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Vettel reignites title challenge in Singapore
Source: Agencies |
September 24, 2012, Monday
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WORLD champion Sebastian Vettel won an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix yesterday to strengthen his chances of claiming a third successive Formula One title.
Vettel inherited the lead from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who retired on the 23rd lap with a gearbox failure, and withstood the challenge of Jenson Button through two safety car periods on the way to repeating his victory at the same Marina Bay circuit a year ago.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso took third spot in his Ferrari but saw his advantage over Vettel reduced to 29 points with six rounds left.
Force India's Paul di Resta claimed a creditable fourth spot, his best finish in Formula One.
"We benefited a little bit from Lewis' failure," Vettel said. "We had a very, very strong pace all weekend and a good start, which got us in the hunt."
Hamilton's gearbox was leaking fluid for three to four laps before he retired. As his car came to a halt, team officials told Hamilton over the radio that "we did everything we could yesterday" - suggesting the team had gone into the race knowing there was an issue, but was unwilling to take a five-grid place penalty for changing the gearbox before the race.
After Narain Karthikeyan crashed on lap 33, the safety car was deployed for a first time and it returned to the track a lap after coming in when Michael Schumacher slammed into the back of Jean Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso.
The delays cut the race by two laps to 59 but Vettel was never threatened by Button and cruised to his second victory of the season overall.
Nico Rosberg took fifth place for Mercedes with Kimi Raikkonen maintaining his championship challenge with a sixth-place finish in his Lotus, although the Finn is now a distant 45 points behind Alonso. Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean was seventh.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished eighth after dropping down to last following a first-lap puncture, and he finished ahead of Australian pair Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso and Mark Webber of Red Bull.
Button was relatively pleased with second place, though disappointed with Hamilton's non-finish, which put a major dent in McLaren's bid to end a 13-year drought in the constructors' championship.
"Seb didn't make any mistakes and we finished second," Button said. "It's good to get some points on the board after the retirement at Monza.
"It's disappointing for the team to have another DNF (did not finish). We can't seem to do it with both cars and for sure that is something we need to work on for the remainder of the season."
Vettel inherited the lead from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who retired on the 23rd lap with a gearbox failure, and withstood the challenge of Jenson Button through two safety car periods on the way to repeating his victory at the same Marina Bay circuit a year ago.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso took third spot in his Ferrari but saw his advantage over Vettel reduced to 29 points with six rounds left.
Force India's Paul di Resta claimed a creditable fourth spot, his best finish in Formula One.
"We benefited a little bit from Lewis' failure," Vettel said. "We had a very, very strong pace all weekend and a good start, which got us in the hunt."
Hamilton's gearbox was leaking fluid for three to four laps before he retired. As his car came to a halt, team officials told Hamilton over the radio that "we did everything we could yesterday" - suggesting the team had gone into the race knowing there was an issue, but was unwilling to take a five-grid place penalty for changing the gearbox before the race.
After Narain Karthikeyan crashed on lap 33, the safety car was deployed for a first time and it returned to the track a lap after coming in when Michael Schumacher slammed into the back of Jean Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso.
The delays cut the race by two laps to 59 but Vettel was never threatened by Button and cruised to his second victory of the season overall.
Nico Rosberg took fifth place for Mercedes with Kimi Raikkonen maintaining his championship challenge with a sixth-place finish in his Lotus, although the Finn is now a distant 45 points behind Alonso. Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean was seventh.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished eighth after dropping down to last following a first-lap puncture, and he finished ahead of Australian pair Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso and Mark Webber of Red Bull.
Button was relatively pleased with second place, though disappointed with Hamilton's non-finish, which put a major dent in McLaren's bid to end a 13-year drought in the constructors' championship.
"Seb didn't make any mistakes and we finished second," Button said. "It's good to get some points on the board after the retirement at Monza.
"It's disappointing for the team to have another DNF (did not finish). We can't seem to do it with both cars and for sure that is something we need to work on for the remainder of the season."
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