Race – La Marseillaise resonates in Singapore

Starting from 15th place on the grid, Fernando Alonso clinches his first victory in two years at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. The race was marked by two safety car interventions.

The 2005 and 2006 world champion refueled just before the first appearance of the safety car and then led the remainder of the Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg clinches a remarkable second place for Williams while Lewis Hamilton completes the podium in 3rd position. Felipe Massa let slip a promised victory after a serious incident in the pits.

Alonso therefore started from the middle of the field after a qualifying session that ended in failure. Massa had a good start, quickly pulling away from Hamilton in 2nd and Räikkönen in 3rd. The Finn gradually came back by stringing together the fastest laps in the race.

In their wake, there were Robert Kubica (BMW) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren), who slightly touched at the start, allowing Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) and Timo Glock (Toyota) to gain positions.

But the relative calm present on the Marina Bay circuit since the lights went out abruptly faded when Nelson Piquet crashed into a wall on lap 14, bringing out a safety car.

This intervention was ideal for his teammate Alonso, who opted for an aggressive strategy and had already pitted two laps earlier.

David Coulthard and Mark Webber for Red Bull, and Rubens Barrichello on Honda managed to dive into the pits shortly before they closed. It didn’t help Webber and Barrichello, who suffered mechanical failures a few laps later.

This intervention of the safety car proved disastrous for Rosberg and Kubica, who were out of fuel. Both drivers had to refuel while the pits were closed. The penalty is immediate with each receiving a stop-and-go.

Massa was able to wait to make his pit stop, but as his teammate was waiting just behind him, the Brazilian left too early and tore off his refueling hose. In the end, he waited at the pit lane exit for Räikkönen to refuel and for the mechanics to remove it. At that precise moment, Massa lost all hope of victory and even of scoring points.

A mechanic was transferred to the medical center following this incident. Leaving his pit, Massa could have done worse by causing an accident with Adrian Sutil who was approaching. The Brazilian receives a drive-through penalty and finds himself at the very back of the race.

Rosberg finds himself behind the safety car followed by Jarno Trulli (Toyota) who was creating a roadblock in front of Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), both of whom had to pit, then Kubica, Alonso, the Red Bulls, and Hamilton.

The race stewards took five laps to decide on Rosberg’s penalty, which allowed him to escape while Trulli and Fisichella held up the rest of the pack. The German was therefore able to build up enough of a lead to rejoin after his penalty just ahead of Coulthard and Hamilton, who were in the midst of a fierce battle.

As for Trulli and Fisichella, they have refueled, which allows Alonso to be the leader.

Hamilton’s McLaren finally overtakes the Red Bull just before their pit stop. The Scot loses time as he starts prematurely and is on the verge of making the same mistake as Massa.

Alonso then has a 14-second lead over Rosberg and 25 over Hamilton, who is now in 3rd place. But that doesn’t take into account a new intervention by the safety car on lap 50. Sutil crashes into the wall just before the tunnel after being distracted by Massa, who almost did the same thing in front of him.

All the cars are now behind the safety car, but the Renault driver successfully restarts to put six seconds between himself and Rosberg in the span of two laps.

He resisted the pressure exerted by Hamilton until the checkered flag. They respectively took the 2nd and 3rd steps on the podium. Hamilton now has a seven-point lead over Massa in the championship.

Glock finishes fourth, Räikkönen makes the effort to come back to 5th position. Unfortunately, with four laps to go, he also crashes into the wall, ending his race.

Vettel takes 5th place. Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Coulthard, and Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams finish in the points. Jenson Button is 9th.

Kovalainen is one of the big losers from the safety car interventions, he is only 10th, ahead of Kubica.

Massa finishes in a modest 13th place between Sebastien Bourdais and Fisichella. Trulli’s Toyota does not finish the race due to what appears to be a gearbox problem.

Singapore GP Results – Race – September 28, 2008