Alonso wins in Singapore

Eurosport - Tue, 30 Sep 10:33:00 2008

Fernando Alonso won the Singapore Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton extended his title advantage to seven points after Felipe Massa finished out of the points following a calamitous pit-lane incident.

2008 Singaporean GP Renault Alonso - 0

The Spanish double world champion claimed his 20th career triumph by 2.95 seconds over Germany's Nico Rosberg in a Williams with Britain's world championship leader Hamilton in third.

It was the Renault driver's first victory since the Italian Grand Prix last year and capped a remarkable weekend that saw him top two of the free practice sessions but start 15th on the grid after a mechanical problem in qualifying.

Toyota driver Timo Glock was fourth with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel following up his win in Italy this month with fifth. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld took sixth.

The race was a new experience for every driver on a street circuit under powerful spotlights and it turned out to be one of the most exciting of the season.

Ferrari's Massa started from pole but a disastrous mistake cost him the race and valuable points in his push for the world title.

The Brazilian was in the pits on lap 15 when he was given the green light and drove off with the fuel hose still attached to his car, leaving one of the pit crew floored and subsequently carted off in a neck brace.

Massa ended up sitting in his Ferrari at the end of the pit lane as the crew ran after him and managed to pull the hose free, but it ruined his chances. He was given a drive through penalty and rejoined in 18th place.

It was a miserable night for Ferrari with defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen ramming his car into the barriers with just four laps left.

The Massa drama occurred after the cars came in when Nelson Piquet careered into the wall, causing massive damage to his Renault. He climbed out unscathed but the safety car was deployed.

Massa was leading at the time with Hamilton second but at the restart, Rosberg was in front and Alonso fifth.

But Rosberg was subsequently slapped with a 10-second stop penalty for coming into the pits before it had opened after the Piquet crash.

The complicated scenario saw Toyota's Jarno Trulli in the lead on lap 28 but without having pitted with Alonso second, Rosberg third and Hamilton charging in sixth.

With Trulli taking his first pit stop soon after Alonso amazingly found himself in front just after the halfway mark with a 4.9 second lead over Rosberg.

Alonso came in for his second pit stop on lap 41 and came out still ahead, marginally ahead of David Coulthard and Hamilton.

Remarkably, when Coulthard pitted soon after, he too drove off with the fuel pipe attached, knocking over a mechanic who was stretchered off with an injured ankle.

Alonso was cruising with a 23 second lead when Adrian Sutil shunted his Force India into the wall, bringing the safety car out again and wiping out the Spaniard's advantage.

When they restarted with seven laps left it was a sprint to the finish and two-time world champion Alonso made no mistake, writing his name in the record books as the first winner of a Formula One night race.

AFP

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  1. And now we all know the truth... CHEATS!!! RENAULT ARE­ CHEATS!!!

    From no1topgearfan, on Thu 26 Nov 2:13PM

  2. It just now sinking in, what a result for the­ world's best

    From Yanni Gogolac, on Thu 2 Oct 6:24PM

  3. Astronzo lucked out.

    From Patarac, on Tue 30 Sep 6:38PM

  4. to jbolan's bum boy: it is bored not board, dumbo.

    From Biggles, on Tue 30 Sep 11:13AM

  5. Hi

    From ??, on Tue 30 Sep 8:13AM

  6. no team members are allowed to criticise the venue­ track setting

    BERNIE has others in mind to follow his­ plans

    From marilynne, on Tue 30 Sep 7:14AM

  7. You won't believe this, but AFP confirms that­ Ferrari AND Renault have lodged a complaint against­ McLaren following Singapore.
    It would seem that the­ McLaren team celebrated Hamilton's performance by­ dining on a quintesstially British dish of roast beef,­ accompanied by an Argentinian Shiraz, when it was­ perfectly obvious that a mature Cotes de Blaye was the­ superior choice.
    The FIA are taking the complaint­ "very seriously", said a spokesman.

    From frogprince08, on Tue 30 Sep 12:29AM

  8. How do we know it wasn't team orders? Like­ instructing Piquet to crash in order for Alonso to win?­ Ha ha ha !
    Anyway, this night race looked to me like­ an indoor event; wish they add rally-type lights on the­ cars to make it a real night race

    From Cris T, on Mon 29 Sep 11:40PM

  9. Please stop responding to jbolan. He is as Peruvian as­ Ferrari are blue.
    I'm sorry to say he is very much­ an English person.
    I grant you he has the mental­ faculty of a retarded rock but you encourage him when­ you respond.

    From Say no to FIA, on Mon 29 Sep 11:28PM

  10. i wonder how did alonso win the race with his family­ car..lol

    From paschataap, on Mon 29 Sep 10:52PM

  11. iantomh1 maybe thats because Ferrari stick to the­ rules.

    From wizzo, on Mon 29 Sep 10:14PM

  12. sp00k007

    What's so surprising about the stop go­ penalty and the drive through. The easier penalty was­ once again awarded to the FIA team (the guys in red).­ If they don't go back to physical signals­ they're going to kill somebody at which point­ McLaren will probably be fined or have points deducted.­ I'm surprised that 24 hours have gone by without­ Mad Max finding some way to penalise them. Watch out­ for the next race as I'm sure the FIA will find­ some way of leveling the scoreboard

    From iantomh1, on Mon 29 Sep 9:53PM

  13. BORSH TESTA DI CAZZO, NOT DA CAZZO
    WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING­ ITALIAN?
    VALENTINO ROSSI E IL MIGLIORE, PERHAPS HE­ SHOULD TRY FERRARI, LIKE SURTEES...

    From golf in the kingdom, on Mon 29 Sep 6:49PM

  14. Pond.simba: Are you related to the @#$% from Peru?. Or­ are you the same person because you both talk @#$%.

    From Biggles, on Mon 29 Sep 6:17PM

  15. Alonso's luck was with him even after the race, a­ Renault team member dropped Alonso's magnum of­ champagne but didn't break it! Fernando's lucky­ day I guess

    From arshad_iceman2, on Mon 29 Sep 6:05PM

  16. pond.simba
    I'm not saying he didn't deserve­ the win, and all racers need a little luck now and then­ to get a win. You're right about Hamilton, he's­ had plenty of luck, it's just been mostly bad.

    From vinnydawg67, on Mon 29 Sep 5:41PM

  17. i have got james allen right in the sh#t by the way.­ dont be atall suprised if he isnt commentating next­ race.

    From pond.simba, on Mon 29 Sep 5:36PM

  18. rick m your a prat kinda get board with your posts now,­ please stop them.

    From pond.simba, on Mon 29 Sep 5:34PM

  19. so what vinny if fernando got a bit of luck, sometimes­ you need luck after all hamiltons had shed loads of it­ this year.

    From pond.simba, on Mon 29 Sep 5:32PM

  20. Oh, but there was luck involved Bristow. Alonso may­ have shined during practice, but we'll never know­ how he really would have qualified had he not had his­ mechanical problems. He pitted just before the safety­ car came out and it was just perfect timing. He drove a­ fine race, no doubt there, but so did Rosberg, even­ better some might say. Even Alonso admitted the safety­ car was a lucky break. Were it not for the safety car­ he might just as well have "carried that Renault­ on his back" to 9th place.

    From vinnydawg67, on Mon 29 Sep 5:01PM
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