Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has won an incident-packed 2012 Singapore Formula One Grand Prix under lights.
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton led the race from pole and appeared to be running away into the darkness, but a gearbox problem saw his car come to a halt on lap 23, handing the lead to Vettel.
From there, the Red Bull Racing pilot went untouched – including after two restarts after safety cars – to lead home Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button and points-leading Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.
Australian Mark Webber finished down in 10th position after opting to have a three-stop strategy. Only Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was able to finish in the top 10 (8th) after pitting three times.
Webber’s compatriot Daniel Ricciardo had a stellar race, finishing just ahead of the Red Bull driver in ninth to collect F1 points for just the third time in his F1 career.
Another career highlight came for Force India’s Paul Di Resta, finishing a personal best fourth.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg finished fifth. His teammate and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher failed to finish the race after braking way too late into a corner on lap 39, collecting Ricciardo’s teammate Jean Eric-Vergne on his way.
The results sees Vettel jump to second in the standings and shortening the gap to Alonso.
The next race on the F1 calendar is at Suzuka in Japan on October 7.
- Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault Winner
- Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +8.9 secs
- Fernando Alonso Ferrari +15.2 secs
- Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +19.0 secs
- Nico Rosberg Mercedes +34.7 secs
- Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault +35.7 secs
- Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +36.6 secs
- Felipe Massa Ferrari +42.8 secs
- Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari +45.8 secs
- Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault +47.1 secs
- Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +50.6 secs
- Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth +91.9 secs
- Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +97.1 secs
- Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +99.4 secs
- Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +107.9 secs
- Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth +132.8 secs
- Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +1 Lap
- Bruno Senna Williams-Renault +2 Lap
- Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault +2 Lap
Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari +21 Laps
Michael Schumacher Mercedes +21 Laps
Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +23 Laps
Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +29 Laps
Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +37 Laps
