Singapore GP 2012: Vettel inherits win after Hamilton's gearbox failure

Sebastian Vettel won the Singapore GP for Red Bull at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on 23 September 2012. Jenson Button finished second for McLaren, 8.9 seconds behind, with Fernando Alonso third for Ferrari. The night race was decided by a gearbox failure on the McLaren of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton, who had been leading comfortably until then. After two Safety Car periods the two-hour limit was reached, so the chequered flag came out after 59 of the scheduled 61 laps.

Hamilton converted his pole position cleanly through the first corner. Behind him, Pastor Maldonado could not hold on from grid position 2 in the Williams: Vettel passed him at Turn 1, and Button followed suit. Alonso made a poor getaway and briefly dropped behind Paul di Resta in the Force India. He reclaimed 5th place at Turn 5.

Vettel initially stayed around two seconds behind Hamilton. When his tyres began to fade, he came in for his first stop on lap 10. Hamilton followed on lap 12. Button ran longer and briefly led from lap 12 to 14, before he too pitted and rejoined behind Vettel. From lap 15 Hamilton was back in front. Mark Webber had been the first of the leading group to pit, as early as lap 8, in search of clean air. He stopped three times in total.

Hamilton soon reported problems with upshifts over the radio. On lap 23 his McLaren would no longer engage a gear and he coasted to a halt in the run-off area at Turn 5. He was classified with 22 laps. According to team principal Martin Whitmarsh, the fault only appeared during the race. He did not see a light brush with the wall in qualifying as the cause: “Lewis brushed the wall but it was very light.” (RaceFans)

From lap 23 Vettel was in front and never gave up the lead again. According to grandprix.com, it was Hamilton's fourth race without points in seven starts, at a time when he had been hoping to close the gap to Alonso.

After 30 laps Narain Karthikeyan hit the wall at Turn 18 in the HRT, bringing out the first Safety Car. The period dragged on because three lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves. Vettel and Button used the neutralisation on lap 33 for their second and final stop. Maldonado had long held a podium position, fending off Alonso hard in the process. After his stops on laps 29 and 33, however, he had to retire with a hydraulics failure and was classified with 36 laps.

Shortly after the restart, Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes ran into the back of Jean-Éric Vergne's Toro Rosso at Turn 14. Both retired after 38 laps, prompting the second Safety Car. Schumacher admitted his mistake to the stewards. He was handed a ten-place grid penalty for the Japanese GP. The stewards judged the crash to be his second similar offence of the season. In Barcelona, Schumacher had already run into the back of Bruno Senna.

At the end of the first Safety Car period, Button had almost run into Vettel when the Red Bull driver braked suddenly in front of him. The stewards looked at the incident after the race. Vettel kept his win and the 25 points.

• Paul di Resta: 4th place was the best result of his Formula 1 career. He finished less than four seconds behind Alonso and kept Nico Rosberg behind him, who climbed from grid position 10 to 5th.
• Lotus: Kimi Räikkönen went from grid position 12 to 6th (+6). His team-mate Romain Grosjean had let him through on Lotus orders. Räikkönen could not find a way past Rosberg.
• Felipe Massa: On the first lap Felipe Massa made contact with Vitaly Petrov's Caterham and picked up a puncture. Both had to pit straight away. With a long final stint on the supersofts, Massa still came through to 8th place, passing Senna on the way into Turn 13 along the way.
• Daniel Ricciardo: Daniel Ricciardo climbed from grid position 15 to 9th (+6) and kept Webber behind him in the closing laps.
• Mark Webber: The Red Bull driver crossed the line tenth on the road. He was then hit with 20 seconds after the race because he had all four wheels off the track while overtaking Kamui Kobayashi. That dropped him to 11th place, and Sergio Pérez inherited the final point for Sauber.
• Timo Glock: The German gained the most places in the Marussia. He went from grid position 20 to 12th (+8), benefiting from the retirements ahead of him.
• Nico Hülkenberg: Nico Hülkenberg set the fastest lap with a 1:51.033. After contact with both Saubers and a puncture, however, he had to settle for 14th place.
• Bruno Senna: Senna had made his way well up the order from grid position 22. Shortly before the end his Williams lost power and he parked it. The team suspected a KERS problem. Having completed 57 laps, he was still classified 18th.

It was Vettel's second win of the season and his second in a row at Marina Bay. He dedicated it to race doctor Professor Sid Watkins, who had died shortly before. In the 2012 standings, Vettel jumped from 4th to 2nd place on 165 points. Alonso stayed in front on 194 points, but his lead had shrunk to 29 points. Behind them came Räikkönen on 149 points and Hamilton, who lost two places through his retirement and was now only fourth on 142 points, 52 points behind the Spaniard. Webber had 132 points, Button 119.

In the constructors' championship, Red Bull extended their lead to 297 points, ahead of McLaren on 261, Ferrari on 245 and Lotus on 231 points. With six races to go, the title race was wide open again. In Singapore the Red Bull had shown it was a race winner once more. Alonso, meanwhile, kept collecting points reliably in the not-quite-as-quick Ferrari.