Singapore Formula One Grand Prix – a photo story

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari at Turn 19. Alonso won the Singapore Grand Prix in 1:57:53.579, his third victory in five races and he now lies second in the championship race behind Mark Webber of Red Bull. Said Alonso after the race: “This win is very significant. We wanted to confirm our success in Monza at a completely different type of track and we succeeded at the end of a very hard and extremely stressful race, both for me and for the car, on a track that I like a lot and which is well suited to my driving style. After the earlier gift – the Easter surprise, as I called it – of getting pole yesterday, today it was important first and foremost to make a good start: that is what happened, even if Vettel might have been slightly quicker away than me, but here the run to the first corner is not so long and so I was able to close the door and keep the lead. On the soft tyres, we were going very well, but on the hards, the Red Bull seemed to be quicker than us. The pit stop went off perfectly, both in terms of strategy and in the way it was done in pit lane. In the second part of the race, I tried to avoid taking any sort of risk, especially when getting past the backmarkers at the same time as the yellow flags were out.” (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Alonso on the straight just before the pit entry and Turn 22. “There are four races to go and the championship is very open. In Spa, Sebastian, Jenson and I came away empty handed, then in Monza it was Hamilton’s turn: the dance towards the title sees the contenders see-sawing up and down, although Mark is still holding on to a slight lead,” added Alonso. “We must stay calm and concentrate on our own job, without thinking about what the others are doing: what is certain is that we will leave nothing to chance, fighting right to the very end. The F10 has improved a lot thanks to the work of all our engineers in Maranello and here at the track, and I am happy for that because now we can be on the pace at every type of circuit. We are not considered favourites for the races that lie ahead of us, but none of them are anything to be frightened about.” (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull at Turn 19. Vettel finished second and now lies fourth in the championship race on 181 points, one behind Lewis Hamilton who crashed out. Said Vettel: “Towards the end of the first stint my soft tyres were pretty much finished, so the car was sliding a lot. We came in on the same lap as Ferrari and unfortunately I made a little mistake at the pit stop; otherwise I think it would have been very close. That’s the story of the whole race. I tried to push Fernando as hard as I could into a mistake, but he didn’t make a major one and it’s hard to overtake here – it would have been too risky. In the end we got second and some good points. The most important thing is that the car was quick and competitive all weekend. There was something missing yesterday in qualifying, which is the only thing that affected us today. Some people had been commenting on our starts, but I had a very good start, so we made excellent progress with that.” (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Mark Webber of Red Bull at Turn 19. Webber finished third and leads the overall drivers’ championship with 202 points, 11 ahead of Alonso who has 191. Said Webber: “Our start was very good, so well done to the team for that. I settled into the first stint and we had an early safety car. The team told me to pit, which I questioned, but they assured me it was the right thing. I wasn’t sure and knew it was going to be a long stint on the primes, but when we came out and re-queued behind the safety car I realised I was in a reasonable position. I passed a few guys, then got to Rubens (Barrichello) who was driving very well and I couldn’t clear him. We then had another restart and it can be difficult to get away cleanly when you have back-markers involved. I got caught up behind one the Virgin cars, he was doing his best, but Lewis (Hamilton) got a good run on me and unfortunately we made contact. It’s obviously not desirable, as it was a key part of the race for me to maintain my position. Fernando (Alonso) and Sebastian (Vettel) drove fantastic races today. They drove well all weekend and it was a good race for everyone to see, I’m very happy with third.”
(Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Lewis Hamilton about to enter Turn 23. Hamilton crashed out later at Turn 7 after tangling with Mark Webber. Webber’s car touched the left rear wheel of Hamilton’s, puncturing it. As a result, Hamilton did not finish for the third time in the last four races. Said Hamilton: “I’m still not exactly sure what happened with Mark and me. But, telling it from my point of view, I saw that he’d made a mistake, and had got caught up with the backmarkers, so I was in position to slipstream him. I was on the outside going into Turn Seven, and he was in my blind-spot, just behind me. I thought I’d got sufficiently past him, though. I braked, turned in, and tried to leave enough room for him on the inside – and the next thing I knew I’d got clipped, my tyre was blown, and that was it. But, as the saying goes, I guess that’s motor racing. So, there are still four races to go. I’m 20 points behind Mark, and that’s a reasonable gap, but it’s not an insurmountable one. I guess I’ll just have to keep my head down and hope for the best. I’m not going to think specifically about the world championship right now, I’m just going to try to enjoy the rest of the season – and whatever happens happens. But I’ll keep fighting to the end, because it’s the only way I know.” (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)