Sebastian Vettel achieved his second successive victory at Marina Bay, benefitting from a non-finish from Lewis Hamilton to close down the championship points gap to Fernando Alonso.
This was Vettel’s second win of the season and Red Bull Racing’s thirty-first. The Milton Keynes-based team is now joint seventh in the all time Formula One records.
Jenson Button claimed second for McLaren, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso taking third place thereby maintaining his lead in the world championship.
Front-row starter Pastor Maldonado had to retire with hydraulic failure having battled with Alonso for the final podium spot.
Hamilton and Vettel ran in close company prior to the McLaren’s gearbox issue, although it seemed Lewis had this race under control.
Third-placed Button fell away at first, before regaining the lost ground as he got better tyre longevity than those ahead.
Vettel made his first pitstop two laps earlier than Hamilton, and though this initially looked costly as he dropped into time-consuming traffic, once he was in clear air his pace on fresh Pirellis was sufficient to make up all the time lost and keep him between the McLarens.
That position became the race lead on lap 22, when Hamilton was forced to stop the car with a gearbox failure.
Button then kept Vettel honest to the finish, with the race heading towards the two-hour limit.
The Red Bull driver stayed calm through two mid-race safety car periods: the first for Narain Karthikeyan sliding his HRT into the barriers at the tunnel entrance, and the second when Michael Schumacher smashes into Jean-Eric Vergne on the restart lap.
Those safety car periods resolved the third-place battle. When Maldonado, who had fallen from second to fourth at the start, pitted for a second time under the first caution, he rejoined tenth while Alonso stayed out and moved up to third.
That decision probably secured the place for Ferrari even before Williams ordered Maldonado to retire with a hydraulic problem before the green.
Paul di Resta kept the frontrunners in sight throughout to score an excellent fourth for Force India, outpacing fifth-placed Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes.
Lotus took sixth and seventh with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean on its least competitive weekend this season.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa picked up a puncture on lap one, yet fought back to secure eighth. Along the way, the Brazilian overtook Bruno Senna with an incredible move that saw him bounce off the Williams and the wall before arriving at Turn 13 completely sideways but in front.
The safety car timing hurt Mark Webber’s strategy, and the best he could manage was to battle through to tenth, right on Daniel Ricciardo’s tail.
And yet, hours after the chequered flag dropped, the race stewards have added a twenty-second penalty to Mark Webber’s race time for overtaking Kamui Kobayashi off-track. The Australian drops down to P11, with Sergio Perez promote up to tenth.
Among other incidents, Nico Hulkenberg clashed with both Saubers on consecutive laps late on, with Sergio Perez the only one involved to get away without having to pit for repairs.
Also notable was Timo Glock’s P12, which moved Marussia ahead of Caterham in the constructors’ standings.
The Singapore Grand Prix wasn’t the most exciting race this season. More like a procession but the end results means the championship is building up to a dramatic finale.
Sebastian Vettel’s victory at Singapore means he is now 29 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso. While Lewis Hamilton’s non-finish means he has dropped down to fourth, 52 points adrift.
Singapore Grand Prix, after 61 laps:
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2h00:26.144
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes +8.959
3. Alonso Ferrari +15.227
4. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +19.063
5. Rosberg Mercedes +34.759
6. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +35.700
7. Grosjean Lotus-Renault +36.600
8. Massa Ferrari +42.800
9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +45.800
10. Perez Sauber-Ferrari +50.600
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault +1m.07.100*
12. Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
16. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +1 lap
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +1 lap
18. Senna Williams-Renault +2 laps
19. Petrov Caterham-Renault +2 laps
Fastest lap: Hulkenberg, 1:51.033
*20-second penalty for going off track
Not classified/retirements:
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 41 laps
Schumacher Mercedes 41 laps
Maldonado Williams-Renault 41 laps
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 33 laps
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 25 laps
World Championship standings, round 14:
Drivers:
1. Alonso 194
2. Vettel 165
3. Raikkonen 149
4. Hamilton 142
5. Webber 132
6. Button 119
7. Rosberg 93
8. Grosjean 82
9. Perez 66
10. Massa 51
11. Di Resta 44
12. Schumacher 43
13. Kobayashi 35
14. Hulkenberg 31
15. Maldonado 29
16. Senna 25
17. Vergne 8
18. Ricciardo 6
Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault 297
2. McLaren-Mercedes 261
3. Ferrari 245
4. Lotus-Renault 231
5. Mercedes 136
6. Sauber-Ferrari 101
7. Force India-Mercedes 75
8. Williams-Renault 54
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14
Next race: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. October 5-7.