Vettel at a terrific pace to a new victory

Sebastian Vettel staged a phenomenal ride in the race for the Singapore GP. In the last part of the race, he sometimes drove two and a half seconds faster than the other competitors and won his 33rd career victory in Marina Bay, or his seventh this year.

 

In the first turn of the race, Vettl's lead was threatened by Nico Rosberg, with whom the current world champion made it to the second corner. The German then survived a safety car that nullified his advantage and eventually brought him to the finish line with more than a half-minute advantage over Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

Immediately after the start, Rosberg, who started the race from second place, pulled alongside Vettl into the first turn. There, however, the Mercedes racer braked too late, drove over the curb and left the lead to Vettl. Fernando Alonso raced from seventh place all the way to third.

Vettel, who showed great form all weekend, ran away from rivals at an incredible pace. The first stops in the pits only strengthened his lead, also thanks to a series of qualifying rounds before and after the stop, and the quick work of the mechanics in the pits.

But in lap 25, Vettl’s work was nullified by a safety car that crashed into the track due to an accident by the German’s future team-mate Daniel Ricciard, who shoved the nose of the car into the protective tires in the eighteenth turn. After the flying start, Red Bull's ace again gained a very favorable advantage over the pursuers in just a few laps.

Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and Lewis Hamilton did not drive into the pits during the safety car phase, so they had to change their tires again before the end of the race. Vettl's advantage was so high that he kept the lead despite the stop, while the other three lost a series of places that they had to overtake again on the way to the finish line.

While Vettel attributed another win to his stats, and a new 25 points to the already large sum of points for this year’s championship, Alonso single-handedly led to the finish line in second place. But Kimi Raikkonen took third place with a breathtaking maneuver on the outside past McLarn’s Jenson Button, who completely lost touch with the leaders due to heavy tire wear in the final laps.

Webber was already looking forward to fourth place, but transmission problems stopped him in the final lap despite the reduction in engine speed. He took pity on the disappointed Australian and brought Fernando Alonso to the pits on his race car, prompting both commissioners to receive a warning. Webber has been warned for the third time this year, so he will lose ten starting places in the next race.

Rosberg and Hamilton finished the race in fourth and fifth place after overtaking a few rivals who had tire problems in the final laps. Felipe Massa was sixth and Jenson Button seventh ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez. The last points were shared by Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil.

Vettel increased their lead over Alonso to 60 points in the overall standings. He has already amassed a total of 247. Hamilton remains third, another 36 points behind the Spaniard.

 

	Racer	Team	Hour
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:59:13.132
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+32.627
3.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+43.920
4.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+51.155
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+53.159
6.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+ 1: 03.877
7.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+ 1: 23.354
8.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	+ 1: 23.820
9.	Nico Hulkenberg	Clean	+ 1: 24.261
10.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	+ 1: 24.668
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+ 1: 28.479
12.	Esteban Gutierrez	Clean	+ 1: 37.894
13.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+ 1: 45.161
14.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+ 1: 53.512
15.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+1 Circle
16.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	+1 Circle
17.	Max Chilton	Marussia	+1 Circle
18.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	+1 Circle
19.	Charles Pic	Caterham	+1 Circle
Resignation
20.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+7 Laps
21.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+24 Laps
22.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+38 Laps