Vettel dominates Singapore GP from start to finish

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Sebastian Vettel has simply dominated the Singapore Grand Prix and never really had any competition for the win. Second placed finisher Fernando Alonso was more than 30 seconds behind, with Kimi Raikkonen another 10 seconds further down the road.

As the lights went out, Nico Rosberg came close to take the lead, but it was still Vettel who managed to retain the first place after starting from pole. Behind them, Alonso made a great start and braked late on the outside of turn 1, passing 4 cars and slotting into third by the time he ended up at turn 3. Webber set for 4th amidst a battle where he managed to get past Grosjean who is 5th after the first lap.

3 laps into the race, Vettel has already pulled a gap of 5.6 seconds to Rosberg. Alonso is little more than a second off of Rosberg and is closely followed by Webber. The Australian is however asked to take care of his supersoft tyres. Behind him are GRO MAS HAM BUT HUL PER GUT RAI DIR RIC VER MAL SUT VDG BOT BIA PIC CHI.

At the end of lap 10, Raikkonen is the first to pit. He gets another set of super softs and is back on track in clean air, hoping to gain some time rather than being stuck behind other cars.

Massa pits on lap 12 and changed to the medium tyre. He as well is released in clean air. One lap later Webber pits, followed by Alonso another lap further into the race. Their respective order remains the same but Alonso is released behind Di Resta, giving him some trouble to get past the Force India while Webber is closing in.

Grosjean pits on lap 16 and just like his teammate takes on the super soft.

By lap 20, Vettel is still leading after his change to medium. Rosberg is second, helped by Di Resta who has still not stopped and is holding up Alonso, Webber and Grosjean. By the end of the lap Hamilton has also joined the train while Massa and Button are just 2 seconds further down the road.

At the same time, Di Resta finally pits, re-allowing everybody behind to run their own pace. By that time, Vettel is 8 seconds ahead of Rosberg, who on his behalf is 8 seconds ahead of Alonso.

On lap 22, when positions looked somewhat settled, Ricciardo locked his front left tyre and ended up in the barrier at turn 18. With the car still on track, the safety car is inevitable and nearly the entire field dives into the pits.

Only at the end of lap 30, the SC is off as the lapped Marussia's had to rejoin the queue after being allowed to pass through the field. After the stops, positions behind the SC were VET ROS WEB HAM ALO GRO DIR MAS BUT RAI PER HUL VER GUT SUT MAL BOT VDG PIC CHI and BIA. Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton obviously didn't pit during the safety car, while Alonso took on mediums. Massa changed to super softs and is immediately threatening Di Resta who popped up ahead also by not stopping during the SC.

2 laps later Grosjean is called into the pits as the team is worried by an engine problem. A lenghty stop later, during which a Renault engineer checked the left sidepod, the Frenchman is allowed to go again, rejoining the track in last place. On lap 38 Grosjean returns to the pit to abandon, massively disappointed after having starting this race from third on the grid.

By lap 41, Vettel is already 22 secons ahead of Rosberg. Webber pits in that lap and takes on mediums. Hamilton at the same time is told to push as hard as he can in preparation for his own stop.

While Vettel posts another fastest lap, Rosberg pits from P2 and rejoins the track behind Webber, probably much to his own surprise. The Australian Red Bull driver put in an impressive out lap to gain just enough time on Rosberg to get the position.

On lap 44 Hamilton pits from second. He rejoins the track in between Rosberg and ahead of Sutil who just posted the fastest lap.

One lap later it's Vettel who pits, taking on the super soft tyres and rejoining the track still ahead of Alonso. Button is third, 6 seconds behind the Spaniard. Behind him is Raikkonen, consistently within a second and trying to overtake as Button is going to the end on this set of medium tyres. 5th is Perez, then Hulkenberg. Next up is Gutierrez, closely followed by Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton. 2 seconds further down the road are Di Resta, Massa and Vergne.

On lap 49, Webber and the two Mercedes cars all get past Gutierrez, on their way to Hulkenberg who is 8 seconds ahead. One lap later Gutierrez is also passed by Di Resta and Massa.

5 laps later, Webber gets past Hulkenberg and has Perez next up the road. At the same time, Raikkonen finally managed to get past Button after chasing him for numerous laps. Raikkonen immediately shows he's vastly quicker than the McLaren.

On lap 55 Di Resta ends up in the barriers but is off track, hence not requiring a safety car.

On lap 56 Webber passes Button as well while both Mercedes cars, along with Massa are still stuck behind Perez. Two laps later, Rosberg has passed Perez and Button while Hamilton need half a lap more to get past Button. Massa also follows suit and goes with the flow of Hamilton to make up places.

Webber at that time is told to short shift, and one lap later asked to just get the car to the finish, rather than push ahead for third place. The issue with his gearbox is such that in the penultimate lap he even gets passed by Rosberg and Hamilton. On turn 3 of the final lap Massa also flies by, and by turn 7 the right hand sidepod of Webber's car is on fire, forcing him to abandon the race.

This means Vettel wins this race dominantly, 30 seconds ahead of Alonso who on his parade lap picked up Webber for a ride to the pits. Raikkonen is an impressive 3rd after having started from 13th on the grid.