Red
Bull's Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory in an incident-packed Singapore
Grand Prix to move to the brink of the world title.
The German's ninth
victory in 14 races means he needs just a point from the remaining five races
to seal the title.
The only man who can
mathematically beat him is Jenson Button, who finished second ahead of Red
Bull's Mark Webber.
Ferrari's Fernando
Alonso was fourth from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who recovered from a
drive-through penalty
Force India's Paul
di Resta drove superbly on his debut at one of the toughest races on the
calendar and the Scot took an impressive sixth place.
Mercedes driver Nico
Rosberg won a breathless battle for seventh place in the closing laps from
Force India's Adrian Sutil, who just held off Ferrari's Felipe Massa after the
Brazilian passed Sauber's Sergio Perez for ninth at the start of the last lap.
Vettel's victory has
put him 124 points ahead of Button with only 125 still available in a season in
which he has finished first or second in every race except one - and he was
fourth in that.
BBC F1
co-commentator David Coulthard said: "He's got a great car and a great
team, but how he is using it. It's fantastic what we're seeing this year."
It has been a story
of almost total domination by the reigning champion, and this grand prix
encapsulated it.
Vettel stormed off
from pole position and had a 4.4-second lead over Button after three laps. He
extended it to 12 seconds before the drivers made their first pit stops - which
was on lap 14 for the two leaders - and kept it there for the rest of the race
until easing off towards the end.
Button closed on him
rapidly as the chequered flag neared, but the illusion of a race was just that
- Vettel was in control.
A safety car
introduced after Michael Schumacher's Mercedes was launched into the air after
running into the back of Perez had no impact on Vettel. Schumacher emerged
unhurt from his wrecked car.
With Button held up
behind Jarno Trulli's lapped Lotus at the restart, Vettel again left his
pursuers standing and was a massive 8.9 seconds clear after just one lap
following the resumption of racing.
"When the
safety car came out it didn't really fit to our plan because we had a big
gap," said Red Bull's defending world champion.
"I was quite
lucky there was some backmarkers because I was able to pull a big gap again,
that was lucky because towards the end there was traffic and it is not that
easy to get through. I love the track, I love the challenge, so great. The car
was fantastic.
"Last year was
a tough fight with Fernando all the way, shadowing him, I felt I could have
gone a bit quicker, so it was nice to come back here and get the job
done."
Button's race was
spent controlling the margin behind him to Webber, who had to pass Alonso twice
to take third place.
"Pretty happy
to be second," said Button. "I couldn't really find the grip with the
car. I needed to find a pace that was comfortable in the car and not damaging
the tyres too much.
"The pace was
pretty good but there was no catching Seb. Second is as good as it can be.
"
Webber took Alonso's
Ferrari with a cleverly worked moved into Turn 15, after challenging the
Spaniard on the outside into the previous corner.
After losing the
place again when stopping during the safety-car period, Webber then surprised
Alonso into Turn 10 after the Ferrari driver was held up by the Toro Rosso of
Jaime Alguersuari.
"The battles
with Fernando are enjoyable, but I don't want to sign up for them all the time
because it means I'm with him when I probably shouldn't be," Webber said.
"Ultimately it
cost me a place today but Button put in a very good last stint so that would
have been a good battle if I had had track position."
It was another
eventful race for Hamilton in what has been an unhappy season for the 2008
world champion.
Hamilton, who
started fourth behind Vettel, Webber and Button, lost ground at the start,
because he had to back out of an attempt to pass the slow-starting Webber.
That dropped
Hamilton to eighth place and in his attempt to come back through the field, he
collided with Massa when refusing to give up a move around the outside of Turn
Seven that was never going to come off.
Hamilton damaged his
front wing in the incident, while Massa's rear tyre was punctured. That meant
Hamilton needed to pit for a new wing, but he also then received a
drive-through penalty, which left him stranded down the field in 15th place.
Coulthard added:
"It was just a bit clumsy from Lewis unfortunately. I was talking to Lewis
this morning about street tracks and I said: 'You sit very low in car, do you
get enough visibility?'
"He said:
'Although I sit low the visibility is fine'. But I wonder if he's missing out
in close-quarter racing by sitting so low."
After his earlier
indiscretion, Hamilton was initially dispirited as he fought with the lower
midfield, and asked his team over the radio: "Would you please give me
some info on how I'm doing, what I'm racing for?"
He was reassured
that he was still fighting for points, and fought back in clinical style - and
with the help of the safety car - up to fifth place by the end of the race.
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