Classic Singapore GP: Revisiting Fernando Alonso's Controversial Win In Inaugural F1 Night Race

The Pack Gets Shuffled

Felipe Massa's fuel hose was still attached to the car when he left the pits, dropping him and Raikkonen down the order

The leaders came in for their first stops but this would prove disastrous for Ferrari. Massa's fuel hose didn't come out when it was meant to and the Brazilian flew off with it still attached, knocking one of his mechanics over in the process. Both he and Raikkonen, who was queueing behind, were severely held up as a result. Massa especially, as he was now last due to it taking an excruciatingly long time to get him going again. Lewis Hamilton lost out too, emerging from the pits in eighth, such was the chaos caused by Piquet's crash.

At the restart, Nico Rosberg now led the race, Jarno Trulli was in second, Giancarlo Fisichella was up to third despite starting at the back and Robert Kubica somehow remained in fourth. That wouldn't last too long though, because both Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica made their earlier stops when the pit-lane was closed as they were running on fumes, which would later see both given a ten second stop/go penalty.

Despite there being no question they had broken the rules, the stewards took their time handing out the penalties, which allowed Rosberg to bolt and create such a large gap to the rest of the pack that he re-emerged in fourth place. Kubica wasn't so lucky though, as he was held up behind Fisichella's Force India and was down at the back after his penalty. Felipe Massa had to endure more punishment, also being given a drive-through penalty for one of the most obvious unsafe releases in history, and joined Kubica at the tail of the field.

At the halfway stage of the 61 lap race, Trulli was leading but still hadn't made his one and only stop. When he did go into the pits on Lap 34, Fernando Alonso inherited the lead and had a battle with Rosberg for the win. Alonso though was showing exactly why he is a double world champion, incredible consistency. Fernando relentlessly pulled away from Rosberg, despite his uncompetitive Renault.