2011 Singaporean Grand Prix Results
The Italian Grand Prix completed the European portion of the F1 season, with teams heading to Asia, the Middle East and South America for the last five races of the season. The Singapore Grand Prix and its street circuit, known as Marina Bay Street Circuit, is the highlight. Singapore was added to the F1 season line-up in 2008 and has been won by Fernando Alonso twice and Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel once each. Vettel came to Singapore from two consecutive wins and three consecutive pole positions. Nothing seems to be able to stop Vettel, who took the win in Singapore, followed by Jenson Button in 2nd place and Mark Webber in 3rd place.
Signified by the Singapore heat, drivers went into practice and qualifying. Qualifying was fast, with Vettel posting the fastest lap first time around. Drivers struggled to keep within the 107 qualifying limit. Kamui Kobayashi had a bad crash, which left him unharmed, but forced him out of qualifying. Qualifying was halted while his crash debris was cleared from the track. Vettel ended up taking pole position, followed by the usual suspects, Webber, Button, Hamilton and Alonso. Vitantonio Liuzzi starts at the back of the grid, due to a five-point grid penalty he received in Italy.
The race started clean, but Webber didn't get a good start (the bane of his last three races!), as Button overtakes him in the first lap. Webber falls to 3rd place and Hamilton falls to 8th place. By lap 7, Vettel is setting up a clear lead, while the back of the pack are struggling for positions. By lap 12, Hamilton is back to his old antics, driving erratically. He quickly gets a drive through penalty and falls to 16th place - his fifth drive through penalty for the season! Hamilton is yet again being chastised by critics that his driving is reckless.
The first crash came in lap 30, caused by Michael Schumacher, who clips Sergio Perez on an overtaking manoeuvre. He is unharmed, although he hit the wall on the circuit. The safety car is deployed and debris cleared off the track. This forces Schumacher out of the race, but Perez was able to continue the race and eventually finished in 10th place. At the re-start, Vettel continues his lead, but the back of pack places shift, as Hamilton moves up to 8th place and Button moves into 2nd place. The final lap saw Jaime Alguersuari crash out, but he was classified in 21st place, as he completed over 90% of the race distance. Although Button managed to close the gap between him and Vettel, from 10 seconds to 1.7 seconds, it wasn't enough to catch Vettel for the win. Hamilton did a valiant job, albeit erratic, clawing himself up in the rankings, allowing him to finish in 5th place.
Vettel continues to go from strength-to-strength. His win in Singapore puts him over the 300 point mark! His 124 point lead over 2nd place Button (his 2nd place finish in Singapore moves him up from 3rd place, with a one point lead over Alonso!). There are a total of 125 points left to win in the season, which means if Button wins each of the remaining five races, he could clinch the Drivers' Championship title. However, with Vettel driving as he has been, it looks highly unlikely at this point - BUT anything is possible! The rankings behind Vettel remain extremely fluid, with 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions changing at every race. After Singapore, Button is 2nd place with 185 points, Alonso in 3rd place with 184 points and Webber in 4th place with 182 points.
Red Bull had a great weekend in Singapore, with their 1-3 finished, adding 40 points to their Constructors' Championship leadership position, to a total of 491 points. McLaren-Mercedes remains firmly ensconced in 2nd place, with 353 points, with their 2-5 finish. The gap with 3rd place Ferrari widens, to 85 points, bringing their total to 268 points. With only five races remaining in the season, Red Bull's 138 point lead over McLaren-Mercedes may be enough to give them the Constructors' Championship title - but it is not yet written in stone! Three teams have yet to win points: Lotus, Virgin and HRT-Cosworth.
Full Race Results
- Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing-Renault) 1:59:14.757s
- Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +1.737s
- Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +29.279s
- Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +55.449s
- Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +1:07.766s
- Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) +1:51.067s
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +1 lap
- Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1 lap
- Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +1 lap
- Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) +1 lap
- Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Cosworth) +1 lap
- Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1 lap
- Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) +1 lap
- Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) +2 laps
- Bruno Senna (Renault) +2 laps
- Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Renault) +2 laps
- Vitaly Petrov (Renault) +2 laps
- Jerome d'Ambrosio (Virgin-Cosworth) +2 laps
- Daniel Ricciardo (HRT-Cosworth) +4 laps
- Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT-Cosworth) +4 laps
- Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)*
- Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Renault) retired, lap 47
- Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) retired, lap 28
- Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth) retired, lap 9
* Alguersuari crashed out on lap 60, but was classified in 21st place, since he completed 90% of the race distance.