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Another race and another all-so-familiar result in last weekend’s Singapore GP. Sebastian Vettel won the Singapore GP as if it was a walk in the park for him. The German cruised along even after the safety car intervention mid-way during the race with a 32-second margin over second place Fernando Alonso in Ferrari.
Such was the dominance of Vettel that if required, he could have been in the pits for a fresh pair of tyres and yet come out and lead the pack. If Vettel’s victory was a déjà vu, the crowd booing at the podium celebrations was a familiar sight as well.
It was a cat and mouse game behind Vettel. A pile of cars were running close to each other before and after the safety car came out. That changed a few fortunes and Kimi ‘Iceman’ Raikkonen was the biggest gainer seeing the Chequered flag in third place after starting thirteenth on the grid.
Nico Rosberg in the Mercdes lost his chances of a podium finish after the safety car went out and could manage a fourth place after starting second on the grid.
Here is a look at the 5 talking points of the Singapore GP.
Sensational Kimi
Kimi Raikkonen got into the act again after two disappointing races to finish third ahead of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. The Flying Finn had to undergo physiotherapy sessions before the race (for a back problem that caused a disappointing qualifying) and finally managed to reach the podium fighting his way up the order.
The safety car did its bit to help the Finn but it was a special drive from the Iceman. He was the first to pit and that helped him put in a few fast laps before his final pit-stop amid the safety car intervention on lap 26. He then chased down Jenson Button in the Mclaren on lap 56 to take his sixth podium finish of the season.
Safety Car lights up the track again
The Safety Car was out once again at the Marina Bay Circuit
The safety car jinx continued at the Marina Bay circuit thanks to Daniel Ricciardo crashing into the barriers at Turn 18 on lap 25. The young Aussie locked up the left-from tyre of the Toro Rosso and completely missed the apex before stalling his car in the middle of the track, causing frantic yellow flags from the marshals and forcing the blinking Mercedes Safety Car to pull-out on the streets of Singapore once again.
The car helped change a few fortunes around that saw Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso move up the order thanks to a quick dash into the pits that saw both of them survive till the end of the race.
Curious Case of Romain Grosjean
Romain Grosjean was unlucky to retire with an engine air leak problem in the Lotus
Romain Grosjean with a podium in sight had to retire from the race after his engine had problems with air leakage. It was sheer disappointment for the Frenchman after a fine qualifying lap to start third on the grid.
Despite manual attempts by the team to work on the problem, Grosjean was just left with questions to ask on the radio: “What’s wrong with this car?” with a tone of sheer frustration and disappointment in his voice. To add salt to the wounds, the team was fined as one of the team engineers who was trying to fix the air leak during the pit-stop was allowed to do so without the mandatory head protective gear.
Keep it on track, Paul
Paul Di Resta retired from the race for a third consecutive time
Paul Di Resta’s sad run continued with a third straight retirement after a promising race that could have seen him potentially finish sixth. The Scot was able to keep Fernando Alonso behind him for almost 5 laps before his late first pit-stop. The safety car helped Di Resta move into sixth place and get home some much-needed points for himself and Force India, before he missed Turn 7 completely and went straight on to hit the barriers.
The Force India stalled off the track on the side road that helped the safety car stay away. His teammate Adrian Sutil was lucky to finish with one point after Mark Webber retired with an engine problem on the final lap handing the German tenth place..
Lift leads to Penalty
Fernando Alonso gives Mark Webber a lift to the pit lane on his Ferrari
If Mark Webber was ruing the chances of a prospective podium finish with engine problems forcing him to retire a lap before the Chequered Flag, the veteran Aussie had the stewards give him a penalty for taking a lift-up back to the garage from Fernando Alonso after his Red-Bull had burst into flames.
While most people found it bizarre with Alonso pulling out a friendly gesture of offering a lift, the manner in which Webber and Alonso had pulled off the lift is what got the stewards to slap the penalty.
Alonso stopped the car for Webber on the slowing off lap in the middle of the track that saw the two Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton take evasive action to avoid hitting Webber and the Ferrari. Webber, who had walked across on the track to climb-on the sidepod of the Ferrari, had risked himself by walking on the track without asking the marshals the permission for a lift. With this being Webber’s third reprimand of the season, he was awarded a ten-place grid penalty for the next race in South Korea.
