F1: Hamilton Cruises To Singapore Victory

Formula 1

F1: Hamilton Cruises To Singapore Victory

Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore GP finishing nearly 10 seconds ahead of Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso...

SPEED Staff | Posted September 27, 2009 Singapore (SGP)

Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix Sunday finishing nearly 10 seconds ahead of Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso.(Photo: LAT Photographic)

Two weeks after crashing out at Monza, Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix Sunday finishing nearly 10 seconds ahead of Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso.

It was the defending world champion’s second victory of the year.

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel kept his championship hopes alive after battling back from a mid-race penalty. Vettel was second for most of the first half of the race and was catching Hamilton, but when he came in for his first stop he was caught speeding on the pit lane and forced back in for a drive through penalty. He rejoined the fray in ninth, but was able to recover to finish fourth.

Current points leader Jenson Button followed up his second place finish at Monza with a fifth Sunday keeping his hopes for a world title very much alive. Button’s teammate and his closest pursuer Rubens Barrichello finished right behind him in sixth.

Heikki Kovalainen brought the second McLaren home seventh, Robert Kubica was eighth, Kazuki Nakajima ninth and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 10.

Nico Rosberg who started third lost his opportunity for a great race when he was penalized after crossing the white line on the pit exit and sent in for a drive through penalty. He finished 11th.

The story of the race for many was survival, as brakes became an issue on the tight Singapore street course.

The trouble began to surface when Mark Webber came in for his second pit stop and the team took 14.7 seconds, primarily to inspect his brakes. The engineers found pieces of broken brake rotor on the ground after he left and tried to warn their driver, but it wasn’t in time as shortly after Webber came back on the track he lost his brakes entirely, spun and slid into the wall ending his race. Worse yet for the Australian driver, he was eliminated from championship contention.

Both the Toro Rosso cars, using the same setup as Webber, retired shortly after with brake problems as well.

Hamilton retook the lead from Alonso when the Renault driver pitted on lap 51 and pulled away for his first win at Singapore and the 11th of his career.

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