McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton made the most of crucial mistakes by his closest rivals yesterday to win the Singapore Grand Prix.
Germans Nico Rosberg in a Williams and Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel were both given drive-through penalties for pit lane infringements while lying second to allow Hamilton a comfortable victory.
German Timo Glock in a Toyota finished the night race on a street circuit second ahead of Fernando Alonso in a Renault.
Hamilton, who started from pole, won the start as Vettel dropped one place behind Rosberg on the first lap.
Vettel was the first to come into the pits, closely followed by Rosberg, who managed to come out ahead of his German compatriot, but crossed the white line in doing so and was given a drive-through penalty.
Worse was to follow for Rosberg as Force India’s Adrian Sutil collided with BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld as he was trying to pass the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari, bringing out the safety car.
Race stewards said they would investigate the incident, but for Rosberg, who had to take his drive-through at a time when all the cars were closely bunched together, the damage was done and he came out in 14th.
Up front, Hamilton and Vettel were keeping their distance from the chasing pack and Toyota’s Timo Glock, who had moved into third, was unable to close the gap.
Vettel, however, was penalized for speeding in the pit lane during his second stop and was also given a drive-through penalty, which pushed him down to fourth.
Behind Glock, Renault’s Fernando Alonso managed to stay in third place.
Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello, who lost five places on the starting grid after changing his gearbox, made an error of judgment when he decided to pit when the Red Bull of Mark Webber crashed and he expected the safety car to come out again.
It did not, however, and his teammate Jenson Button managed to come out ahead of the Brazilian after both had completed their final pit stop.
Button finished in fifth ahead of Barrichello and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen. The final points position went to the BMW of Robert Kubica.
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