the most important thing for us is to keep our heads cool and try to do our race and try to get our best result. Depending on what the others do."
Interview with Norbert Haug of Mercedes: "I think the six cars ahead of us are normally stronger, quicker. But we'll see, a lot of things can happen here. We need to make sure that we are there."
Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Weather situation is very stable: hot and sticky, no rain expected for the moment.
Interview with Jenson Button: "It is very tough round here. There's a two hour limit on the race, so it won't go longer than that. It's tough but this is what we train for, I suppose. It looks like we're damaging rear tyres quite a lot, we've got to hope it's different today.
"I need to get in front of Mark on the start. It's going to be an interesting turn one."
We've closed the polls, and on the live thread 52% say the championship will go on to Japan. On Facebook, it's 7-1 for Japan and on G+ it's 6-1 for the same.
If you're struggling to tell one piece of track from another, we learnt yesterday that they've painted the walls a different colour in each sector. 1st sector = blue. 2nd sector = green. 3rd sector = orangey/yellow.
Some links for you. You might fancy some live timing: http://www.formula1.com/live_timing/live_timing.html
Autosport's live text is here: http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/404 with the BBC's effort here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9599413.stm
Interview with Ross Brawn: "It's a little bit cooler, not sure what difference that will make. It's really the abrasiveness of the surface here, it gets the surface of the tyre really hot more from the wear and the rubbing, more than the temperature itself."
McLaren and Mercedes offer up some live data as the action unfolds. McLaren's here: http://www.mclaren.com/formula1 and Mercedes http://www.mercedes-gp.com/
We've got just the one DRS zone this week, after the FIA trialled a double DRS zone in Monza.
It's also worth noting that the tyre compounds on offer today are the softs (yellow sidewalls) and supersofts (red sidewalls).
Tweet from @matcoch: Fernando Alonso a late arriver on the grid. Arrived just as it's being cleared. #SingaporeGP #F1
31°C
Track | 34°C |
Humidity | 62% |
Wind speed | 1.8mps |
Di Resta is the only guy on soft tyres out of the top twelve, everyone else on the supersofts.
They're away on the formation lap.
The cars are very shiny under the lights, and they wind their way past the Fullerton Hotel on the formation lap.
Team radio to Webber: "When you get there, bite point, and three and a half burnouts."
Vettel backs the pack up considerably as they round the final corner and now they line up on the grid.
Race started.
Everybody off the grid cleanly, but Jenson Button is up into second, just as he wanted.
Vettel retained his lead, Webber fell backwards behind Alonso. Lewis Hamilton has also dropped considerably.
Hamilton has dropped down to 7th, Rosberg ahead of him and Schumacher behind.
Yellow flag
Schumacher is ahead of Hamilton, so Lewis has dropped back to 8th, just ahead of two Force Indias.
Track is clear.
Team radio to Rosberg: "Everything's okay with cutting the corner, so just concentrate on the race."
The front wing has come off Ricciardo's car, he's travelling very slowly at the back of the field trying to get back to the pit lane.
Comment from Lukeh: medical car to overtake the HRT!
Lewis Hamilton is now looking a bit more feisty, but is tucked up behind Michael Schumacher again. This is very familiar!
Replays show that Nico Rosberg was pushed wide at the start, hence the radio message about cutting the corner.
It's strange what happened to Hamilton, he shot forward with a really good start, but got stuck behind Webber with nowhere to go and heaps of cars flooded past him.
Vettel has already made an enormous lead.
Pos | Driver | Gap |
---|---|---|
1st | VET | 1:55.464 |
2nd | BUT | +3.5 |
3rd | ALO | +4.1 |
4th | WEB | +5.8 |
DRS is now enabled.
With his first use of DRS, Hamilton passes Schumacher after the Mercedes got a bad exit from the corner.
Team radio to Webber: "Massa is using all of his KERS to get within DRS distance of you, Mark."
Further down the order, Jarno Trulli has managed to improve to 17th place, and currently sits behind Kobayashi. Kovalainen is tucked up behind Petrov, battling for 19th place.
Hamilton makes a similar move on Nico Rosberg, and is now up to 6th. He'll be after Felipe Massa next.
Pos | Driver | |
---|---|---|
1 | 0 | Sebastian Vettel |
2 | 1 | Jenson Button |
3 | 2 | Fernando Alonso |
4 | -2 | Mark Webber |
5 | 1 | Felipe Massa |
6 | -2 | Lewis Hamilton |
7 | 0 | Nico Rosberg |
8 | 0 | Michael Schumacher |
9 | 0 | Adrian Sutil |
10 | 0 | Paul di Resta |
Daniel Ricciardo is one lap down, having pitted for a new front wing and tyres.
The closest battle is down with Jaime Alguersuari in 18th, with Vitaly Petrov just half a second behind him.
Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Vettel is flying away. All the other top 5 are on the pace of 1.55, Then Mercedeses on 1.57
TedNews: The strategy from McLaren for Hamilton is to get right up behind Massa and then try and get the undercut - change to a set of tyres earlier. They do need to make sure Massa is also on a two-stop, otherwise they won't be able to use the undercut.
Paul di Resta, on the soft tyres, is putting in good lap times compared with his teammate on the other compound.
S Vettel | |
---|---|
Lap 2 | 1:55.464 |
Lap 3 | 1:54.935 |
Lap 4 | 1:54.261 |
Lap 5 | 1:53.910 |
Lap 6 | 1:54.295 |
Lap 7 | 1:54.243 |
Lap 8 | 1:54.205 |
Tweet from @PhilDuncanF1: Vettel already 10 seconds ahead, but with Button in P2, he won't win the title today #asitstands #F1 #SingaporeGP
Rosberg comes into the pitlane.
Mercedes bring their driver in early, the first of the front runners to pit, they're likely looking at a three stop strategy.
Tweet from @HRTF1Team: Daniel was struggling to catch a rhythm because of the blue flags but after 6 laps he's clocked the same time as his teammate
Mark Webber hunts down Fernando Alonso, closes up beside the Ferrari but misses it. However, he doesn't give up, and passes through 15 and 16. Webber up to 3rd.
Fernando Alonso pits straight away.
He's bolting on the yellow sidewalls, the soft tyre which is the harder compound. If you can follow that.
Schumacher and Senna have also pitted.
Timo Glock has pulled off track, and sits in the escape road - his race clearly over in unspectacular fashion.
Replays show Glock spun going into the tunnel, which must have damaged the car.
Massa and Hamilton both come into the pits at the same time, and they come out the same way they went in.
Yellow flag
Track is clear.
Lewis Hamilton hustles Massa for position, and bashes into the back of the Ferrari. He's lost half his front wing, and Massa is wobbling along as well.
Yellow flag.
Right rear puncture for Massa.
Mark Webber has pitted and come back out on track, he's put on the soft tyres too.
A mega pitstop from Ferrari was all for nothing:
Driver | F Massa |
Team | Ferrari |
Pit lane | 30.1s |
Stopped | 2.9s |
Felipe Massa has pitted to put on new tyres, Lewis Hamilton is still out and about with half a front wing.
Race Control: Incident involving Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa under investigation by the stewards.
Hamilton finally pits this time, the McLaren crew ready with a new front wing and soft tyres.
Massa's tyre damage.
I'm assuming the yellow flags are for the debris from their collision, but I can't see why it's taking so long to clear.
Sebastian Vettel pits from the lead, having increased his gap to 11.5 seconds. Button also pits from 2nd.
Massa is down in 20th place now.
Jarno Trulli is up to 12th, with Alguersuari and Petrov behind him.
Track is clear.
Paul di Resta and Sergio Pérez are up in 3rd and 4th, but both have yet to stop for the first time.
A controlled stop for the race leader:
Driver | S Vettel |
Team | Red Bull |
Pit lane | 23.9s |
Stopped | 3.2s |
Race Control: Drive through for Lewis Hamilton - causing a collision.
Pérez makes his first pit stop.
Whilst that fun and games was happening, we missed Michael Schumacher passing Kobayashi for 8th. Adrian Sutil also came through dropping the Sauber to 10th.
Both Williams drivers have passed Vitaly Petrov - the Renault drivers are really struggling this weekend.
Jarno Trulli and Vitaly Petrov have both pitted now, their first stop.
A replay shows Nico Rosberg bouncing heavily over the kerbs, with little bits of carbon fibre flying off the car.
Lewis Hamilton has taken his drive through penalty now and is down in 19th, behind Kovalainen, who in turn is behind Massa.
Paul di Resta is the only driver in the top ten who has yet to stop, he's up in third place.
Fernando Alonso is closing up behind the Force India, and possibly losing a bit of time behind Di Resta. He'll be hoping Paul will take his first pit stop soon.
Jaime Alguersuari has now pitted, meaning Di Resta is the only driver who has yet to stop - if you don't count the retired Glock.
He was the only one to start on the soft tyre, which is presumably what has made the difference. But how it will pan out later?
Fernando Alonso makes the pass on Di Resta, who gifted it to him, realising his fight was not with the Ferrari.
Mark Webber is now close up behind Di Resta, whilst Alonso scampers away from the battle.
Tweet from @OfficialLRGP: Bruno had to stop again to have his front wing replaced
That explains why Senna is down in 22nd, with only Daniel Ricciardo behind him.
Paul di Resta finally makes his first stop. Supersoft tyres going on the Force India.
Pos | Driver | |
---|---|---|
1 | 0 | Sebastian Vettel |
2 | 1 | Jenson Button |
3 | 2 | Fernando Alonso |
4 | -2 | Mark Webber |
5 | 2 | Nico Rosberg |
6 | 2 | Michael Schumacher |
7 | 2 | Adrian Sutil |
8 | 2 | Paul di Resta |
9 | 2 | Sergio Pérez |
10 | 3 | Pastor Maldonado |
Team radio to Hamilton: "Please give me some info with what I'm doing. What am I racing for? How fast am I going?"
"We are definitely racing for points, absolutely, definitely. There will be safety cars in this race. The cars ahead are coming back towards us now. The way to get ahead is to make these tyres last."
Last man to pit for the first time:
Driver | Paul di Resta |
Team | Force India |
Pit lane | 30.704s |
Stopped | 3.8s |
Tweet from @MarussiaVirgin: Timo confirms it 'was' impact from RIC that ended his race: "It destroyed the rear tyre & steering wheel wasn't straight. Car undriveable"
Alonso | vs. | Webber |
3rd | +1.0s | 4th |
Tweet from @MyTeamLotus: Such bad luck!! Puncture for Jarno forces him back into the pits
Nico Rosberg pits from 6th place - starting the second round of pitstops early.
Massa and Hamilton are up to 12th and 13th respectively. The gap between the two is less than a second, so the Ferrari driver may be getting a bit nervous again.
Fernando Alonso makes a bit of a mistake through the chicane, either his tyres are going off, or he's under pressure from Webber close behind.
Or both!
Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race so far - 1:53.101.
Michael Schumacher pits from 5th place.
Felipe Massa makes a bit of a mistake round the corner, and Lewis Hamilton took the position - no front wings sacrificed this time.
Massa pits after the overtake, whilst Hamilton closes up behind Barrichello for 11th.
The Ferrari mechanics remained in the pitlane for Fernando Alonso, who pits now.
Alonso's laptimes leading up to his second stop:
F Alonso | |
---|---|
Lap 16 | 1:54.759 |
Lap 17 | 1:55.626 |
Lap 18 | 1:57.653 |
Lap 19 | 1:55.056 |
Lap 20 | 1:54.858 |
Lap 21 | 1:55.444 |
Lap 22 | 1:55.416 |
Lap 23 | 1:54.740 |
Lap 24 | 1:55.088 |
Team radio from Button: "I've been stuck behind Alguersuari for a lap now and he hasn't got blue flags."
Tweet from @MikeGascoyne: Drive through for Alguersuari, good decision but still ruins jarnos race
That's as official as it gets, I'm afraid, because Race Control don't appear to want to put up any messages on screen.
Paul di Resta has made it past his teammate Sutil for 5th place.
Felipe Massa takes his turn with the fastest lap - 1:52.550.
Vettel has extended his lead to just over 20 seconds now. Amazing.
Sector 1 | Hamilton | 302kph |
Sector 2 | Massa | 266kph |
Sector 3 | Schumacher | 237kph |
Speed trap | Kobayashi | 280kph |
Nico Rosberg found himself ahead of Pérez, but made a mistake and allowed the Sauber driver back alongside him. He wasn't giving an inch though, and pushed Pérez wide, so that he lost out.
Michael Schumacher hit the back of Pérez and flew up into the air!
Safety car deployed.
Schumacher is climbing out of the car, he's fine.
Mark Webber pits.
Lots and lots of drivers have also pitted. Both Force Indias, Pérez, Rosberg, D'Ambrosio, Senna and Ricciardo.
Lewis Hamilton comes in as well. The order is very messed up.
Schumacher hits Pérez.
Sebastian Vettel pits from the lead, with Jenson Button following him in from second.
Schumacher gets some air and causes some sparks.
The marshals are guiding the Mercedes off track, dangling from the tractor.
There's just some big bits of debris left on track, as the Safety Car guides the cars round.
The marshals are running to retrieve the carbon fibre, and they've got the brooms out again.
We're halfway through the race now, and just over an hour through the allotted duration.
Safety car in this lap.
Track is clear.
Pos | Driver | Stops | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 0 | S Vettel | 2 |
2 | 1 | J Button | 2 |
3 | 2 | F Alonso | 2 |
4 | -2 | M Webber | 2 |
5 | 5 | P Di Resta | 2 |
6 | 1 | N Rosberg | 3 |
7 | 2 | A Sutil | 2 |
8 | 3 | S Pérez | 3 |
9 | -5 | L Hamilton | 4 |
10 | 3 | P Maldonado | 2 |
Track is clear.
Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso were weaving their way through traffic, and Webber managed to sneak out alongside and ahead of Alonso, as though the Ferrari driver was asleep!
Replays show that Mark Webber just left it a lot later on the brakes, with Alonso clearly not expecting a move from the Red Bull.
Sebastian Vettel is galloping off into the distance again. Almost nine seconds already.
Hamilton has closed up behind Sutil, with the Force India keeping hold of the 7th place position for now.
There's a great snake of cars battling for 5th back down to 8th, all winding their way around the circuit.
The gap between Sutil and Hamilton is a bit wider now, as they passed traffic and found an HRT between them.
Two laps after the Safety Car, Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race.
Pos | Driver | Gap |
---|---|---|
1st | VET | 1:50.992 |
2nd | BUT | +10.0 |
3rd | WEB | +15.8 |
4th | ALO | +17.4 |
He gets some radio informing he may go to the end of the race on this set of tyres.
DRS is now enabled once more.
Lewis Hamilton took the position, as the pair navigated their way round Jarno Trulli. Lewis will be chasing down Nico Rosberg next.
TedNews: Jenson Button's plan is to go to the end of the race, because he's famously easy on his tyres. Red Bull know this and that's why the message went out to Vettel. Button will try and go to the end of the race.
Race Control: Incident involving Kobayashi under investigation - ignoring blue flags.
Rosberg has been dispatched already, moving Hamilton up to 6th place. Paul di Resta is next on his agenda.
Another lap, another car, Hamilton is past Di Resta.
Tweet from @MarussiaVirgin: Now the pack has closed up a bit there are periods when the pit straight is incredibly quiet. Such a big track.
Trulli has dropped backwards, but Heikki Kovalainen is up in 15th, and crucially ahead of both Renault drivers.
Race Control: Drive through penalty for Kobayashi - ignoring blue flags.
Race Control: Incident involving Rosberg and Pérez under investigation by the stewards.
That must be the incident that occurred just before the Michael Schumacher crash - where Pérez was pushed wide by Rosberg.
Renault | |
---|---|
Bruno Senna | 15th |
Vitaly Petrov | 17th |
Kobayashi pits from 14th place.
Felipe Massa also pits, set to change onto the harder compound - his fourth stop of the race so far.
Tweet from @clubforce: 20 long laps till the end of the race. Two stoppers will have to really look after their tyres.
Interview with Michael Schumacher: "I'm fine. I was just about to dive inside because I had good speed, a better exit. The moment I was about to go inside, he lifted off the throttle to get prepared for his braking, which I didn't anticipate so early. A racing incident, I guess."
Race Control: Incident involving Rosberg and Pérez - no further action.
Tweet from @autosportlive: Di Resta continues in a strong sixth place, largely untroubled by Rosberg and Sutil behind him. #F1
Jenson Button on lap 43 | ||
---|---|---|
Sector 1 | 29.8 | 272kph |
Sector 2 | 43.3 | 249kph |
Sector 3 | 38.4 | 238kph |
Driver | Reason | Lap |
---|---|---|
Michael Schumacher | Accident | 30 |
Timo Glock | Accident | 11 |
Team radio to Hamilton: "You're still just catching Alonso, times are very similar at the moment. You're still gapping the cars behind us which we need to do before the pitstops."
Pastor Maldonado has pitted for the third time this race.
Tweet from @HRTF1Team: Tonio is setting 1:59's and maintains the gap with Daniel but he might have to come in for a last pit stop
Schumacher talks to the press after retiring early from the race, via @njuancof1.
Mark Webber has pitted from third place, and he's put on the supersoft tyres.
Team radio to Webber: "You've come out behind Hamilton who is on very old options."
Driver | M Webber |
Team | Red Bull |
Pit lane | 30.413s |
Stopped | 3.9s |
TedNews: Ferrari thought Webber was going to the end of the race, but are now considering their options. Alonso last pitted on lap 25.
Jenson Button pits from second, as Lewis Hamilton runs out of grip and lets Mark Webber past easily.
Button returns to the track in third, as Lewis Hamilton comes in for his stop. The fifth time McLaren have seen Lewis go through the pits!
Driver | J Button |
Team | McLaren |
Pit lane | 30.305s |
Stopped | 3.6s |
Sebastian Vettel pits from the lead of the race.
Driver | L Hamilton |
Team | McLaren |
Pit lane | 29.876s |
Stopped | 3.6s |
Vettel was meandering back out the pitlane, and Heikki Kovalainen was released straight into his path. They managed to avoid an accident and Vettel rejoined in the lead.
Driver | S Vettel |
Team | Red Bull |
Pit lane | 30.796s |
Stopped | 3.7s |
Vettel informed via the radio that they only pitted to cover Button and he is still safely in the lead. The minute McLaren called their driver in, Red Bull knew they didn't need to take a risk with running the tyres too long.
Alonso is last of the front runners to make their final stop:
Driver | F Alonso |
Team | Ferrari |
Pit lane | 29.972s |
Stopped | 3.6s |
Lewis Hamilton is making his way through the field again, he's back up to 7th position with Nico Rosberg ahead of him.
Jarno Trulli has stopped off track, and climbed from the car. Another retirement for Lotus.
Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race, a whopping 1:48.688.
Pos | Driver | Gap |
---|---|---|
1st | VET | 1:48.688 |
2nd | BUT | +12.3 |
3rd | WEB | +20.1 |
4th | ALO | +38.5 |
5th | DIR | +46.5 |
Hamilton has passed Nico Rosberg and now chases Paul di Resta for sixth place.
Tweet from @HRTF1Team: Tonio had a small impact and has to come in again: change of nose and new soft tyres to make it until the end
Nine laps to go. Fifteen minutes left.
Tweet from @tonyfernandes: Jarno gearbox failing which we expected but took the risk so as not to get a grid penalty
Team radio from Hamilton: "I can smell oil."
He's clearly not worried about the oil, though, easily passing Di Resta for fifth place.
Race Control: Incident involving Jarno Trulli will be investigated after the race - unsafe release.
I thought it was Heikki that came out in front of Vettel, but it must have been Trulli.
Jenson Button sets a new fastest lap of the race - 1:48.454. Wait for Vettel to respond.
Team radio to Button: "Okay, Jenson, you're the fastest car on the track. Two seconds a lap faster than Vettel."
Kobayashi pits from 14th place.
Button is just under nine seconds behind Vettel and his radio is urging him to push and catch the Red Bull. A difficult ask, I think.
Five laps to go.
Pos | Driver | Visits |
---|---|---|
5 | Lewis Hamilton | 5 |
10 | Felipe Massa | 4 |
15 | Kamui Kobayashi | 4 |
16 | Bruno Senna | 4 |
21 | Tonio Liuzzi | 4 |
Vettel is now going through traffic, with Button closing the gap to 6.5 seconds. Four laps remaining.
Blue flags waving madly for Vettel, with Button catching up the end of the traffic now.
Button passes one, but the two Williams drivers are battling each other and getting in the way a little bit.
Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Felipe is back in the points, having overtaken RUbens
Two laps to go.
Yellow flag.
Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso is buried in the wall, but he hops from the car and over the barriers to safety.
Replays show he just lost it in the same spot that Glock did.
Vettel's closed up on more traffic, and holds back as Massa passes Pérez for ninth place.
The traffic is mad, but Vettel won't be taking any risks on the last lap.
Sebastian Vettel wins the Singapore Grand Prix!!
Jenson Button was only 1.7 seconds at the end, after all that traffic. Mark Webber takes third.
Only six drivers remained on the lead lap by the end of the race.
Fireworks break out over the circuit as the rest of the pack cross the line to end the race.
Fireworks over Singapore.
The championship is almost sewn up then. It will got to Japan, but Button is the only driver who can challenge Vettel.
Button needs to win every single race to the end of the season, and Vettel can't pick up a single point. Tough ask!
Pos | Driver | Stops | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 0 | S Vettel | 3 |
2 | 1 | J Button | 3 |
3 | -1 | M Webber | 3 |
4 | 1 | F Alonso | 3 |
5 | -1 | L Hamilton | 5 |
6 | 4 | P di Resta | 2 |
7 | 0 | N Rosberg | 3 |
8 | 1 | A Sutil | 2 |
9 | -3 | F Massa | 4 |
10 | 1 | S Pérez | 2 |
Tweet from @tomcary_tel: Excellent recovery from Hamilton to take fifth after his collision with Massa. Wonder what his mood will be like
Driver | Sebastian Vettel |
Team | Red Bull |
Race time | 1:59:06.757 |
Race distance | 309.316km |
Average speed | 155.810km/h |
Sebastian Vettel bumps into the number one slot in the winner's circle, and climbs from the car for a hug with Mark Webber.
The top three look very hot and sweaty as they had to the podium waiting area.
Vettel wins in Singapore... and realises that he has more than one finger!
Vettel and Button are practically on top of each other here, but it's a good way of demonstrating how close it was at the end.
Pos | Driver | Gap |
---|---|---|
1st | VET | 1:57.895 |
2nd | BUT | +1.7 |
3rd | WEB | +29.2 |
4th | ALO | +55.4 |
5th | HAM | +67.7 |
They're quiet in the green room, towels and water at the ready. Moments to go before the podium ceremony begins.
Vettel makes his way to the top step and leaps up. Hats off and the national anthems ring out.
Driver | Reason | Lap |
---|---|---|
Jaime Alguersuari | Spin | 60 |
Jarno Trulli | Gearbox | 52 |
Michael Schumacher | Accident | 30 |
Timo Glock | Accident | 11 |
McLaren | Finished Ahead |
---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | 7 |
Jenson Button | 7 |
Vettel wields his trophy, it's a chunky looking thing, and in the background there's plenty of cheering.
The champagne sprays out, with both Red Bull drivers ganging up on their team representive.
Pos | Driver | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | 309 |
2 | Jenson Button | 185 |
3 | Fernando Alonso | 184 |
4 | Mark Webber | 182 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | 168 |
Pos | Driver | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | Red Bull | 491 |
2 | McLaren | 353 |
3 | Ferrari | 268 |
4 | Mercedes | 114 |
5 | Renault | 70 |
Interview with Paul di Resta: "Very happy, it was quite a long race. We were looking very strong before the safety car came out... I thought this was going to cause a problem but when we changed onto the prime we could easily manage the pace. It was just a matter of bringing the car home.
"I think because we were reasonably quite quick after the first pit stops, I wasn't going to compromise my own speed to let them go. Everything seemed to go in order, and when we were in free air we were very strong.
"I think the big thing is we came here with an upgrade package that enabled us to gain performance. After missing Friday... it's a big credit to the team and we worked very hard this weekend to achieve that."
Interview with Felipe Massa: "My thought is that again, I told you yesterday, that Lewis can't use his mind. Even in qualifying, so you can imagine in the race. What he did, he could have caused a big accident, and he's paying for that. He doesn't understand, even paying for a problem. I was in the middle, so I had a puncture in my tyres. I was not even lucky with the safety car because I'd stopped for the soft tyre then after six laps the safety came in and I was on the wrong tyres. As I said, it's important that the FIA are looking and analysing him all the time in the car because he's not thinking about it."
Press Conference Quotes - Sebastian Vettel: "First of all, I'm very pleased with the result. The car was fantastic all teh way through. We could pull away quite easily and make a gap. The safety car came out, it didn't really fit with our plan. Nevertheless I had a good restart. I was a bit lucky with the backmarkers between Button and myself. I was quite happy. Towards the end, with the traffic, it's quite busy round here, there isn't a lot of space. In the end, last lap, I faced five cars, quite a large group. Not that big margin when I crossed the line but I was in control. All in all a fantastic result, I really love the track. I love the challenge. It's the longest race, the car was fantastic. Enginewise everything was great. We were in a comfortable position for most of the race, which is pretty handy round here. The pace was good, and I'm very pleased. For the championship, looks like we have another chance at the next race."
Press Conference Quotes - Jenson Button: "I can understand that it's difficult to move over here. Most people were fighting out there, but they've got to respect that the cars are lapping them for a reason. There were some frustrating moments in the race. One was with Kobayashi... and the two Williams were fighting between themselves. When it gets to the last lap... they forget that a cars trying to overtake.
Forgetting that, it was the best we could have done today. I felt I got the most out of the car... but we weren't quick enough to win. A good finish all the same."
Press Conference Quotes - Mark Webber: "Unfortunately, I found myself having to come back through too often. I can't make the starts I made last year at the moment. We'll look at them and need to improve. It's more risky to come back through and try and regain positions on the track, particularly when the DRS isn't working.
"Seb fully deserved the victory. Overall, if you come here and say you get a podium, we all want a win, that's what you strive for. It's not the easiest track for me, I don't seem to be superquick round here. I want to thank my guys, they've done a good job for me round here. Well done to JB, good second place for him."
Press Conference Quotes - Sebastian Vettel: "I had something in my eye, but yea, I really like this track. Especially after last year where it was a tough fight to the end with Fernando, all the way from start to finish last year. This year was great to come back and get the job done, in a way. As we all agree, I think this is one of the toughest challenges this year. The humidity makes us sweat a lot and work hard. It's nice when you cross the line knowing you've done your best and achieved the optimum. A fantastic race from start to finish, good pitstops. In the heat, I think we kept our heads cool. A great day in the office."
Interview with Fernando Alonso: "The start was good, we recovered some places. At one point we were third, but then Webber overtook us. We knew in normal conditions they should be in front of us. As far as the pace, it's six tenths slower than them. I think fourth was the maximum we could do.
"We're racing with McLaren some races, and some others with Mercedes. At the moment, either the drivers championship is gone. The constructor's championship is extremely difficult for us to catch. From behind there is no threat, but in front there is very few opportunities to catch. We will try to enjoy, and there will be some test for 2012's car, because with so little testing in February, we'll use the next five races to test next year's car."
Tweet from @clubforce: Great result. P6 for Paul and P8 for Adrian. 12 Points in total. First double points since Melbourne back in March! Nice work guys!
That brings to a close a long, hot race in Singapore. Vettel is as good as champion now, but he still has to compete in Japan and pick up that one point over his rivals.
Tweet from @willbuxton: Ructions in TV scrum. Massa shoved Hamilton mid question. Hamilton was asked if he could see Massa's point. Ham storms off to save exploding
There's a big battle brewing between Massa and Hamilton, particularly as it was only yesterday that Massa was complaining about Hamilton's driving style, and then it occurs again today.
It was a bad day in the office for Renault, who finished the race 15th and 17th, with Heikki Kovalainen between them.
Sauber also seemed to struggle more in the Singapore conditions, with Pérez just picking up points in 10th place, but Kobayashi finishing down in 14th.
The action moves on to Japan next, race day on the 9th Oct, with Suzuka lining up to host the championship decider. I hope you'll join me back here for all the action.
Stay tuned to Sidepodcast and F1Minute for all the post-race updates you'll need, and let us know how you thought the race went!
Speak soon and stay safe, fact fans.
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