Vettel clinches Singaporean Grand Prix

Red Bull driver on brink of becoming youngest double world champion.

SINGAPORE:

Sebastian Vettel demonstrated his vast supremacy when he won the Singapore Grand Prix to move within a point of becoming the youngest double world champion in Formula One history.

The 24-year-old German, the defending champion and runaway leader of this year’s one-man title race, drove from pole position to the chequered flag in flawless style in his Red Bull car. He won the floodlit 61-lap night race at the Marina Bay street circuit by a controlled 1.7 seconds.

Briton Jenson Button finished second in his McLaren to keep the title race just about alive with five races remaining. Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull finished third.

Vettel now requires a solitary point to claim his second title in succession and can only be beaten to the crown if Button wins all the remaining races while the German fails to score a further point.

With the Japanese Grand Prix next month, there is every chance the peerless Vettel will seal his triumph at the Suzuka circuit.

“Obviously I am very pleased with the result,” said Vettel. “The car was great for me all the way through.

“I was in control at the end and it is a great feeling to win this race. I love the track here and it’s such a challenge.”

Button revealed his frustrations with slower rivals on the Singapore circuit, which is notoriously hard to overtake on.

“I can understand that it’s difficult to move over here and most people are fighting out there, but the backmarkers have got to respect that the cars that are lapping are doing so for a reason,” said the Briton, who became world champion in 2009.

Two-time world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who needed to finish on the podium to keep his own challenge for the drivers’ title alive, came home fourth ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton in the second McLaren.

Another Briton, Paul Di Resta, came home sixth for Force India, his best result to date in his rookie season in Formula One, ahead of Germans Nico Rosberg in seventh for Mercedes and Adrian Sutil in the second Force India.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who was the victim of a collision with Hamilton in the early stages of an incident-filled contest, came home ninth.

Mexican Sergio Perez, whose collision with Michael Schumacher saw the German eliminated from the race, finished 10th.

Vettel, from his 11th pole position, pulled clear with apparent ease to take control early on, leaving the rest to scrap for places in a flurry of action into Turn One, Sheares Corner.

He stretched his lead to 20 seconds by lap 30, when the race was red-flagged for the first time after Schumacher ran into the rear of Perez’s Sauber car and made an airborne collision with the barriers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th,  2011.