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Vettel Domiates In Singapore; Extends Championship Lead

SINGAPORE- It
might have been tough to race at night with high temperatures and a threat from
a safety car, but Sebastian Vettel overtook all of this, and won the Grand Prix
of Singapore Sunday evening from start to finish, dominating by finishing 33
and a half seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, while Kimi Raikkonen, who started
in 13th place, edged his way up to finish a well-earned third.

“The start
was quite hairy”, stated Vettel afterwards, but fortunately Nico (Rosberg) went
wide and I was able to get around him. We seemed to come back soon as the race
restarted, and it was great that the race was a long race and it can get really
close. It really helped because we were on because we had more rubber.”

After the
start, Rosberg going down the straight after the lights went out was the only
threat for Vettel all night, as the German began to pull away by 1.9 seconds at
the end of the first lap. By the next few laps, Vettel increased his lead even
further, to a 7.1 lead at the conclusion of the 11th lap. By the
time the world champion came in for his first pit stop, he was an amazing 33
seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

Daniel
Riccardo was the first casualty of the race as the Toro Rosso driver slammed
his car into the wall on lap 25, bringing out the first and only safety car
period of the race. The race resumed a few laps later, but even with the field
bunched up, Vettel continued to have a good start and proceeded to stay way out
in front.

Even while
staying in a comfortable fourth place, Romain Grosjean suddenly developed a air
pressure problem and came into the pits on lap 35. It cost him many places and
by the time the Frenchman came back out onto the circuit, he was down in 21st position, retiring a few laps later.

Vettel lead
by 30.6 seconds when he arrived for his second and final stop of the race. While
Vettel came out with a seven second lead, others were beginning to move around for
position. Alonso was easily in second position, but Raikkonen had to pass
Button late to grab the last podium spot, while two more retirements came in
the last few laps when Paul Di Resta crashed his Force India entry, and Mark
Webber encountered engine trouble on the very last lap finishing in 15th.
Vettel crossed the finish line with a 33.5 second gap over Alonso, and took his
seventh win of the season and his 33rd of his career.

The Mercedes
pair of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth, respectively,
while Felipe Massa took an impressive sixth in his Ferrari. Another pair of
drivers from the another team, this time from McLaren, Jenson Button and Sergio
Perez, finished eighth and ninth, while Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil,
rounded out the final point positions.

Vettel was
modest after the race, realizing that his team was what made him win and not just
himself. The German now is on track for his fourth world title, leading Alonso
by 60 points in the world championship and commenting about the venue where he
just won by simply saying only a few words.

“It is a
great place.”

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