The Complete 2008 Singapore GP Review

Even a dull race in Singapore would've been momentous, as Formula One took a huge step into the unknown by holding its inaugural night time Grand Prix on a brand new street circuit.

In the event, not only did the circuit and the night race concept receive glowing praise, but the Singapore GP itself proved to be an unpredictable thriller - with Fernando Alonso coming from 15th on the grid to take a shock victory ahead of equally surprising runner-up Nico Rosberg, while Lewis Hamilton bolstered his championship lead with third, and Ferrari's race fell apart horribly.

There was an element of good fortune in Alonso's win, for he had begun the race in the midfield and only leapt to the front because he had completed his first pitstop before the first safety car period, during which all the leaders had to pit.

However, as the Renault team pointed out, this was only Fortune returning what she had taken away on Saturday, for Alonso had shown blistering pace in practice only to suffer a fuel feed problem in qualifying - leaving him to despondently predict that his best chance of a result this season was gone... As it turned out, Alonso was being rather pessimistic, but his frustration was understandable, for this weekend he was finally a genuine contender again.

"We always prepare the races for victories but on Friday already we realise that we cannot fight for victory," Alonso reflected.

"This time was maybe a bit different: we were competitive straight away. It means that the car here, for whatever reason, was competitive."

And while the pitstop and safety car timing was indeed fortunate for Renault, this was due in large part to their strategic nous.

"You don't necessarily do the thing that everyone else is doing - you do something different, and we opted to go for a three-stop strategy, with a short first stint precisely because there was a good chance there was going to be a safety car here," explained technical director Bob Bell. "It played right into our hands."

Whether Alonso's victory turns out to be a blip or the start of a Renault resurgence, it seems the night race concept and the Singapore GP are definitely here to stay.

Bumps, a tricky pit entry and one poor chicane aside, the Marina Bay track earned rave reviews - both for its challenging nature and its atmosphere. It even allowed for more overtaking than had been feared, as the race proved much more entertaining and eventful than the Valencia GP to which it was inevitably compared.

But the real highlight was the night running. Bernie Ecclestone was keen to remind the media that the rest of the F1 paddock thought it was a 'stupid idea' when he first mooted it, but no-one was criticising the amazing spectacle created by F1's first race under floodlights.

"A great weekend for everyone in Formula One," said Alonso. "We all had a new challenge in front of us and we will be part of history, the first night race in Formula One. There will be many more to come as I think the experience was great."

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

Practice one - Friday evening

The honour of topping Formula 1's first ever night session fell to Lewis Hamilton, although the McLaren driver only beat his title rival Felipe Massa by 0.080 seconds after a tight end to the session, while Massa's Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen looked set to overshadow them both until abandoning a rapid late lap.

Mark Webber made history in less happy fashion by becoming the first man to crash an F1 car at Marina Bay, when he nosed his Red Bull into the Turn 18 barriers on only his sixth lap - bad news for his mechanics with just one hour between the sessions in the uniquely condensed Singapore schedule.

"I got into the little chicane a bit too hot and hit the wall. I should have gone down the escape road, but hindsight is a great thing," he said. "I gave the guys a lot of work to do in a short space of time. I owe them one."

The final corner saw most of the drama, with Rubens Barrichello, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli all spinning there. Only Barrichello - who was in dire handling trouble again - reached the barriers, while Trulli picked up a 10,000 Euro fine for driving the wrong way down the circuit and cutting across the pit entry kerbs as he tried to recover.

"I took the quickest and safest option available to me and the other cars," Trulli insisted.

Practice two - Friday night

Fernando Alonso upstaged the title contenders with a flying late lap in second practice, beating Hamilton by 0.098 seconds, with Massa a close third after several adventures in escape roads earlier in the session.

Raikkonen fell off the pace and down to seventh as changes that looked promising in testing at Mugello proved to be a step backwards in Singapore.

Behind fourth-placed Heikki Kovalainen, Nico Rosberg had been fast all day for Williams and took fifth, with Jenson Button also showing much better than usual form as he claimed eighth in his Honda.

The only man to reach the wall in second practice was Timo Glock, who spun his Toyota on the exit of Turn 7 as the chequered flag flew and removed his front wing.

Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella had less dramatic troubles, losing track time to gearbox problems.

Practice three - Saturday evening

Alonso proved second practice was no fluke by repeating his time-topping performance with another supreme late lap in the final session - this time with a comfortable six tenths of a second margin over the rest of the field. His Renault teammate Nelson Piquet also looked promising in fourth, with Hamilton and Massa splitting the duo and Rosberg and Button again on-form in fifth and sixth.

Since the drivers first walked the track there had been concerns about the configuration and aggressive kerbs at the Turn 10 chicane ("an abortion" reckoned Webber, and "bloody dangerous" according to Sebastien Bourdais). Fisichella demonstrated exactly what they'd been worried about when he launched his Force India over the kerbs and straight into the outside wall after 47 minutes.

Raikkonen had a less destructive adventure around the same time, locking up and disappearing down the Turn 7 escape road, where he would remain after running out of gears while trying to manoeuvre his way back out.

Red Bull's turbulent weekend also continued as David Coulthard's car jammed in gear on his installation run, limiting him to six laps right at the end of the session.

Qualifying

Part one

Force India worked flat-out to repair Giancarlo Fisichella's car after his violent practice accident, and succeeded in getting the Italian out into Q2 with five minutes to spare... only for him to slide into the Turn 3 wall before he could even set a time.

"I had a puncture and then another crash as the steering wasn't right because of the puncture," he explained. "I'm really disappointed, not for myself as I think it would have been a tough qualifying anyway, but for the team as they worked so hard."

He would join teammate Adrian Sutil on the back row after what the German described as "our worst qualifying performance so far this year."

Also out were Nelson Piquet, Sebastien Bourdais and Rubens Barrichello. While Piquet was nonplussed by his now-traditional qualifying slump (although he was only 0.009 seconds slower than 15th-placed David Coulthard), Barrichello was inadvertently delayed by Nick Heidfeld despite the German's best efforts to get out of his way in the tricky penultimate corner/pit entry combination and then lost another lap when Fernando Alonso had a quick spin ahead of him.

Bourdais was 1.3 seconds slower than his Toro Rosso teammate Sebastian Vettel, who made the cut, and blamed a car that had constantly veered sideways under braking.

"My first run was messy and my second run was just weird and there was no way I felt I could attack as I had no stability or grip, with the car running asymmetrically," said Bourdais.

All the front-runners cruised through to Q2, although Kimi Raikkonen had a brief scare when his below-par first lap was edged down to 16th place as Q1 neared its end. He swiftly solved that problem by leaping up to first with his next run.

Part two

Given his excellent practice form, Alonso had an eye on the front row in Singapore. But instead he would end up 15th, as his Renault cut out with a fuel feed problem in Q2 before he could even set a time. His despair was tangible as he climbed out of the stricken car.

"We have lost the biggest chance we had (this season)," said Alonso. "The race is lost. You can't overtake here and I'm starting from 15th, so I will be going out just to lap the track, but it's over already."

Lewis Hamilton very nearly became the second big name casualty of Q2. An error under braking for Turn 1 spoilt his first run, and he was then delayed by a trip to the weighbridge, before scraping through in 10th place with a scruffy and traffic-blighted second run.

"It was a little bit nerve-wracking for sure but fortunately we got through," he said.

On another weekend Hamilton might have been knocked out, but several upper midfield runners were off-form in Singapore. Regular top ten contenders Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber only managed 11th and 13th, while the latter's teammate David Coulthard felt he did "pretty well" to take 14th given he had sat out most of final practice.

Jenson Button was the other driver eliminated, but considering Honda's recent abysmal form his 12th place was a praiseworthy achievement.

"I'm pretty happy and it is certainly a big improvement on the last few races," he said. "It's nice to have the pace to compete in Q2 again."

Part three

Already a pole-winner at Monte Carlo and Valencia, Felipe Massa completed a hat-trick of street track poles when he utterly dominated Q3 in Singapore.

His first flying lap was a 1:45.491, good enough to beat nearest challenger Hamilton to provisional pole by 0.147 seconds.

Hamilton responded with a 1:45.465, but his sojourn on top was extremely brief, for Massa was already obliterating his previous benchmarks in every sector.

The Ferrari duly wrenched pole back by a crushing 0.664-second margin, prompting raised eyebrows from Hamilton.

"Felipe must have been on an extremely strong strategy to have really outpaced us," said the Briton. "In the practice we were very close, and all of a sudden it's quite a big gap. Maybe I could have gone two tenths faster - maybe - but that wasn't the case.

"It looks like we're on the back foot but I don't think we are; I think we're in a strong strategy position."

But Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley insisted his driver's performance was pure speed.

"We haven't gone silly to try and get the pole position," said Smedley. "He's just brilliant over a timed lap."

Massa reckoned he had come close to perfection.

"The car was just perfect, so nice to drive smoothly," he said. "Then I managed to do a perfect lap. When you have a good car and you don't make a single mistake, it is always a great achievement."

Kimi Raikkonen was eight tenths off his teammate's pace but "reasonably happy" with third place, ahead of BMW's Robert Kubica, who felt he could have done better had he generated more tyre temperature on an traffic-interrupted out-lap.

The Pole still beat Heikki Kovalainen back to fifth place, the Finn having brushed the wall near the end of his last lap.

Heidfeld completed the top six in the second BMW, only to be demoted to ninth for blocking Barrichello while on an in-lap in Q1. The German grudgingly accepted his penalty, but did point out that the incident had more to do with a less-than-ideal pit entry layout then his own actions.

"I tried to do the best I could to get out of the way, but apparently it was not enough," said Heidfeld. "It was obvious that there would be issues with the pit lane entry and pit lane exit, so I don't know why it wasn't thought through properly."

His demotion elevated Vettel into the top six, as the Toro Rosso man followed up his Monza win with another fine performance - to his slight surprise.

"After experiencing some difficulties yesterday, I did not expect P7, but we did a very good job overnight," said Vettel.

His compatriot Timo Glock was also 'pleasantly surprised' after going eighth-fastest for Toyota, another team who had lacked pace in practice.

Nico Rosberg predicted before the weekend that Singapore might be Williams' best points-scoring chance of the remaining races - and the team duly got both cars into Q3 for the first time since Monaco 2006, with Rosberg eighth once Heidfeld had been penalised and Kazuki Nakajima taking a career-best 10th.

While Nakajima was delighted, Rosberg and the team admitted that they had hoped for slightly more.

"We expected to be a bit stronger in the final session, but we will see how tomorrow's race materialises," said technical director Sam Michael.

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       laps
 1.  Massa        Ferrari              1:44.519  1:44.014  1:44.801  16
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:44.501  1:44.932  1:45.465  14
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:44.282  1:44.232  1:45.617  16
 4.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:44.740  1:44.519  1:45.779  18
 5.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:44.311  1:44.207  1:45.873  19
 6.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:45.548  1:44.520  1:45.964  19
 7.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:45.042  1:44.261  1:46.244  15
 8.  Glock        Toyota               1:45.184  1:44.441  1:46.328  21
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:45.103  1:44.429  1:46.611  17
10.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:45.127  1:44.826  1:47.547  20
11.  Trulli       Toyota               1:45.642  1:45.038            12
12.  Button       Honda                1:45.660  1:45.133            14
13.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:45.493  1:45.212            12
14.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:46.028  1:45.298            16
15.  Alonso       Renault              1:44.971                       6
16.  Piquet       Renault              1:46.037                       6
17.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:46.389                       6
18.  Barrichello  Honda                1:46.583                       7
19.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:47.940                      10
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  No time                        2

The Race

Lewis Hamilton had been concerned that starting on the dirty side of the grid could be costly, and although he held on to his second place, he was nowhere near pole-sitter Felipe Massa into Turn 1 as the Ferrari stormed away into an unchallenged lead.

Massa then steadily edged clear, with Hamilton soon trailing by three seconds having taken too much out of his tyres as he tried in vain to keep pace with the Ferrari.

Third-placed Raikkonen had issues with tyre pressures at first and fell eight seconds adrift, but then burst into life as his Bridgestones started behaving - allowing him to set a string of fastest laps and close to within 2.7 seconds of Hamilton.

That also took Raikkonen away from the clutches of Robert Kubica, who had robustly fended off Heikki Kovalainen's at the start as the McLaren tried to take fourth around the outside through the first complex. Kubica held his ground on the inside, clambered over the kerbs in Turn 3 and banged wheels with Kovalainen, sending the Finn sideways and allowing Sebastian Vettel and Timo Glock to slip between them. Glock and Kovalainen then swapped places twice on the opening lap before the German got some peace as the McLaren started to struggle with floor damage caused by its brush with Kubica.

Nick Heidfeld chased this group, and was followed by a huge expanse of empty track as ninth-placed Jarno Trulli's heavy Toyota bottled up the rest of the field, led by the slow-starting Nico Rosberg.

The Williams driver was hugely frustrated as Trulli lapped a full five seconds slower than the leaders, and after several unsuccessful efforts and a trip across the Turn 1 run-off, Rosberg dived through with a tyre-smoking move into Turn 7 on lap seven. He then showed how much he had been held up by pulling 22 seconds clear of Trulli within just four laps!

His teammate Kazuki Nakajima and the fast-starting Fernando Alonso also overtook Trulli shortly afterwards, with Alonso then diving into the pits after just 12 laps.

The Spaniard had, like Rosberg, started on the less competitive super-soft tyres and with an aggressively light fuel load. It wasn't the obvious way to make progress from 15th on the grid on a circuit with minimal passing opportunities, and sure enough Alonso found himself last after his stop.

"We thought about a one stop strategy but we had some concerns with the brakes, so we tried something very different," he explained.

Their boldness was about to be rewarded. Ironically it was Alonso's 16th-placed teammate Nelson Piquet who caused what proved to be a pivotal full course yellow when he spun his Renault into the wall on the exit of Turn 17.

"The car was really heavy, it was touching the floor much more than we expected - the car was really undriveable," he complained.

The destructive incident was clearly going to cause a safety car, and Red Bull and Honda reacted superbly by bringing Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello - who had been running 12th, 14th and 15th respectively - straight in for their first stops before the pits could be closed, giving them a massive advantage over those ahead.

Alonso also benefited as he had no need to stop, and the same applied to one-stoppers Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella, the latter having started from the pit lane after further repairs following his qualifying crash.

But the caution appeared disastrous for Kubica and Rosberg, who had to choose between stopping in a closed pit and incurring a 10 second stop/go penalty, or running out of fuel on-track.

However it took time for the field to form up behind the safety car, so Rosberg didn't lose too many places when he dived in on lap 15, rejoining ahead of all those who did not plan to stop once the pits were open.

Kubica waited one more lap and crucially popped out behind Trulli and Fisichella, although he did rejoin ahead of the Red Bulls.

Everyone else was able to pit legally on lap 17, but things would go hideously wrong for Ferrari when the mechanic operating their traffic light pit exit system gave race leader Massa a premature green light.

The Brazilian not only pulled away into the path of Adrian Sutil (again), for which he would earn a penalty, but more frighteningly he took off before refuelling was complete - ripping the fuel hose from the rig and scattering his mechanics.

Massa pulled up at the pit exit and waited for an agonising two minutes as the Ferrari mechanics ran down the pit lane then wrestled the slightly bent hose out of the car so he could continue, albeit in last place and with a penalty pending.

The knock-on effect of this chaos also hampered Raikkonen, who had been queuing behind his teammate in the pits as it all unfolded. Kovalainen also had to wait behind Hamilton, dropping the second McLaren down the order too.

So as calm finally descended behind the safety car, Rosberg found himself in the lead, ahead of the one-stopping Trulli and Fisichella, the soon-to-be-penalised Kubica, then Alonso, Webber and Coulthard - who were now the 'actual' race leaders.

Barrichello should have been right with this trio, but was left heartbroken when an electrical problem halted his Honda just after his brilliantly-timed pit stop.

"I'm really, really, really, really ashamed of the situation," said the devastated veteran. "We lost a tremendous opportunity today, and I'm so angry that I'm going to start blaming everyone. I should shut up..."

Hamilton was the highest-placed of those who had pitted 'normally', and ran seventh ahead of Vettel, Glock, Heidfeld, Nakajima and Button, with Kovalainen and Raikkonen down in 14th and 16th, split by Sutil. Massa languished in 18th behind Sebastien Bourdais.

Racing resumed on lap 19, and urged on by his team, Rosberg immediately tried to build a gap to the field before his penalty was applied. He was helped by the officials not announcing the punishment until lap 25 - nine laps after the illegal stop - and by Trulli and Fisichella's very slow pace, which kept Kubica bottled up in fourth.

Rosberg made maximum use of the permitted three laps between notification and taking the penalty, and when he finally came in on lap 28, the Williams was nearly 15 seconds ahead of Trulli and almost 25 ahead of third-placed Fisichella.

That was enough of a margin to allow Rosberg to rejoin in fourth, just ahead of Coulthard and Hamilton, having benefited from Kubica also taking his penalty (and falling to last thanks to all the laps spent chasing Fisichella) and Webber's promising run being ended by a gearbox problem.

"It cost us a fantastic result," reckoned the Australian, who would almost certainly have taken a podium finish.

The penalty stops allowed Trulli, Fisichella and Alonso up to the top three places, with Fisichella getting out of the Renault's way by pitting for his sole stop on lap 29.

Trulli stayed out a further four laps, before he pitted and allowed Alonso to take the race lead, four seconds clear of Rosberg, and 13 ahead of Coulthard, who couldn't keep pace with the top two but was managing to hold off Hamilton.

"He was a good second slower than me but also a good second slower than everyone in front of us," said Hamilton. "It was so difficult to get close to him and to overtake but he drove a fantastic race."

The chance finally came on lap 41, when Alonso - who had continued to storm away from the rest of the field throughout the middle stint - made his final stop and emerged a few inches ahead of Coulthard, costing the Red Bull a little momentum.

Hamilton duly pounced, squeezing down the inside into Turn 7, although both then pitted at the end of that lap. Coulthard's podium challenge ended at his stop, as he moved forward prematurely, leaving a mechanic with minor ankle injuries and causing a six-second delay - enough to drop him behind both Toyotas, Vettel and Heidfeld.

"There was a misunderstanding between some of the guys and I go when the lollipop comes up, but these things happen," said Coulthard.

By the time the final stops were complete, Alonso led Rosberg by 18 seconds and Hamilton by 25 seconds. Glock had moved up to fourth, passing Vettel when the Toro Rosso ran wide at the restart, and then benefiting from his teammate Trulli's relative lack of pace on full tanks to get ahead of the Italian by the time he made his second stop.

Trulli was still heading for fifth before a hydraulic problem struck on lap 48.

"A weekend which started pretty bad has finished even worse," he said. "I am exhausted because I am so disappointed."

That moved the recovering Raikkonen up to fifth. While fellow displaced front-runners Kovalainen, Kubica and Massa (the latter by necessity due to a puncture) all made early final stops in the hope of another safety car, Raikkonen stayed out until lap 50 and duly gained a lot of ground.

Just as the results started to look settled, the safety car put in another appearance. Trapped behind Fisichella, who lacked the speed after his pit stop to stay in points contention, the frustrated Massa spun and clouted the barriers - somehow without damage - at Turn 18. He quickly rejoined, but the closely-following Sutil was sufficiently distracted to have an accident of his own, prompting the yellow.

Alonso's comfortable 18-second margin was suddenly down to a few car lengths, and the potentially faster Hamilton now only had Rosberg between him and a shot at the lead.

But Alonso dealt masterfully with the lap 54 restart, re-establishing a six-second lead within just two laps. He was helped by being the only one on the more competitive harder tyres (Rosberg having reverted to a second set of super softs because he had got through too many sets of tyres in practice and qualifying), and by Hamilton and McLaren choosing to take a conservative approach to the final showdown.

"I had no need to take any risks," said the Briton, who was content to shadow Rosberg and wait optimistically for a mistake.

McLaren advised Hamilton to pursue this strategy after seeing the fate of Raikkonen, who bounced off the Turn 10 kerbs and into the wall while pushing Glock for fourth. With Massa finishing 13th, between Bourdais and Fisichella, the outcome could hardly have been worse for Ferrari.

"A black day," team boss Stefano Domenicali summarised. "We had the potential to finish first and second but we didn't even pick up a point."

For most of the year, things have gone horribly wrong for Alonso on days when big points hauls looked possible. But in Singapore, on an evening when he looked unlikely even to score when the race got underway, the Spaniard brilliantly secured his first victory since Monza 2007, and Renault's first since Suzuka 2006.

"A first podium of the season and first victory as well," said the jubilant winner. "I cannot believe it right now, I think I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year."

Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton on the podium © LAT

Rosberg was equally thrilled with second, especially as he thought his race would be ruined by his penalty, while third gave Hamilton a useful seven point lead going into the final three races.

F1's German contingent filled four of the top six spots, with Glock, Vettel and Heidfeld following the podium trio home, and Coulthard and Nakajima completing the points-scorers.

Button took ninth, having resisted heavy pressure from Kovalainen until the McLaren's fading brakes forced him to back off and concentrate on defending 10th from Kubica - not the results that either of them had hoped for at the start of this historic and enthralling evening.

Race results

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

Team-by-Team

Massa takes pole by a vast margin and looks set to dominate the race until being released early from his first pitstop. He drags the fuel hose down the pitlane with him, drops to last while waiting for it to be removed, then receives a penalty for an unsafe release into Sutil's path.

A puncture and a spin add to his woe, as he finishes a dismal 14th.

Raikkonen qualifies third, and after a quiet start he begins to close on the leaders before losing time queuing behind Massa when both pit behind the safety car. The Finn falls to 16th, but climbs back to fifth by virtue of an extremely long middle stint. It all goes to waste when he crashes out three laps from the end, though.

Kubica and Heidfeld qualify fourth and sixth, but the latter is demoted three places by a harsh penalty for blamelessly blocking Barrichello when trying to get into the pit entry in Q1.

The German then has a low-key race to sixth, spending most of the evening in traffic and running close behind Vettel and Glock's battle for the duration without ever really threatening.

Kubica bangs wheels with Kovalainen at the start and hangs on to fourth, but has no choice but to refuel in a closed pit. He then gets stuck behind slow one-stopper Fisichella before his penalty, so falls to the tail of the pack when he serves it.

An early second stop doesn't pay off as the safety car only emerges when the leaders have also pitted, so Kubica ends up a lowly 11th.

Alonso tops second and third practice, only for a fuel feed problem to leave him 15th on the grid.

Piquet is also quick in practice, but under-performs in qualifying yet again and starts 16th. He then crashes out on lap 13.

His accident saves Alonso's race, though, as it causes a safety car period under which most of the field pit. Having already stopped on lap 12 as part of an aggressive strategy, Alonso ultimately emerges in the race lead, and is able to pull away and take his first win since returning to Renault.

Rosberg shines throughout practice, so is not totally delighted with ninth on the grid (before Heidfeld's penalty), having hoped to be higher in the top ten. Nakajima takes 10th, making his first appearance in Q3.

A poor start means Rosberg loses time behind Trulli at first, and he then thinks his race will be ruined when he has to pit illegally when the safety car appears just as he needed to refuel.

But it turns out rather well: he pits before the field is totally formed up so emerges in the lead for the restart when the rest stop, and as the officials take 10 laps to ponder his penalty, Rosberg is able to charge away with Trulli and Fisichella bottle up the field. All of which allows him to take second at the flag, while Nakajima drives a strong race to eighth.

Webber is the first man to crash at Marina Bay, while Coulthard loses all of final practice to a gearbox failure, so it's little surprise when they only qualify 13th and 14th.

An inspired call to the pits seconds before the safety car looks set to turn around their races and give both men a shot at the podium. But Webber retires with gearbox problems soon afterwards, while Coulthard is passed by Hamilton then loses several positions when he is released early from his final pitstop and has to stop briefly. He finishes seventh.

Trulli spins in first practice and is fined for driving against the flow of traffic and making an illegal entry to the pits, then Glock crashes right at the end of second practice. Neither is very fast, either.

But Glock picks up speed later in the weekend and qualifies eighth, then moves up steadily amid the chaos to take a deserved fourth.

Trulli starts 11th and has most of the pack on his tail early on as he struggles around with 34 laps' fuel on board. That strategy allows him to lead briefly after the safety car period, and he looks on course for fifth until struck by late hydraulic problems.

Despite lacking pace on Friday, Vettel starts a creditable sixth and runs well in the race, holding fifth at first. He loses ground amid the pitstop confusion, and is passed by Glock when he runs wide at the first restart.

But as others make their stops or hit trouble, Vettel regains ground and finishes fifth.

Bourdais starts 17th after dreadful handling problems in Q1, and fares little better in the race, surviving some trips down escape roads to take 12th.

Button is a top ten contender in practice and qualifies 12th, but Barrichello continues to struggle - spinning into the barriers in first practice then qualifying 18th, albeit partly because he was delayed by traffic.

Barrichello's race potentially turns around when he is called to the pits just before the safety car, but his electrics then fail before he can challenge for the podium finish that would have been possible.

Button loses places on the first lap but works his way back into contention. He doesn't have the pace to fight hard for points, and an early final stop (in case of a late safety car) doesn't really pay off. He finishes ninth.

Fisichella has gearbox problems on Friday, then crashes in both final practice and qualifying, leaving him firmly last on the grid.

His one-stop strategy allows him to run as high as second as the safety car situation unfolds, but a long final stint on super-soft tyres isn't conducive to staying at the front, and the Italian is the final on-the-road finisher in 14th.

Sutil qualifies 19th and is set to finish last before crashing out avoiding the spinning Massa.

Hamilton leads opening practice, but is shocked by Massa's speed as he has to settle for second on the grid behind his title rival.

He runs second early on, then is stuck behind Coulthard after the first pitstops behind the safety car. Eventually gets past the Red Bull but decides to collect points in third rather than pushing Rosberg for second.

Kovalainen only qualifies fifth, is pushed down to seventh in a first corner argument with Kubica, then loses times queuing behind Hamilton in the pits. An early second stop doesn't pay off and he limps home 10th with fading brakes.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: On pole for the fifth time this season - and the 14th in his Formula One career - Felipe Massa makes a clean start to lead Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen into Turn One. Heikki Kovalainen briefly gets ahead of Robert Kubica for fourth but the two touch at Turn Three and the Pole reasserts himself. Sebastian Vettel and Timo Glock then pass Kovalainen to take fifth and sixth. Nick Heidfeld runs eighth ahead of Jarno Trulli, Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Sébastien Bourdais, Rubens Barrichello, Nelson Piquet, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella (who starts from the pits following some unscheduled set-up changes). Massa leads by 1.2 seconds.

The start of the inaugural Grand Prix of Singapore © XPB

Lap 2: Massa laps in 1:47.658, Hamilton in 1:47.656. The gap remains 1.2 seconds.

Lap 3: Massa leads by 1.7 seconds.

Lap 4: Rosberg briefly passes Trulli at Turn One but runs wide and drops back again.

Lap 5: The leader's advantage grows to 2.0 seconds.

Lap 6: Massa laps in 1:46.342. He leads by 2.6 seconds.

Lap 7: Rosberg passes Trulli for ninth.

Lap 8: Nakajima passes Trulli.

Lap 9: Fastest lap to Raikkonen: 1:46.115. Alonso passes Trulli.

Lap 10: Massa leads by 3.3 seconds. Raikkonen posts a 1:46.105 to trail Hamilton by 3.9 seconds.

Lap 11: Raikkonen laps in 1:45.764.

Lap 12: Alonso makes the race's first scheduled stop.

Lap 13: Massa laps in 1:45.757. He leads by 4.5 seconds. Bourdais spins at Turn 18 and drops to 18th.

Lap 14: Raikkonen laps in 1:45.599. He is 2.2 s behind Hamilton. Piquet crashes heavily at Turn 17. Webber, Coulthard and Barrichello pit.

Nico Rosberg attempts to overtake Jarno Trulli © XPB

Lap 15: Safety Car deployed. Rosberg pits. Barrichello stops on the circuit.

Lap 16: Kubica pits.

Lap 17: Pit lane opens. Massa, Hamilton, Vettel, Glock, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Nakajima, Button and Sutil pit. Raikkonen is behind Massa who leaves prematurely. The Brazilian knocks down a member of his crew and rejoins with his fuel rig still attached. He eventually leaves the pits again.

Lap 18: Behind the Safety Car Rosberg leads from Trulli, Fisichella, Kubica, Alonso, Webber, Bourdais (who pits), Coulthard, Hamilton, Vettel, Glock, Heidfeld, Nakajima, Button, Kovalainen, Sutil, Raikkonen and Massa.

Lap 20: Restart. Rosberg immediately pulls clear of Trulli to lead by 2.8 seconds. Glock passes Vettel. Raikkonen passes Sutil. Massa runs slightly wide over the kerbs at Turn 23.

Lap 21: Rosberg leads by 5.1 seconds.

Lap 22: Rosberg leads by 6.9 seconds. Rosberg and Kubica are under investigation. Massa passes Bourdais.

Lap 24: Massa serves a drive-through penalty for unsafe release from the pits.

Lap 26: Rosberg leads by 12.2 seconds but must serve a 10 seconds stop-go penalty for having refuelled before the pit lane opened. Kubica receives the same penalty.

Lap 27: Kubica comes in for his penalty. Rosberg runs wide at Turn 14.

Lap 28: Rosberg pits. Trulli leads. Webber runs wide at Turn One and drops to 14th.

Lap 29: Trulli leads by 11.9 seconds from Alonso and Rosberg. Fisichella pits, as does Webber. The latter retires.

Lap 31: Kubica passes Massa who pits at the end of the lap.

Lap 32: Trulli leads by 10.8 seconds.

Lap 33: Trulli pits and drops to eighth. Alonso leads Rosberg by 4.3 seconds. Kubica and Bourdais pit, too.

David Coulthard leads Lewis Hamilton in the battle for 3rd place © XPB

Lap 34: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 35: Alonso extends his lead to 5.6 seconds. Button pits.

Lap 37: Alonso sets a personal best: 1:46.020. Rosberg is 7.0 seconds behind. Massa runs wide at Turn One.

Lap 38: Nakajima passes Trulli for eighth.

Lap 39: Raikkonen passes Trulli. Sutil pits.

Lap 40: Alonso laps in 1:45.843. Rosberg pits and drops to seventh.

Lap 41: Alonso pits. He rejoins without losing the lead.

Lap 42: Hamilton passes Coulthard. Both pit at the lap's end. Coulthard is delayed as one of his crew members slips over. Nakajima pits.

Lap 43: Alonso leads Glock by 4.8 seconds. Vettel and Heidfeld pit. Hamilton lies seventh, behind Raikkonen.

Lap 44: Raikkonen runs wide at Turn Two.

Lap 45: Alonso leads from Glock, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Hamilton and Trulli. Kubica passes Fisichella.

Lap 46: Glock pits and drops to fifth. Massa runs wide at the first turn.

Ferando Alonso leads Nico Rosberg, and Lewis Hamilton to the restart © XPB

Lap 50: Raikkonen pits and slips to fifth. Trulli slows to a crawl and retires at the end of the lap. Massa spins at Turn 18 and rejoins just before Sutil crashes at the same spot. Safety Car deployed.

Lap 54: Restart. Alonso leads Rosberg by 3.7 seconds.

Lap 58: Raikkonen crashes at Turn 10.

Lap 61: Alonso wins by 2.9 seconds from Rosberg, Hamilton, Glock, Vettel, Heidfeld, Coulthard and Nakajima. It is the Spaniard's first Formula One success since Monza 2007.