Ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, we look back to the 2010 race around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Ferrari were at both ends of the grid. Title contender Fernando Alonso started from pole with the other four title rivals behind – Vettel, Hamilton, Button and Webber. Barrichello was a strong sixth for Williams, with Mercedes duo Rosberg and Schumacher split by Robert Kubica’s Renault. Kamui Kobayashi rounded out the top 10 for Sauber. Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa would start 24th and last after his car broke down in Q1 without setting a lap time.
The five lights went out, with the pack mostly getting away in grid order. Barrichello dropped behind Kubica and Rosberg in the first few turns, with Felipe Massa getting ahead the HRT’s and the pit lane-starting Jaime Alguersuari. Vitaly Petrov worked his way up into the top 10.
Massa pitted at the end of the first lap for prime tyres, which would allow him to work his way up the field when the rest eventually made their stops.
Alonso had pulled out a 9 tenths lead over Vettel, but the gap was neutralised when the Safety Car was deployed to allow the safe recovery of Liuzzi’s damaged Force India at the exit of the Singapore sling.
Most of the field used this as an opportunity to pit, including championship leader Mark Webber. He came out behind the Virgin of Timo Glock. The German did not stop, meaning he was running in a surprise 10th place.
It didn’t take long for the Red Bull driver to pass Glock.
A couple of laps later, the Australian then set his sights on Kamui Kobayashi. Webber ran wide at the exit of turn five after diving down the inside, giving the Japanese a chance of fighting back down Raffles Boulevard. Webber blocked the inside line and maintained the position.
Raffles Boulevard was the place to be for action. On lap eleven, Webber pulled off a brave move round the outside of turn six on Michael Schumacher, making the place stick into turn seven.
Mark was pushing hard in a bid to close up on Rubens Barrichello, almost sliding into the barrier under braking for turn eighteen.
Webber’s push was worth it. Hamilton pitted on lap 29 and came out well behind the Australian.
It was the battle of the pit crews a lap later as the two leaders followed each other in. Slick stops by Ferrari and Red Bull maintained the order, but Vettel almost went into anti-stall mode when pulling away.
Webber almost hit the wall at turn 18 on lap eleven, Kamui Kobayashi was not as fortunate on lap 32. His Sauber went into the tyre barrier and was soon joined by Bruno Senna’s HRT, with the Brazilian caught out by the sticking out car. The Safety Car came out for a second time.
The restart on lap 36 saw Webber and Hamilton fight through the traffic The Aussie was held up by Lucas di Grassi, giving Hamilton a chance to pass down the inside of Raffles Boulevard. They came to blows at the next corner, with the McLaren driver shutting the door too soon. The Brit was out with suspension damage, his second retirement in a row.
Kubica pulled the move off more successfully on Adrian Sutil as he stormed through the field in the closing stages, passing Massa and Hulkenberg beforehand.
Alonso, though, did not come under any real pressure from Vettel behind. He took the chequered flag after leading from start to finish, as well as setting the fastest lap. Webber retained the championship lead with third place, with Button keeping his back to back title hopes alive in fourth. Rosberg, Barrichello and Kubica rounded out the top seven. Massa was promoted to eighth place after Sutil and Hulkenberg picked up 20 second time penalties for gaining an unfair advantage.
Webber retained the championship lead, with Alonso now 11 points behind in second place. Vettel was only 1 point behind Hamilton, with Jenson Button maintaining an outside chance of defending his title.
