Vettel cruises to Singapore Grand Prix hat-trick

Red Bull driver moves 60 points clear of Ferrari’s Alonso.

SINGAPORE: Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel cruised to a third straight Singapore Grand Prix victory yesterday and moved 60 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso after a dominant drive under the floodlights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The German led from pole to flag to finish 32.6 seconds clear of Alonso and take another big step towards a fourth successive title with six races remaining.

Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off back pain to climb from 13th on the grid to third for Lotus in a challenging race that was held up by one decisive safety car period when Daniel Ricciardo crashed his Toro Rosso into the barriers on lap 26.

“Yes, yes, that’s what I call in control,” Vettel shouted over the team radio after chalking up his seventh win of the season and 33rd of his career in the heat of the Singapore night.

“The car felt absolutely fantastic. This is absolutely a team effort.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Vettel, who was again booed on the podium from some in the crowd below, had been in a league of his own after ‘one of his best ever drives’.

It was hard work: Vettel

It was also one of Vettel’s most dominant performances, even if the possibility of a safety car intervention was a concern.

“This is a long race and there are a lot of things that can go wrong so you can’t afford to lean back,” said Vettel. “At the end, I was just controlling the gap. It was hard work but we like it because it is one of the most challenging tracks.”

Vettel was challenged briefly by Nico Rosberg, who was second on the grid, on the run to the first turn but once he held off the Mercedes, he controlled the race. “The start was quite hairy, Nico had a better start but he went a bit too deep and I was able to recover.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2013.

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