Alonso holds off Vettel for vital win

The Spaniard saw off a late challenge from Sebastian Vettel to take the win, with Mark Webber completing the podium in the other Red Bull.

As well as keeping Alonso squarely in the title hunt, the race dealt another blow to the hopes of Lewis Hamilton, who failed to finish for the second race in a row. Team-mate Jenson Button salvaged something for McLaren by finishing fourth.

Alonso's win proved to the relatively straightforward, as although Vettel was never far behind him, nor was he ever really close enough to mount a serious challenge. The pair held their positions after pitting on the same lap, and the it was only on the final lap that Vettel managed to get close enough to think about having a look.

But Alonso managed to keep him at bay; the Spaniard's cause being helped by yellows at the final corners courtesy of Heikki Kovalainen, whose Lotus had burst into flames on the main straight a lap earlier.

Webber's third place owed much to a tyre gamble when the safety car came out on lap three to remove Tonio Liuzzi's stricken Force India from the circuit. The Red Bull pitwall decided to roll the dice and bring Webber in from fifth to change to the harder tyre - the Australian being the only one of the frontrunners to do so.

He returned to the track in 11th and over the laps that followed regained enough ground that he was able to leapfrog the two McLarens in the pits. Hamilton later had a chance to get the place back on a restart when Webber became bogged down behind a lapped Virgin, but the pair made contact that resulted in the Briton's car being sufficiently damaged to put him out of the race. Webber, miraculously, was able to continue unharmed.

Despite being urged to push in the closing laps, Button was unable to get within range of Webber and settled for fourth ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg,

Williams got both of its cars into the points with Rubens Barrichello sixth and Nico Hulkenberg ninth, the pair being split by Renault's Robert Kubica (who spent the final laps making an entertaining recovery from a puncture) and Force India's Adrian Sutil.

Felipe Massa claimed the final point for Ferrari in tenth, the Brazilian having pitted on lap two after starting from the rear of the grid following his problems in qualifying.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

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

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h57:53.579
 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     0.293
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    29.141
 4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    30.384
 5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    49.394
 6.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +    56.101
 7.  Kubica        Renault                    +  1:26.559
 8.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +  1:52.416
 9.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +  1:52.791
10.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:53.297
11.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
12.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
14.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
15.  Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:47.976

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              51
Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari               35
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             34
Klien         HRT-Cosworth                 30
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               29
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 28
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               26
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         1


World Championship standings, round 15:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Webber       202        1.  Red Bull-Renault          383
 2.  Alonso       191        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          359
 3.  Hamilton     182        3.  Ferrari                   316
 4.  Vettel       181        4.  Mercedes                  168
 5.  Button       177        5.  Renault                   133
 6.  Massa        125        6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
 7.  Rosberg      122        7.  Williams-Cosworth          57
 8.  Kubica       114        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             27
 9.  Sutil         49        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10
10.  Schumacher    46       
11.  Barrichello   39       
12.  Kobayashi     21       
13.  Petrov        19       
14.  Hulkenberg    18       
15.  Liuzzi        13       
16.  Buemi          7       
17.  De la Rosa     6       
18.  Alguersuari    3       
       
All timing unofficial