SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX: Fantastic Fernando makes it 20

Fernando Alonso on the podium celebrating his first win in over a year

Over a year since his last Grand Prix Victury, Fernando Alonso celebrated his first win since his return to the Renault team and his 20th Grand Prix win overall bringing him level with the great double world champion, Finland's Mika Hakkinen.

THE RACE

Felipe Massa started the night on pole and judging by the margin of his pole position (0.6 seconds) everyone assumed Massa was fuelled very light for the first stint and as the race got underway, this looked to be the case as he opened up a 6 second lead over Lewis Hamilton at one point, further back in the field, Jarno Trulli's heavy fuel strategy was playing havoc with the 2 Williams Toyota's of Rosberg and Nakajima and also Alonso. But the whole complexion of the race was about to change on lap 14.

Nelson Piquet got it all wrong coming into the Marina complex and gave the surrounding walls an almighty thwack, the safety car was brought out, but before the call was made, Alonso and the 2 Red Bull's of Coulthard and Webber quickly made their pitstops, for Alonso, this move would prove crucial. Rosberg made his pitstop after the Safety Car was dispatched, this would mean he would get a penalty eventually but it would also mean he'd come out in the lead, and for him that would prove crucial as well. But it was the main gaggle of cars coming in for their stops that would mark THE main turning point. The 2 Ferrari's were forced to queue in the pitlane meaning Raikkonen would lose out heavily while waiting for the race leader Massa to complete his stop, but Massa's stop was packed with drama and calamity, the refuelling rig had become jammed in the car's nozzle bay and by total accident, the chief refueller knocked the little button on the side which switched their semi-automatic pit release system (Ferrari's hi-tech replacement for the lollipop) to turn Green therefore giving Massa the signal to go, which Massa did, taking the entire refuelling rig with him down the pit lane as it was still jammed. Oce all pitstops were completed, it took 5 Ferrari mechanics 2 minutes to run down the pitlane where Massa had stopped, remove the rig and get him going again, his race was shot to pieces.

Lewis Hamilton had no such problems and he popped up in 6th place behing Rosberg, Trulli & Fisichella (who both had'nt stopped) and the 3 drivers who legitimately stopped before the safety car (Alonso, Coulthard and Webber), as the safety car went in and the race restarted, Nico Rosberg (penalty pending) was given instruction by his team to put the hamemr down and go for it, and that he did, over the next 10 laps, while the rest of the field were held up by Trulli & Fisichella, Rosberg managed to open up a huge lead of 28 seconds before he had to come in for his 10 second stop & go penalty (Robert Kubica had the same punishment but he was well down.) Thanks to that charge, Rosberg came out behind Alonso but in front of the rest of the field in 2nd place, the risk had paid off.

Webber retired and Hamilton overtook Coulthard down into turn 7 a few laps later, and when Trulli made his one and only stop, Hamilton all of a sudden was in 3rd spot, on course for 6 priceless points, especially with Massa way way down in 13th (where he would eventually finish.) After the 2nd round of stops, the order remained the same, then Hamilton went on an almighty charge, reeling in Rosberg at almost a second a lap until a 2nd safety car period to recover Adrian Sutil's Force India car from the barrier. After that short Safety car, Hamilton went offensive on Rosberg, but then decided to hold station, thinking it was better to stay put and claim 6 points rather than risk everything and get nothing.

Like Kimi Raikkonen did who managed to haul his way up to 5th but with 4 laps to go, while trying to pressure the 4th placed Timo Glock, Raikkonen went in too hot at the chicane, jumped over the kerbs and slammed into the barrier, meaning no points for the reigning world champion. From then on, it was a prescession as Alonso cruised to a well deserved and much needed victory not only for him, but also for his Renault team as well ahead of Rosberg whose superb 10 laps more than merited his 2nd podium finish of the season, but the real winner of the weekend was Lewis Hamilton, who'se 3rd place earned him 6 points and an overall lead of 7 in the championship with just 3 races to go

DRIVERS STANDINGS:
1. Lewis Hamilton 84, 2. Felipe Massa 77, 3. Robert Kubica 64, 4. Kimi Raikkonen 57, 5. Nick Heidfeld 56, 6. Heikki Kovalainen 51, 7. Fernando Alonso 38, 8. Sebastian Vettel 27, 9. Jarno Trulli 26, =10. Timo Glock 20, =10. Mark Webber 20, 12. Nico Rosberg 17

CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS:
1. McLaren Mercedes 135, 2. Ferrari 134, 3. BMW Sauber 120, 4. Renault 51, 5. Toyota 46, 6. Toro Rosso Ferrari 31, 7. Red Bull Renault 28, 8. Williams Toyota 26, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India Ferrari 0