Alonso takes surprise Singapore GP win

The former world champion had pitted before the interruption, so was able to vault to the front as others stopped during the yellow.

Nico Rosberg recovered from a penalty to take a remarkable second for Williams, with Lewis Hamilton extending his championship lead in third place as Felipe Massa finished outside the points after a dramatic pitstop incident.

Alonso languished in the midfield at the start following his qualifying failure, as Massa (Ferrari) gradually edged away from Hamilton up front. The two leaders initially left Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen behind, but as the first stint went on, the world champion found more pace and set several fastest laps as he gained on Hamilton.

In their wake, Robert Kubica (BMW) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) banged wheels at the start, allowing Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) and Timo Glock (Toyota) to get between them.

But all the early activity was rendered irrelevant when Nelson Piquet had a heavy crash in his Renault on lap 14, prompting a safety car.

This was ideal timing for his teammate Alonso, who had opted for an aggressive strategy and had pitted for the first time on lap 12, when only 11th.

Red Bull's David Coulthard and Mark Webber, and Honda's Rubens Barrichello all managed to dive in just before the pits were closed, although Webber and Barrichello couldn't take advantage as both suffered mechanical failures shortly afterwards.

But the safety car appeared disastrous for Rosberg and Kubica, who were running low on fuel and had no choice but to stop in the closed pits, inevitably incurring penalties. Rosberg at least took his stop sooner than Kubica, emerging further up the safety car queue - which would later prove crucial.

Massa was able to wait until the pits were open before stopping, only to pull away with his fuel rig still attached when Ferrari's semi-automatic system appeared to give him a premature green light.

The Ferrari wrenched the fuel hose from the rig, with one mechanic requiring a precautionary trip to the medical centre, and Massa then had to wait at the pit exit while his crew ran down to detach the hose. He would also incur a drive-through penalty for being released into the path of Adrian Sutil during the chaos, leaving the pole-sitter at the tail of the field.

Rosberg emerged at the front of the queue ready for the restart, followed by one-stoppers Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), both yet to pit, then Kubica, the well-placed Alonso, the Red Bulls and Hamilton.

The officials then took five laps to deliberate Rosberg's penalty, allowing the Williams to charge away from the field as Trulli and particularly Fisichella delayed the rest of the pack.

Rosberg was therefore able to establish a sufficient lead to rejoin just ahead of the battling Coulthard and Hamilton, having effectively neutralised his penalty.

When Trulli and Fisichella eventually pitted, Alonso found himself in the lead of the race, and duly edged away from Rosberg, who in turn left Coulthard and Hamilton in his wake.

The McLaren finally passed Coulthard just before their final pitstops, the Red Bull having lost momentum as Alonso rejoined ahead of them following his own last stop. Coulthard then lost time and places at his stop when he pulled away prematurely.

That left Alonso with a comfortable 14-second advantage over Rosberg, and 25 seconds clear of Hamilton, until the safety car was called again on lap 50 when Sutil crashed having seemingly been distracted by Massa having a quick spin ahead of him.

This brought the pack right back onto Alonso's tail, but the Renault driver shrugged this off and stormed away at the restart - re-establishing a six-second lead in just two laps.

Rosberg was able to resist Hamilton to take a career-best second, while the result extended Hamilton's championship lead back up to seven points.

Glock finished fourth, with Raikkonen using a very long middle stint to move back up to fifth after having to queue behind Massa at their first stops. The reigning champion's miserable season took another unhappy turn though when he ran wide and crashed out with only three laps to go.

Vettel was consequently elevated to fifth, having lost a place to Glock when he ran wide at the first restart.

Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Coulthard, and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima completed the points scorers ahead of Honda's Jenson Button.

Kovalainen also lost time queuing behind Hamilton in the first safety car pitstops, and making an early second pit visit failed to pay off, leaving him 10th, ahead of Kubica, who couldn't emulate Rosberg's pre-penalty charge as he was stuck behind Fisichella.

What had seemed such a promising afternoon for Massa ended in a lowly 13th place between Sebastien Bourdais' Toro Rosso and Fisichella, who lacked the speed after his pitstop to capitalise on his brief period in the top three, while Trulli retired from a likely fifth position with a late gearbox failure.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore, Singapore;
61 laps; 309.087km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  1h57:16.304
 2.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     2.957
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     5.917
 4.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +     8.155
 5.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    10.268
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    11.101
 7.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    16.387
 8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    18.489
 9.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +    19.885
10.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    26.902
11.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    27.975
12.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    29.432
13.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    35.170
14.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    43.571
15.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:45.599

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Trulli        Toyota                (B)    51
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    50
Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)    30
Barrichello   Honda                 (B)    15
Piquet        Renault               (B)    14


World Championship standings, round 15:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      84        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      135
 2.  Massa         77        2.  Ferrari               134
 3.  Kubica        64        3.  BMW Sauber            120
 4.  Raikkonen     57        4.  Renault                51
 5.  Heidfeld      56        5.  Toyota                 46
 6.  Kovalainen    51        6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari     31
 7.  Alonso        38        7.  Red Bull-Renault       28
 8.  Vettel        27        8.  Williams-Toyota        26
 9.  Trulli        26        9.  Honda                  14
10.  Glock         20       
11.  Webber        20       
12.  Rosberg       17       
13.  Piquet        13       
14.  Barrichello   11       
15.  Nakajima       9       
16.  Coulthard      8       
17.  Bourdais       4       
18.  Button         3       
       
All timing unofficial