Vettel wins in Singapore as closest rival spoils party

By Kai Portmann Sep 25, 2011, 14:28 GMT

Singapore - Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel on Sunday dominated the Singapore night Grand Prix with a victory from pole position, but McLaren's Jenson Button delayed the championship party for the runaway leader as he finished second.

With a convincing lead in the drivers' standings, it seems certain though that Vettel's party has just been put on hold for a short time.

After 61 laps on Singapore's bumpy Marina Bay Street Circuit, reigning world title holder Vettel clinched his ninth win of the season in a time of 1 hour and 59.06 minutes, distancing Button by 1.737 seconds.

Vettel's impressive win on the 5.07-kilometres floodlit track was not enough though to secure early back-to-back titles because Button still has a mathematical chance to snatch the title from the 24-year-old Red Bull driver.

However, the German leads Button by 124 points in the drivers' standing, meaning he needs to earn just one point more in the unlikely scenario that the Briton wins the remaining five races to wrap up his second championship.

'I had a nice, smooth race in the front,' said Vettel, who pulled away from the field easily from the start and built a two-second-lead after just one lap.

'The car was fantastic,' he said. 'There was not much we could have done better.'

'For the championship, it looks like we have another chance at the next race,' said Vettel.

Button after Saturday's qualifying had already conceded defeat in the title race.

'I think that even if he (Vettel) doesn't start the next six races it's still going to be pretty difficult for us to beat him,' said the Briton at the time.

In Sunday's race, Vettels's Australian Red Bull teammate Mark Webber secured third place, followed by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton came in fifth, ahead of Paul di Resta of Force India.

Vettel heads the championship standings on 309 points compared to Button's 185.

Alonso is third at 184 points with Webber another 2 points adrift on fourth. Hamilton is ranked fifth at 168 points.

While Vettel stayed unchallenged throughout the race and kept a commanding lead, drivers in the midfield fought hard on the narrow street circuit with 23 corners.

Hamilton blew his chances to finish on the podium early. In lap 12 his car touched the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

While Hamilton pitted to get a new front wing after the incident, Massa needed a new back tyre. Hamilton, who was given a drive-through penalty for the incident, fought his way through the field.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher crashed out in spectacular fashion after bumping into the Sauber of Sergio Perez in lap 30.

Schumacher's car took off from the track and hit a wall, but the German left the wrecked Mercedes unhurt.

The safety car had to enter the track until Schumacher's car was cleared away.

The season continues with the Suzuka Japanese Grand Prix on October 9.

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