F1: Alonso Prevails in Hectic Singaporean Grand Prix

Formula 1

F1: Alonso Prevails in Hectic Singaporean Grand Prix

Rosberg and Hamilton complete podium; pit blunder leaves Massa trailing by seven points in the championship.

Kevin Krefting | Posted September 28, 2008 Singapore

Alonso's first '08 win was Renault's first since 2006. (LAT Photo)

Fernando Alonso took his first win since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix, and Renault’s first since 2006, in the inaugural Singaporean GP, Formula 1’s maiden night race.

On an extremely hot and humid night in the Asian city-state, two safety car periods proved decisive to the outcome of the contest. Together with Alonso, Williams’ Nico Rosberg was the other great beneficiary, equalling his career-best result with a runner-up finish.

But just as jubilant as Alonso and Rosberg on the podium was McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who expanded his lead over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to seven points in the championship, the Brazilian being relegated to a 13th-place finish after a pit blunder dropped him to last, then cost him a drive-through penalty. Wrapping up a day to forget for Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen crashed out with four laps to go, allowing McLaren to move past in the constructor’s championship.

The race had an uneventful start, with polesitter Massa retaining his lead ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen, then BMW’s Robert Kubica, Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, Toyota’s Timo Glock, Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren – who dropped two spots on the first lap – and Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW.

Early on, the best action came from the pack led by Jarno Trulli’s Toyota. On a single-stop strategy, the Italian came under pressure from Rosberg, who moved past on the sixth lap, then succumbed to similar moves by Nakajima, then Alonso.

With the fuel hose still attached, Massa sees the rest of the field (and his victory chances) drive past. (LAT Photo)

All weekend long one of the fastest cars, Alonso’s race seemed compromised by the time lost in traffic in his first stint, which lasted for just 12 laps. Meanwhile up front, Massa had already built a 4.5-second lead over Hamilton, while Raikkonen was carding fastest lap after fastest lap to close in on the Brit.

Then, one lap later, the race was turned upside down. Renault’s Nelson Piquet crashed hard and brought out a safety car period. Red Bull’s Mark Webber and David Coulthard came in immediately, as did Honda’s Rubens Barrichello, Rosberg and Kubica. The first three managed to sneak in before the pit was closed, however, while Rosberg and Kubica ended up receiving 10-second stop-and-go penalties for refuelling after the closing of the pits.

Because of track positioning, Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen could only stop two laps later, when the pits were reopened. That meant the trio was already bound to lose several positions, but things turned sour for Massa when Ferrari released him before the fuel hose had been detached – the Scuderia is the only team in the paddock to use a lighting system instead of the old-school lollipop. Without a lollipop man to stop him on his tracks, the Brazilian ripped off the hose completely and had to stop at the end of the pits, where he waited for painstakingly long seconds until his mechanics could catch up and release the hose. That was already set to drop Massa to last, but the Brazilian suffered further with a drive-through penalty.

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