PF1's Conclusions From Singapore

No Real Complaints From Red Bull
Third place after starting in fifth also amounted to bullet-dodging for the World Championship leader. His early pit-stop proved to be an inspired call and while Horner did his reputation as an objective viewer no good by declaring Hamilton to be entirely at blame for his collision with Webber, the Red Bull team principal earned his money this weekend by sticking to his guns even when the Aussie questioned the call to stop.

It was unfortunate, however, that Vettel pitted on the same lap as Alonso and was thus unable to display his full pace in clean air. Would a couple of laps free from Alonso's rear-wing have been sufficient for Vettel to get the jump? Maybe. In another role reversal from two weeks ago, Alonso only needed one clear lap in Monza to jump Button for the win.

In any case, Vettel is in no position to point the finger of blame given that his careless failure to select first gear at the stop cost him at least a second. The youngster continues to make hard work of a season that should have been far easier running.

Alonso Does It All By Himself
Then again, Vettel wouldn't have jumped Alonso even with the cleanest of clean get-away and Alonso probably wouldn't have been bothered if Vettel spent the final 30 laps just behind him rather than only the last three. Alonso has made a surprising number of mistakes this season but he looked utterly unperturbed and unflustered by the harassment of the Red Bull in Singapore. Combined with one of the outstanding qualifying laps of the campaign and the weekend added up to an outstanding display of driving by the Spaniard. At the decisive stage of the season, he is the man in form.

His prospects of winning the title would be greatly enhanced with a better set of results from his team-mate, however. Felipe Massa is the joker up Alonso's sleeve because he can be sure that the Brazilian will not be finishing ahead of him again this year. His only role in the remaining four (or three) races will be to take points off Alonso's rivals.

Mechanical failures wrecked Massa's weekend but it was difficult not to watch him big overtaken by Robert Kubica without wondering just how long it will be before the Pole takes his seat. The only ingredient missing in this year's title race is the absence of a second Ferrari.

The McLarens Need To Toughen Up
But there are unlikely to be too many complaints with the stewards' verdict that the collision was a racing accident, not least because on another day it would have been Webber's car, rather than Hamilton's, crippled by the clash.

A tangent in the debate is the mounting evidence suggesting that the McLaren is a brittle motor vehicle. Just look at its track history: Sebastian Vettel was able to continue in Belgium after putting an almighty hole in Jenson Button's Mclaren. In Italy, Hamilton's front suspension was wrecked by a brush with Felipe Massa's undamaged Ferrari. And in Singapore, with roles reserved and Webber in the position of Hamilton's McLaren in Monza, it was still the McLaren that retired while its rival carried on.

"We dodged a bullet," admitted Webber. McLaren, on the other hand, look vulnerable to a fatality every time they are in the firing line.

Star of the Race
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1st
In what was easily one of the drives of the season, Fernando Alonso, coupled with inspired/lucky guesswork strategy from his pitwall, clung on to an unexpected win at the Singapore GP.

The Spaniard resisted a mountain of pressure from Sebastian Vettel, and was error-free. He had won a fortnight before in Monza despite a few slip-ups at the start of the race. This time he was immaculate.

The one chink in his armour was going to be when he stopped for tyres and incredibly Ferrari managed to detect when Red Bull were about to make their pit-stop and react.

It was reminiscent of the races where he withstood immense pressure from Michael Schumacher, also in a faster car, and came out on top. It was a drive worthy of a World Champion, maybe a three-time World Champion.

Something that doesn't quite add up...
Were Ferrari listening to Red Bull's radio messages? When the BBC's Ted Kravitz asked the Ferrari team if they had been aware that Sebastian Vettel was about to stop they said no. They told the pitlane reporter that they were making the move to cover off the pit-stops of the McLaren pair of Button and Hamilton. That doesn't add up. At the time, Hamilton was over 20 seconds behind the lead Ferrari and after his pit-stop he was behind Webber.

Ferrari moved into the pitlane for Alonso's stop before Red Bull came out into the pitlane, Red Bull jumped a few seconds later. And Sebastian Vettel was so caught out by the identical timing that he almost muffed his getaway.

All that aside, for Ferrari to win at the lowest downforce circuit at Monza and then win at the highest downforce circuit in Singapore two weeks later is a remarkable achievement. No wonder Christian Horner has gone a shade paler.

Overtaking Moves of the Race
Laps 45 to 56: Robert Kubica, Renault moving from P13 to P7
For the first time, not one move, but a series of moves that carried Robert Kubica through from P13 to P7. Rejoining after a late-race puncture robbed him of sixth place Kubica opted for hard tyres when logic probably said he'd have been better off with the softer options. It didn't seem to matter. He set about overtaking P12 to P7 Adrian Sutil with the kind of controlled aggression that is a joy to watch. He probably overtook more people in 11 laps than Sebastian Vettel has all season.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2nd
Apparently Vettel wasn't going to be in P2 by the time we got to the first turn, it was going to be Lewis Hamilton. Ron told us. As it was, Vettel got a blinding start and almost snatched P1 off Alonso going into Turn 1. It was one of his best starts of the season. For the rest of the race he pushed when he could, but he came up against a resolute World Champion in top form.

He said after the race that he didn't dare risk overtaking Alonso, but there was hardly an opportunity from lights to flag.

Mark Webber, Red Bull, 3rd
And just when it was all going so well... Having criticised Mark Webber in the past for blundering into overtaking moves, his Monza performance looked to have shed that unhappy ghost. It was back in Singapore.

Following the restart after the second Safety Car he had been overtaken by Lewis Hamilton on the straight and was way off line going into the corner. Lewis passed him, left him room, and still he clattered into the back of him.

For those who thought it was a fair and sensible move (Brundle) where was his car going to go after he braked? He was behind Hamilton, he was on far too tight a line to make the corner alongside Hamilton, it was obvious he couldn't make the turn and avoid hitting the McLaren.

It was certainly a racing incident, but a racing incident the kind we see executed by rookies who haven't quite worked out what F1 is about. For competitors slugging it out for a World Championship it was a crazy move, because as Bridgestone showed after the race, his front tyre was hanging on the rim by 5mm. He was extraordinarily lucky to continue, let alone not lose a place. It smacked of desperation, of a man who realises this is his one and only shot at being World Champion.

Christian Klien, Hispania, DNF

Rare for an HRT driver to figure in the Winners, but in one race Klien has probably ended Bruno Senna's F1 career. For the Austrian to jump into a car he's never driven, at a circuit where there is very little margin for error, and qualify a second quicker than Senna is nothing short of amazing.

It both highlights Klien's ability and Senna's apparent lack of it. It doesn't cast a flattering shadow across Karun Chandhok's performances either. Surely Klien should be in a seat somewhere.

Singapore GP 2010

Fernando Alonso has the opportunity on Sunday to claim a Singapore GP victory in legitimate circumstances.

Two years ago Alonso won the inaugural race around the Marina Bay street circuit from 15th on the grid at a time when he was driving for Renault.

On that occasion there were critics who raised eyebrows when his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jnr's crash into a wall brought the safety car into play, which was ultimately the main contributory factor to the win.

A year ago that incident took on new meaning as the 'crashgate' scandal was in full swing, culminating in Flavio Briatore losing his job as team principal and the team being handed a two-year suspended ban.

Now with Ferrari, Alonso on Saturday won a qualifying shoot-out with Sebastian Vettel by beating the Red Bull star to pole position by 0.067 seconds.

It was Vettel who gently, and somewhat comically, reminded Alonso of his victory in 2008, making a point that tomorrow's showdown is still up in the air.

"It's a long race, nearly two hours, so it's very tough and a lot can happen," said Vettel.

"For sure it helps the further up you are on the grid, but the race can still change a couple of things.

"For instance, Fernando started here two years ago from..."

Turning to Alonso, the Spaniard solemnly replied: "Fifteenth."

With a cheeky smile, Vettel concluded his sentence by saying: "Fifteenth and he won the race."

Vettel admitted to a "pretty messy qualifying" which means he will start second for the second year in succession in Singapore.

2013: F1's chance to change the world

People may not like to admit it, but Formula One is in the midst of a serious financial crisis. Look down any grid and sponsor logos are dwindling like never before. The global economic downturn has hit hard, and it's not about to get any easier.

Title challengers McLaren have a blank rear wing for the first time in years, the Ferrari has never had as many red panels as it does now and Red Bull have struggled to get new partners on-board despite their success. In the midfield, Force India and Toro Rosso would be blank other than the support of their owners, while the Sauber is actually blank thanks to the unceremonious exit of BMW last year. Renault's car is covered with Genii partners' logos and Williams are set to lose two or three major sponsors by year's end. Then there's Virgin who are running to a budget of just €45m thanks to their CFD-only route, while Lotus and HRT are funded largely by their respective owners.

The sport has begun to act and safeguard its future though and in doing so is hoping to change the way all of us use our cars on a daily basis.

In 2013, Formula One will make a definitive step away from fuel-guzzling, high-revving, naturally aspirated V8 engines and move towards low-capacity, turbocharged, fuel efficient engines, making the sport more relevant to the layperson than it has ever been before, and making itself a hotbed of research and development for hybrid technology.

At the moment, teams have no limit on how much fuel they can pour through their engines over the course of a race weekend, although the ban on refuelling for this year has meant that more fuel efficient engines are advantageous during races. That won't be the case in 2013 however, as a fuel flow meter will limit the rate at which fuel can flow into the engine, while a fuel limit will cap the amount of fuel a car can start the race with.

"The big difference this time around is the amount of fuel that we can pour into the engine across the course of the race - it's going to be very, very restricted. That's where the big change is going to come. We've got to get a lot more out of less," says Cosworth CEO Tim Roustis.

"We're looking at numbers that are going to sit somewhere between 35% and 50% less than the amount of fuel that we're using today. For a car that's got to do fundamentally the same lap-time and the same sort of distance, it's a big change."

If the technological developments derived from the 2013 hybrid regulations succeeds in transferring to road cars in the future, the impact on reducing carbon emissions from the world's fleet of automobiles will be absolutely extraordinary. 2013 is Formula One's chance to change the world and it must succeed. The future of our great sport is at stake.

PF1 Monza

PF1 writes (after Monza '10)-

"Button Is The Year's Big Gainer

In terms of reputation and rating, Jenson has arguably advanced further this season than he did last term whilst winning the title in Brawn's artificial monster." :)

...and then-

"There is surely less credit due for winning the title courtesy of such a vast mechanical advantage than there is from his willingness to go head-to-head with Lewis Hamilton and still be standing toe-to-toe with McLaren's first son as the season reaches its climax. He has defied the majority of expectations and rightly described second place this weekend as a "great result".

Would he have been capable of standing up to Hamilton in general and Fernando Alonso specifically this weekend but for that title triumph? Surely not because Button has developed into a vastly stronger driver for his experiences last year, most palpably in his intelligence and maturity. Jenson is F1's Mr Cool. Even his inquiry of "why did they stop after us?" to the pitwall during this Sunday's race immediately after Alonso took his lead was framed with the prefix of "I'm just trying to understand..." He's as polite as he has been smart with strategy and set-up this season - the salient ingredients in his defeats of Hamilton in Monza, Australia and China. He's also savvy enough to always appreciate the big picture. "Do you know the standings?" he demanded of Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali in the moments before the podium celebrations. There isn't a driver in the 2010 field as clever and calculating as Button - and there might not have been in F1 since the retirement of Alain Prost almost twenty years ago.

Jenson isn't the fastest driver in the field - although he had to be very fast this weekend to split the two Ferraris - but if he were to retain his title then it would be a welcome victory for those under-appreciated sporting virtues of intelligence and class."

REST-

2010 Is A Vintage Year
The Championship of a lifetime? Five races remaining, five drivers within a solitary win of the lead. Just fabulous.

No Defence For Very Silly Hamilton

How silly was Lewis to have ditched the f-duct and selected the polar opposite set-up to Button? Very, because not only did it prove to be the slower option, with Jenson half-a-second faster in qualifying, but a golden rule when leading is to limit the number of variables and avoid risk whenever possible. Leave it to the challengers to take the risks.

How silly was Lewis was not to back off as the third car entering a chicane that can only accommodate two at a squeeze? Very, because not only did it result in his elimination from the race, but in gaining a place off the line he had already achieved his pre-race target of leapfrogging Mark Webber.

Small Damage Makes A Big Difference?
Given that Alonso was approximately a tenth of a second further up the road from Button when he rejoined the track after his pit-stop, it's certainly debatable whether the fractional difference in their performances was a result of their collision at the first corner. Martin Whitmarsh made light of the damage caused to Button's rear-wing by Alonso's bump but if it made two-tenths of a second difference over the first hour of the race then it was still the difference between first and second.

Fernando Wins The Race That Ferrari Might, Just Might, Have Wanted To Win Too Much
Justice was done, however, with Fernando securing victory. He was the lead driver throughout the weekend and his pace on Sunday thoroughly deserved first place. Even a faint criticism of a motor racing cathedral such as Monza reeks of disrespect, but it's cause for regret and modest entertainment that overtaking can only be achieved on such a power-imperative circuit with the sort of differential in straight-line speed that only very rarely exists between the top teams. Hence the frequency with which pole-sitters win in Italy and the difficulty Alonso had in usurping Button despite carrying so much additional pace.

Alonso's victory was especially impressive for the additional pressure that driving a red car in Italy also carries and the feeling that the weekend amounted to make-or-break for his title chances.

If there is a fly in the ointment then it is the nagging wonder to what extent Ferrari have focused their development work on their home race and if it was done to the detriment of the work required for the remaining grands prix. Singapore presents an entirely different test to Monza and team boss Domenicali was far from reassuring or forthcoming when asked directly after the race whether the team had an upgrade in the pipeline for the post-Europe leg of the season.

Red Bull Still Slow To Spread Their Wings
This column has said it before but it can't be a repeat when it gains in truth at every race: Red Bull's Achilles heel is in the alleged dubiousness of their front-wing design but their frequent struggles to get off the line. Webber didn't lose out to Vettel because Nico Hulkenberg was permitted to cut corners with impunity, he lost out on a comfortable fourth place because, once again, his clutch failed to engage when the lights went out.

Maybe.

Pete Gill