Patronise F1

In Singapore, the whole complexion of the afternoon was altered by a safety car period unfortunately coinciding with a pit stop window. As before in Montreal and Hockenheim, the controversial new pit lane regulations during the safety car periods ruined some and benefited others.

But at the start, there was no indication of the dramas ahead. Felipe Massa got a stonking getaway from pole position to nail himself into an early lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica. Hamilton's team mate Heikki Kovalainen made a decent enough start, but was tagged into a slide by Kubica and as he controlled his car, he dropped down to seventh. It was the start of another dismal afternoon for the Finn. Meanwhile, further back, a number of drivers made a fudge of the first corner complex, including Alonso himself, who jumped up to 11th on the opening lap, partly thanks to his super-aggressive light fuel strategy, and partly thanks to cutting the aforementioned corner.

As Massa and Hamilton eased away at the front, the main fight early on saw a return to the old Trulli train situation from a few years ago. This time, the one-stopping Toyota headed a whole gaggle of lighter cars for the opening few laps, but despite worries from some quarters, the Singapore track did offer at least one genuine overtaking opportunity, albeit a brave one involving running the car up the inside on the bumpy approach to turn seven. Nico Rosberg was the first to try it, locking up all four wheels in a leery pass he later described as "a bit scary", and once he had shown the way, his team mate Kazuki Nakajima (or Shinji Nakano, if you're James Allen) and Alonso followed suit.

Just as it seemed like the race was settling down, and just as Kimi Raikkonen's third place Ferrari began to inexorably reel in Hamilton, the whole race turned on it's head. The man to thank was Nelson Piquet Jr, who was having another uncomfortably witless afternoon, capped off by him losing control of his Renault on the exit of a corner and spinning into the barriers. His argument that the car was "hard to drive" may have been more of an excuse had he not spent the last two days supposedly setting his car up to not be hard to drive. Either way, the safety car was out, and suddenly it all kicked off. The quick-thinking Red Bull team had their drivers in and out for their first stops before the pits had closed, but Rosberg and Kubica were forced to stop under "closed" conditions lest they run out of fuel, and both would have to accept the inevitable 10 second stop and go penalties for the crime of "having to make a pit stop". Then, once the pits were opened, we were treated to a veritable comedy of errors from Ferrari and Massa.

The Brazilian's stop seemed to be going straightforwardly, but he was given the green signal from the much maligned Ferrari traffic light system despite the refuelling nozzle sticking, and he drove off with the hose still resolutely plugged into the back of his car. Cue the comedy, as a helpless Massa parked his Ferrari at the end of the pit lane, and was forced to wait while his mechanics, cheered on by the other teams, had to sprint the length of the pit lane and spend about 20 seconds wrestling with the now-totally stuck hose before Massa finally got away, his hopes of victory (and even some points) completely ruined.

Everyone else got through their stops without much incident, but with the confusing mix of illegal pitters, one stoppers who hadn't come in, and legal stoppers forced to wait behind the safety car, the race restarted with Rosberg leading from the one stopping pair of Trulli and Fisichella in the Force India, then the similarly penalised Kubica and Alonso, who was now coming into play in 5th. Crucially for Rosberg, he found himself in clear air for the five or so laps between being released and being forced to serve his penalty, and while the other naughty pitter Kubica was stuck behind Fisichella, Rosberg thumped in the lap times to extend enough of a lead to serve his penalty and still rejoin in fourth place, while Kubica dropped completely out of the running, his own slim championship hopes now well and truly ruined.

As the penalties were served, Trulli was elevated into the lead, from Alonso, who benefited from renewed pace once Fisichella pitted, then came Rosberg, Coulthard and Hamilton. Out of the mix by that point was Mark Webber, who had been promoted to dizzying heights after Red Bull's quick thinking in the pit stops, and looked to be on course for a morale-boosting podium once the field shook itself out. But the sight of the Red Bull running off the track at turn two precluded a mechanical breakdown for the Aussie, ending his hopes. Once again, on an afternoon when luck was handed out in spades by the gods of motorsport, Webber ended up very much at the back of the queue for that particular commodity.

For a time, it looked like we had a close fight between Trulli and Alonso for the win, but as the Italian made his only stop on lap 33, so he reverted to his early race roadblock form, and Alonso easily extended his lead in clear air, pitting and resuming in the lead, but only just. His tardiness through turn two blocked the then-second placed David Coulthard, which allowed Hamilton to pass the Scot into turn seven later in the lap, something he had been singularly unable to do for the previous dozen laps, and the McLaren man then emerged from his final stop in third, and set about hunting down Rosberg, who appeared to be a sitting duck on the less Nico-friendly harder tyre. DC, meanwhile, dropped out of contention for an unlikely second podium of the year with a botched pit stop of his own, and he resumed down behind the latest Trulli train.

Alonso led into the closing laps then, from Rosberg, Hamilton, Glock and Raikkonen, the Finn having run as high as 3rd in a long middle stint recovery drive. But the drama wasn't over, as a crash for Adrian Sutil in his Force India, possibly distracted by the sight of Felipe Massa recovering his Ferrari after a spin, brought the safety car back out, ruining Alonso's huge lead in the process. After a couple of slow laps while Sutil's car was recovered from the entrance to the mini-tunnel that runs under a grandstand, the field was released, with Alonso driving off into the distance again, as Rosberg defended from Hamilton and Glock did the same with Raikkonen. Despite a couple of early nibbles, the nerves of certain Rosberg fans were calmed as the Williams man extended a couple of car lengths over the Brit and maintained the lead, with Hamilton possibly having one eye on the championship and backing off appropriately.

If Hamilton eased off, then equally Raikkonen overstepped the limits of the track, and he ended in the wall at the high chicane after completely misjudging the "dangerous" kerbing while battling Glock. Another nil points adventure for the reigning champion, who has now scored a monumentally awful 22 points from the last 10 races, and remains without a race win since the Spanish GP back in April. His straw-clutching hopes of defending his crown are now gone.

With no safety car needed for Raikkonen's wreck, Alonso eased his way to the chequered flag, to the delight of the Renault mechanics and the Spaniard himself. His first podium appearance of 2008 was also his first win in 20 races, dating back to the Italian Grand Prix last year. Rosberg's second podium of the year similarly delighted the Williams team, and though he may wonder what might have been had it not been for his stop and go, he can also feel grateful he pitted when he did, given that emerging in the lead of the race gave him the clear track he needed to build up enough of a lead to all-but negate the effect of the drive through. Hamilton seemed slightly unimpressed with third place, but with Massa finishing well out of it, he boosted his championship lead to 7 points with 3 races remaining. He can now win the title by simply shadowing Massa home in the remaining three events, a sign that perhaps he should start planning his choke early this year.

Glock finished a creditable fourth for Toyota, ahead of Italian winner Vettel and Nick Heidfeld. The three of them had anonymous races, but probably won't be complaining. Coulthard recovered to 7th after his pit stop bodge, with Kazuki Nakajima bringing further cheer to Williams with a point in 8th. The Grove outfit were the only team to get both their cars into the points. Jenson Button ended just out of the points after promising practice pace failed to translate into much in the race itself, while Heikki Kovalainen trailed home in a horrible 10th place, prompting more questions about his abilities.

Much of the questions about Kovalainen this year have been swiftly answered with claims of bad luck, and again even here, it is true that after his good start and challenge on Kubica for 4th, he was nudged back into the midfield slightly unfairly, but nevertheless, after the first stops he was ahead of Raikkonen in the middle of the pack, yet by the end, as Raikkonen crashed out of 5th place, he remained out of the points, unable to capitalise in any way. A dodgy strategy and traffic issues screwing him over? Possibly, but as we reach the climax of the season, you'd still place a fair part of your mortgage on Kimi assisting Massa by beating Hamilton to the flag should the need arise. Can you say the same about Kovalainen beating Massa?

For this race though, many had pinned their hopes on the Singapore track to cause problems for Massa and Hamilton, and allow Kubica and Raikkonen to close up, but in the end, it is the outsiders who see their title hopes end here, and with three races to go, we now have a classic head-to-head scrap for the 2008 drivers championship. Massa may look the outsider, but Ferrari can reasonably expect to have the quicker car for at least two of the remaining tracks, so Hamilton may find himself having to play the percentage game he did here more than once if he wants his maiden title.

None of this will matter a jot to Alonso though, who has recovered his shattered reputation with a mesmeric drive, and boosted Renault's ambitions at the same time. What price a return to the front for this combination for 2009?

Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Hamilton 84pts, 2 Massa 77pts, 3 Kubica 64pts, 4 Raikkonen 57pts, 5 Heidfeld 56pts, 6 Kovalainen 51pts, 7 Alonso 38pts, 8 Vettel 27pts, 9 Trulli 26pts, 10 Glock, Webber 20pts, 12 Rosberg 17pts, 13 Piquet Jr 13pts, 14 Barrichello 11pts, 15 Nakajima 9pts, 16 Coulthard 8pts, 17 Bourdais 4pts, 18 Button 3pts.

Constructors Championship Standings -
1 McLaren - Mercedes 135pts, 2 Ferrari 134pts, 3 BMW Sauber 120pts, 4 Renault 51pts, 5 Toyota 46pts, 6 Toro Rosso - Ferrari 31pts, 7 Red Bull - Renault 28pts, 8 Williams - Toyota 26pts, 9 Honda 14pts.