2009 Singapore Grand Prix Race day in Singapore

Lap 3: Replays of the start show Hamilton had a perfect getaway, using the KERS boost to lead comfortably as behind him Rosberg, Alonso and Vettel disputed second.

Lap 3: Adrian Sutil is all over the back of Jaime Alguersuari as a battle develops for 14th. Tonio Liuzzi is also shaping up to pass Fisichella just behind them.

Lap 3: Hamilton charges off at the front with the fastest lap and is now 1.4 seconds ahead of Rosberg.

Lap 2: Jenson Button has gained a place in the opening stages and runs in 10th, with Nakajima and Buemi behind him.

Lap 2: Rubens Barrichello is up to seventh in the early scramble, which is a good result for the Brazilian. He is now chasing Alonso for sixth.

Lap 2: Nick Heidfeld joined the race as the field entered Turn 1 and is 20th, four seconds off the pack

Lap 2: It is a frantic opening lap at the front of the field with Rosberg leaping past Vettel, with Alonso eventually losing out to Webber and Glock having been ahead of the pair in the early corners.

Lap 1: There is action on the first lap as Kovalainen has a go at Barrichello and Glock tries to send a move on Alonso, but it's a clean start.

Lap 1: Through the tricky Singapore Sling chicane, it is Hamilton from Rosberg, Vettel, Webber and Glock.

Lap 1: Vettel holds off a challenge from Alonso in the opening corners.

Lap 1: Lewis Hamilton gets a wonderful start and leads ahead of Rosberg and Vettel into Turn 1.

Lap 1: The five red lights go out and we are racing in Singapore!

The field are moving into position nicely. We are ready for action in Singapore.

We await the lights...

The front row now move into their grid slots. Rosberg joins them.

The field stream round the circuit under the lights. It is a wonderful sight. Hamilton now brings the field into line behind him as he rounds the final corner.

As the BMW crew ready Heidfled's car for the pitlane start, Hamilton leads the pack through the Singapore Sling at Turn 10 and towards the Anderson bridge.

The formation lap begins at Marina Bay. 61 racing laps lie ahead. The 19 cars on the grid have left their slots without problem.

The harder tyres, as expected, are the choice of the field for the start.

The engines begin to fire up ahead of what will be a very long race.

Heidfeld is told on the radio that, as we reported, the distant storm to the south is not a threat to the circuit.

In case you missed it earlier, Nick Heidfeld will start from the pitlane after the BMW was found to be underweight during qualifying.

There are five minutes to go before the formation lap begins in Singapore.

Jarno Trulli puts his kneepads on as he gets ready to climb aboard the Toyota TF109. The drivers are leaving it as late as possible to jump into the cars because of the intense heat.

Over the last few minutes, the teams have been keeping an eye on the lightning storm across the water to the south.

We have been watching the national radar closely throughout the weekend, and currently there is no suggestion that this storm will move towards the circuit.

Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley briefs his charge Fisichella. The Italian has a hard evening in prospect from 17th on the grid.

The Singapore national anthem rings out over the Marina Bay street circuit.

Timo Glock, like many of the drivers, is taking the opportunity to keep as cool as possible before the race, as he sits to the side of his Toyota with a damp towel wrapped around his neck.

Tyres are, as ever, a critical factor and there is some concern about the durability of the super-soft rubber. Many drivers are likely to save the quicker tyres for a short run at the end of the race, when grip levels on the asphalt will have improved.

Grosjean is now making a second run to the grid and is hopefully now satisfied with his brakes, which take a pounding around this circuit.

Jenson Button rolls out of the Brawn garage and joins the racetrack. The championship leader will be keen to find out what he has underneath him as he heads round to the grid.

The track temperature is 33 Celsius this evening.

Romain Grosjean has taken the opportunity to return to the Renault pit for further checks of his braking system.

Sebastian Vettel is the next man to head out of the garage and around to his slot on the front of the grid.

Rubens Barrichello heads to the grid in the repaired Brawn-Mercedes.

Romain Grosjean heads around to the grid. The Frenchman will be keen to check his brakes after struggling with them in qualifying yesterday.

The pitlane is now open for the cars to head around to the grid.

Safety Car

The first Singapore Grand Prix proved how pivotal a safety car can be in changing the outcome of a race. With the difficulty of recovering a crashed car at many places around this circuit, an appearance or two of the big Mercedes this evening is quite likely.

This year, of course, the pits will not be closed if the safety car does come out. However, any intervention can still ruin a team's strategy.

Timing is critical, with the potential to gain an advantage over the pack if a driver is close to the pit lane when the safety car is called. The order can also be mixed up if a group of cars on one strategy can make a stop while their rivals are not in a window where a stop is beneficial.

In addition, with a single pit stall, the second of the two team drivers will often have to queue for service, which is always costly as other runners from down the order complete their stops and flash by the stationary cars.

Jenson Button

World championship leader Jenson Button faces an uphill struggle from 11th place on the grid for this evening's 61-lap race.

The Brawn driver's weekend has been something of a mixed bag so far, as a reasonable Friday performance deteriorated into a shocking Saturday, with handling difficulties turning the Brawn in to an alien machine that was unpredictable.

With only minimal opportunity after qualifying to change front wing settings and brake cooling, Jenson will head out onto the circuit today with his handling troubles far from resolved as he bids to protect his 14-point lead in the drivers' standings.

Button at a loss to explain lack of pace

The pitlane opens in 15 minutes' time, allowing the drivers out on to the track for the first time today as they bring their machines round to the grid.

Grip levels will need to be established, team radio links checked, a feel for the general car set-up established and of course, making sure that the car is running well are all jobs on the drivers' list, in just one single lap to the grid.

Fuel

Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position this evening with a very promising fuel load in his McLaren. The disrupted final qualifying period worked out perfectly for the world champion, who set an excellent first Q3 lap using a new set of tyres, which he had saved earlier in the hour.

With the late red flag scuppering new tyre runs for the top ten, and Hamilton saving fuel by not even starting a final flyer, the weight advantage over his nearest rivals puts Lewis in a very strong position as he looks for a second win of the season.

Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg were both very quick in qualifying and were challenging Hamilton as the red flag came out. Vettel is well placed to keep his distant title hopes alive, being far ahead of the Brawns, while Rosberg has fuel on par with most of the top ten and could finally score the podium he has been chasing all year.

Rubens Barrichello falls to ninth after his gearbox penalty and will need to fight hard with heavier cars in front, and behind, trying to maximise his points gain over team-mate Button.

The championship leader has a tough evening in prospect, starting 11th and fuelled similarly to Nakajima ahead and the KERS-equipped Raikkonen behind. Button really needs some luck in the opening-lap scramble, helping him progress up the order to stay in touch with team-mate Barrichello. This trio could be in position to benefit from a well-timed safety car, which may also be Toyota's thinking for Jarno Trulli's hefty fuel load.

At the rear, Tonio Liuzzi has gambled on a very light Force India in the hope of making some early progress before being in a position to benefit from any safety car deployment. He now has company in the form of Nick Heidfeld after the light-fuelled BMW was found to be underweight in qualifying.