Vettel Wins Ninth Race of Season in Singapore

SINGAPORE- R.I.S- As he has done most of the year so far, Sebastian Vettel managed to get a great start Sunday night in the Grand Prix of Singapore to cruise to a flag to flag victory and come within one point from clinching his second consecutive world driving championship. Jenson Button finished second, while Mark Webber after a poor start, took third.

“I am very pleased, the car was very good”. Said Vettel. “When the safety car came out it was not good for us, but it was good to get back into the rhythm even with the traffic, which is normal for here. But I was in control here and I love the track, and the car was fantastic.”

Out of the 24 drivers that began the race on a hot and humid evening, four did not finish the race, with Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli and Jaime Algusuari all striking the wall and retiring, while Michael Schumacher had the biggest shunt of the night, running into the back of Sergio Perez on lap 30, bringing out the safety car for the only time in the race.

Vettel kept his gap going from the start, when he managed to set a 4.4 second lead over Button, to an 11.6 second separation by lap seven. Even a Lewis Hamilton front wing strike on Felipe Massa’s rear left tire on lap 13, which resulted in a flat for the Brazilian, which resulted in a drive through penalty for Hamilton, did not deter Vettel’s concentration anytime in the race. Only Button’s sheer determination closed the gap between him and the leader to 1.7 seconds by the end of the race.

“I can understand it is tough to move over here.” Commented Button afterwards. “There were a few moments when it was the best we could have done today, but it was not good enough to win here.”

Webber on the other hand, credited his placing on the poor start he encountered at the beginning of the race.

“Unfortunately I need to work on my starts and it is more risky to come through,” he said. “Especially when the KERS did not work. This is a very challenging track, and it is challenging for most of us here.”

Fernando Alonso, who had placed on the podium in all of these races here, took a disappointing fourth, while Hamilton finished fifth. Nico Rosberg was seventh in his Mercedes, while Force India placed twice in the points for the first time in their history, with rookie Paul Di Resta in sixth, and his teammate Adrian Sutil finishing eighth. Massa and Perez rounded out the top ten.

With this his ninth victory of the season, and his first here at this street circuit, many though that Vettel was a little emotional on the podium. But it wasn’t the case.

“ I am very happy, but I had something in my eyes,” laughed Vettel.

But the German can get his emotions going even more because it will take just one point or more to give this 24 year old the chance to be the youngest double winner in formula one history. And it could happen in two weeks’ time at Suzuka, Japan.