Singapore Grand Prix (2011) RESULT

Singapore Grand Prix 2011

Back to normal form for the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix with Vettel on pole and Webber in second. Can Vettel close out the world championship title?

Why does the Singapore Grand Prix, which is brilliantly put together and looks stunning, always seem to disappoint?

You’d expect it to be an Eastern version of Monaco – run as it is on a street circuit – but it still seems to lack any real character. Maybe it’s just us?

Perhaps the fact that Sebastian Vettel was on pole and got away cleanly – never looking back – made it just too predictable to be a real joy, but there was plenty going on.

Hamilton, starting fourth on the grid, lost ground at the start as he backed-off to avoid Webber, who was slow away. He ended up in eighth but fought his way back only for it to end in tears – as it has so many times this season – when he attempted an impossible pass on Massa at turn seven, putting them both in the pits for repairs.

Hamilton then got a drive-through penalty for his shoddy manoeuvre, coming back in to the fray in fifteenth. His comment on the pit radio at this point, ‘Please tell me how I’m doing. What am I racing for?’ was unworthy of a world champion, but perhaps shows how lost Hamilton is. Time to take the old man back, perhaps?

Button, in contrast, drove a mature and calculated race, managing to keep Webber – who twice passed Alonso for third place after his poor start – at a safe distance. But towards the end he was closing fast on Vettel at the front, although it’s probably fair to assume Vettel could have turned up the wick a bit if he needed to. But he didn’t need to. He ended the race with another imperious victory, with Jenson doing the best anyone could expect with a very solid second place.

That result, with Hamilton recovering to fifth, Alonso in a disappointing fourth and rookie Paul di Resta in a quite brilliant – and career best – sixth place, left Vettel technically one point short of a guaranteed world championship. But really, the game is over for this year.

As it seems to have been almost since the start of the season.