Fernando Alonso converted pole into a grand chelem at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, holding off Sebastian Vettel by 0.293 seconds.
The 2010 Singapore Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 26 September 2010 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won from pole position, ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, and the result moved Alonso into second in the championship.
Fernando Alonso converted pole into victory at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix, holding off Sebastian Vettel over 61 laps around the Marina Bay Street Circuit. It was his fourth win of the season and kept Ferrari in the title fight at a point when several drivers still had a chance of the championship. The result reshaped the standings, and the race is still cited as one of Alonso's best.
Why was the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix important?
Held at Marina Bay on 26 September 2010, the race was the 15th round of the season and the third Singapore race to count towards the championship. Ferrari's Alonso took the chequered flag from pole, with Red Bull's pair behind him, and the result moved him into second place in the title table.
All five leading contenders could take the lead of the championship with a win, which made the race pivotal for the whole field.
A pole-to-flag grand chelem that kept Ferrari in the title fight and set up a four-point championship finish.
What was the championship situation going in?
Mark Webber led the drivers' standings with 187 points, ahead of Lewis Hamilton on 182 and Alonso on 166. Jenson Button was fourth on 165 and Vettel fifth on 163. In the constructors' table Red Bull led with 350 points, ahead of McLaren on 347 and Ferrari on 290.
Alonso faced a difficult weekend before it started. He had used his allocation of eight engines after the Italian Grand Prix, so a replacement would bring a ten-place grid penalty. Webber, by contrast, had two untouched engines in reserve. Alonso said he needed five podiums in the remaining five races, and he admitted his car was not the fastest in the field.
Hamilton, who had crashed out of the Italian race, said he would push hard and that he was going to Singapore to win. He saw Alonso as the favourite, and Button believed Alonso would have an extra advantage because his teammate Felipe Massa was out of the title race.
What changed at the Marina Bay circuit?
The circuit had been resurfaced between turns three and seven and turns thirteen to seventeen, after drivers complained about its bumpiness in 2009. The Sling chicane was reshaped into a gentler curve, and the wall at turn 21 moved closer to cover a drain. The pit lane was also resurfaced for a smoother rejoin.
Hamilton remained a vocal critic. He described the surface as dangerous because it stayed uneven, and he said the Sling was the worst corner he had driven in Formula One despite the changes. Organisers introduced a new machine to clean the track, after the dusty surface had caused problems the year before.
Drivers also raised concerns two days before the first practice session about low visibility from rain showers combined with the glare of the circuit lighting. Two driver changes were made for the event. Hispania replaced Sakon Yamamoto with reserve driver Christian Klien, while Sauber dropped Pedro de la Rosa for Nick Heidfeld, a Pirelli test driver who knew the Marina Bay and Yas Marina circuits. McLaren, Red Bull and Williams all revised their front wings, and Red Bull used a revised diffuser.
How did practice and qualifying go?
Alonso was fastest in the first and third qualifying sessions and took pole with a lap of 1:45.390. An engine mapping problem had limited him to one timed lap in the second session. Vettel was 0.067 seconds slower and felt he could have taken pole, because he misjudged a gap behind Schumacher.
Hamilton was third and Button fourth, with Webber fifth and Barrichello sixth. Rosberg and Schumacher took seventh and ninth for Mercedes, with Kubica in between them and Kobayashi tenth. Alguersuari was the fastest driver outside the final session in 11th.
Felipe Massa's gearbox seized during the first part of qualifying, and Ferrari replaced his engine and gearbox as a precaution. That was his ninth engine of the season, but he had already qualified last, so the ten-place penalty had no effect. Nico Hulkenberg took a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after Monza, which moved Petrov up to 12th.
Earlier in the weekend Vitaly Petrov had crashed in qualifying, while Vitantonio Liuzzi had front brake trouble. In practice Sutil's Force India had been launched by a kerb at the Sling and had broken its front-left suspension on landing, and Alonso had stalled in the second session after an off at turn 17.
How did the race unfold?
Alonso kept the lead into the first corner and withstood a challenge from Vettel. Button got ahead of Hamilton early, but Hamilton fought back to keep third. The early phase was broken by a crowded midfield. Heidfeld hit Sutil's rear at turn seven and damaged his front wing, and Liuzzi then clipped Heidfeld and damaged his own car.
Liuzzi retired on lap three after hitting the wall, which brought out the safety car. Red Bull told Webber to pit for medium tyres, and he moved up the order when racing resumed, passing Glock for tenth and then Kobayashi and Schumacher. Vettel and Alonso traded fastest laps, with Alonso leading by 3.2 seconds at lap 20 and Hamilton 11 seconds further back.
Hamilton's rear tyres deteriorated and he dropped off the leaders' pace. He made his first stop on lap 29 and emerged behind Webber. Alonso and Vettel pitted on the following lap, and Alonso kept the lead, although Vettel's pit crew were quicker and Vettel closed the gap on newer tyres.
On lap 31 Kobayashi attempted to pass Schumacher around the outside, and the two collided. Kobayashi crashed at the exit of turn 18 and Senna buried his Hispania into the barrier alongside him, which brought out a second safety car.
What happened in the closing laps?
The race restarted at the end of lap 35. Hamilton got a run on Webber, who was stuck behind Lucas di Grassi, and passed him on the Raffles Boulevard straight. Their wheels touched at turn seven. Hamilton's left-rear tyre was punctured and he retired for the second consecutive race, while Webber felt vibrations from his front-right tyre.
On lap 37 Schumacher ran into the back of Heidfeld, and the Mercedes limped back to the pit lane with its front wing dragging sparks, while Heidfeld hit a barrier and retired. Button was urged to push Webber, whose tyres were older, and Vettel gradually closed on Alonso. By lap 50 Vettel was within one second of the leader.
Kovalainen and Buemi made contact in the final sector, and Kovalainen's Lotus had a cracked fuel tank pressure release valve. As he limped towards the pit lane his car caught fire in the final corners, and he stopped on the main straight and put the fire out himself with an extinguisher from the Williams team. Because he was off the racing line, marshals waved yellow flags rather than deploying a safety car.
Vettel closed to two-tenths of a second on the final lap, but the yellow flags denied him a last chance to pass into the final corner. Alonso took the chequered flag on lap 61, 0.293 seconds ahead of Vettel.
What was the final result?
| Position | Driver | Team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Pole position and fastest lap |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 0.293 seconds behind |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1.2 seconds ahead of Button |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Fourth place |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Fifth place |
| 6 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | Sixth place |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | Renault | Seventh place |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Moved up after the Hulkenberg penalty |
| 9 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | Penalised 20 seconds post-race |
| Tenth | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams | Penalised 20 seconds post-race |
The result gave Alonso second place in the drivers' championship, 11 points behind Webber. Hamilton dropped to third, nine points behind Alonso, and Vettel rose to fourth ahead of Button. Red Bull extended its constructors' lead over McLaren to 24 points, with Ferrari a further 40 points behind McLaren in third.
How did the stewards and drivers react?
The stewards investigated the Webber and Hamilton collision and took no further action. Hamilton reviewed the incident on video and felt he was not at fault, saying he had been unlucky for a second consecutive race. Webber said the contact nearly forced him out, and Bridgestone's motorsport tyre development director said Webber had been very lucky to finish.
Sutil was given a 20-second penalty for gaining an advantage at turn seven on the first lap. Force India then protested against Hulkenberg, who was also penalised for corner-cutting. Force India withdrew its appeal of Sutil's penalty, and the Williams technical director accepted the stewards' judgement.
The stewards also decided that the Schumacher and Heidfeld accident was a racing incident. Heidfeld felt Schumacher had braked too late and hoped for a better finish, while Schumacher said he was unhappy with his first race in Singapore but had enjoyed the second half. Eddie Jordan was highly critical of Schumacher, but Mercedes principal Ross Brawn said the team was happy with his contribution. Kobayashi admitted fault for his crash with Senna, which the stewards did not penalise.
Why is the race still remembered?
Alonso's win is regarded as one of the best of his Formula One career. Martin Brundle described it as a race in which two drivers rose above the rest, and Will Saunders of crash.net said Alonso found another level that day. ESPN placed the win among Alonso's top ten races with Ferrari.
The championship was eventually decided in Vettel's favour by four points, and Saunders argued that Alonso would have been an equally deserving champion on the strength of his Singapore form. Kovalainen's fire was voted Moment of the Year by readers of Autosport in December 2010.
