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

Comment 345 - 364 of 404

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  1. Rosberg should have won the race and if it wasn't for that silly pit lane rule he would have done, none of the drivers like that rule it's one of the most unfair ones ever

    From GEORGE, on Mon 29 Sep 8:45AM

  2. Conspiracy - Renault asked Nelson Piquet to crash to bring out the safety car.
    Come to think about it. Who in the right mind would pit on lap 11?? Nelson crashed on lap 13...hmmmmm.

    From leekonghwee, on Mon 29 Sep 8:28AM

  3. with all due respect to Alonso, he was very lucky, this was Massa's and Kimi's race as they were very fast up front. On the plus side at least it wasnt a boring race like Valencia zzzzzz, coz it was heading that way!

    From Matthew B, on Mon 29 Sep 8:25AM

  4. "the fittest survive" Singapore created a historic race; racing is about patient, gut, heroic challenge, and fitness; surely F1 circuit cannot be always safe and easy with little excitement and risk and yet rips millions from the fans!!
    Singapore is ultimate venue to give both the fans and the F1 drivers the ultimate adrenaline rush before proceeding to the next 'expected rave circuit'.
    We here in Singapore congratulate our sponsors, the F1 Creator, surely all the enthusiastic fans around the world and the deserving racers patient and experience Alonso, young and gutsy Rosberg, and surely the all mighty Hamilton.
    Singapore Hurray!!

    From mengsoon c, on Mon 29 Sep 8:23AM

  5. "the fittest survive" Singapore created a historic race; racing is about patient, gut, heroic challenge, and fitness; surely F1 circuit cannot be always safe and easy with little excitement and risk and yet rips millions from the fans!!
    Singapore is ultimate venue to give both the fans and the F1 drivers the ultimate adrenaline rush before proceeding to the next 'expected rave circuit'.
    We here in Singapore congratulate our sponsors, the F1 Creator, surely all the enthusiastic fans around the world and the deserving racers patient and experience Alonso, young and gutsy Rosberg, and surely the all mighty Hamilton.
    Singapore Hurray!!

    From mengsoon c, on Mon 29 Sep 8:21AM

  6. To comment 401 (hugh_jorgen), please remind us what team Alonso was driving for last season and how he made the current guy look silly. As for Vettel and Kubica, they need to show more consistency before the likes of you put them ahead of themselves. And who says BMW and Toro Rosso are not good cars?

    From kim_massa, on Mon 29 Sep 8:06AM

  7. wot a circus race in a circuit of metal cage fencing 10M high

    From errattic.results, on Mon 29 Sep 8:01AM

  8. Oh yes, Fernando you beauty. F1 best driver is Fernando? Alonso for world champion in 2009

    From Fjk, on Mon 29 Sep 7:45AM

  9. Ferrari take note. God works in mysterious ways he he.

    From ERNEST R, on Mon 29 Sep 7:43AM

  10. congratulations to ,, RENAULT WITH STAR DRIVER ALONSO.... perfect strategy == great result

    pit crew ++ back room boys + perfect drive ==== fine happy result

    From errattic.results, on Mon 29 Sep 7:29AM

  11. Alonso is a class act, definitely the no1 driver in the field,
    Along with Kubica and Vettel, they are the stand out drivers atm.
    Any of them in a Mclaren would make the current drivers look silly,

    From Hugh, on Mon 29 Sep 7:05AM

  12. jbolan, grow up.

    From jammoisraw@..., on Mon 29 Sep 6:26AM

  13. re #393(muhammad i):

    Whilst I can see where you're coming from, the same can be said for Lewis Hamilton himself e.g. 'If Lewis had maintained 4th position in the last race of last season, he would have sealed the championship last season' or 'if Lewis hadn't been demoted to third two races ago, he would have had a more comfortable lead over Massa'. I could even go on to say 'Had David Coulthard not held up Lewis for a period of time in 5th place, Lewis could have seriously challenged for 1st place'.

    This just opens up a series of ifs buts and maybes for different drivers, Kimi and Alonso in particular. I really don't see the point in dwelling of what could have been if all has been said and done and there's no way of changing it.

    From jammoisraw@..., on Mon 29 Sep 6:22AM

  14. great race hmm was wondering why the commentators weren't so thrilled to see Alonso win.

    any way ferrari needs to get the lollypop man back. great drive by Nico!

    well done Alonso you have proved that you are best driver out there

    go Massa & Vettle!

    From shizzelez, on Mon 29 Sep 5:54AM

  15. Devine intervention someone something corrects the stewards theft of points from Hamilton. Apart from that Singapore’s circuit in my view should be dropped there is not enough space or straight stretch for overtaking opportunities. This race was won lost in the pit lane and time penalties again. Kimmi actually tried to race and a slight mistake takes him completely out of the race. Congratulations to Alonso but please don’t tell me he was driving in the top car there. F1 continued drive to kill of this so called sport, night time day time does it matter F1 should think of the driver’s safety and countries need to provide safe circuits with run of areas not brick walls.
    I am sure Singapore paid a lot of cash to get the F1 circus out there and to be honest they got what they paid for a circus.

    From Tim B, on Mon 29 Sep 5:52AM

  16. "Not even the FIA could save Massa here! haha! Kinda suppose its racing Karma sorting things out really. What goes around, comes around."

    Just what I was thinking. Karmic justice rained down on the whole Ferrari team in this race.

    From ST, on Mon 29 Sep 4:44AM

  17. blah...blah..blah...such a stupid race..pit lanes should not be opened until the safety car leaves the race track...

    From dsor, on Mon 29 Sep 2:22AM

  18. WHEN YOU KIDS ARE OLD ENOUGH TO TALK ABOUT F1,AND HAVE LEARNT ALL YOUR FACTS,COME BACK ONTO THE SITE! BAD BOB THE B*****D !!!!!!!!

    From robert, on Mon 29 Sep 2:10AM

  19. I am a die hard Lewis Hamilton fan, but I have to say this: felippe Massa is one of the best drivers and most unfortunate too. I followed the races last season and this one, and I think if his luck didn't go that much against him, he would have sealed the championship for sure this season, and maybe last one too.

    From muhammad i, on Mon 29 Sep 1:50AM

  20. HEY masoninspace you seem to be limited to insults and four letter profanitys is there a reason for your lack of volcabulary

    From OZZY, on Mon 29 Sep 1:05AM
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