Fernando Alonso won the Safety Car lottery, Nico Rosberg got the bonus ball, but over at Ferrari, nobody's taking Luca Montezemolo's calls.
STAR OF THE RACE
Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota, 2nd
Nico Rosberg probably didn't think he was going to get much out of the Singapore GP back on Lap 15 when he was lurking back in 8th place and about to come in for fuel and incur an automatic Stop/Go penalty
It's largely thanks to the inaction of the stewards that he got his opportunity to score some points because what should have been a routine penalty suddenly became extraordinarily difficult (and long-winded) to rule on. But more of that later. Once given his opportunity he took it in both hands, hammered round in the lead, which gave himself a huge chance. Vitally, he rejoined in front of DC and Lewis after his penalty and held on to the position to the end.
Despite the carefully-applied pressure of Lewis coming into his mirrors in the braking for Turn 7 he made no mistake and got the result of his career. Ron Dennis will not begrudge his old friend Frank Williams the points on a day when the wheels came off the Ferrari team.
OVERTAKING MOVE OF THE RACE
Lap 42 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren on David Coulthard, Turn 7.
Though other people made great moves into Turn 7 there was none with so much risk attached as when Lewis did it to Coulthard's Red Bull. What's more, no-one else decided to turn into the overtaker in the braking zone apart from DC. One of the cardinal rules of GP drivers is that they can change position down a straight to protect their line, but once on the brakes they can't do it. In his bid to protect what could have been a podium position DC started to edge across and there was almost contact between the two. Hamilton stayed true to his course and took the corner.
It was a fantastic race from Hamilton in what looked like a very nervous and twitchy McLaren running at the limits of adhesion. If you compare Hamilton's times to Kovalainen's you can see how good.
After the final pit-stop there was a time when Lewis set a purple middle sector, but decided, wisely, that his record on the softer Bridgestone wasn't up to much more than collecting punctures and though he was never more than a second away from Rosberg after the second Safety Car, six points were better than none.
WINNERS
Fernando Alonso, Renault, 1st
It just goes to show that good things come to those who can do a Basil Fawlty impression. Alonso was the big beneficiary of the Safety Car lottery, but what was quite clear was that he had a car that, on performance, deserved to come first. This was no Nelson Piquet at Hockenheim lucking into a place he didn't look capable of achieving on his own.
A fuel line failure in qualifying had left Alonso mimicking the moment when Basil's Austin 1100 broke down. Fernando chose not to thrash his Renault with a branch, but if he could have found one he would have.
He was also slightly fortunate to escape a penalty on the opening lap. Replays showed that he gained a speed advantage by cutting the chicane and not funnelling through the turn with Jenson Button. In the normal scope of things, most people wouldn't have bothered replaying the tape from Turn 1, but post-Spa - and after everyone in the pitlane tutted their disapproval that Lewis could do such a dastardly thing as gain a speed advantage - all eyes are on chicane cutting now. As it is, the variable logic that drives F1 decision-making prevailed and the move was passed over.
On the balance of things Alonso didn't gain all that much, but it would have been good PR for the stewards to look at it, if only to exonerate him and show the world they were awake. The last thing we need after another great race is another decision reversed. Spa was bad enough, but in the wake of all the self-congratulation over Singapore, F1 doesn't need the wrong kind of headline.
Singapore GP Lighting
A big PF1 hats off to the Italian company who installed the lighting system. To be honest, F1's first night race didn't look so different to the American night races, but the whole thing worked without a hitch, unlike some of the track elements (Pitlane entry and Turn 10).
Timo Glock, Toyota, 4th
I wanted to see what shape Timo Glock was in as he stepped out of the car, because team-mate Jarno Trulli looked like he'd been locked in a sauna with his kit on when he finally retired his machine. Glock did amazingly well to outqualify Jarno Trulli on Trulli's kind of circuit and produced a move on Heikki Kovalainen on Lap 1 (retaking him into Turn 8) that was outstanding. Anyone who drove the 61 laps x 23 corners without making a serious mistake deserves a lot of respect.
Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso, 5th
This would have been classed as a mega result for STR if we hadn't had Monza the race before. Vettel kept it all together and made progress in the hurly burly of the opening lap - something he's often cocked up in the past. We now have six big talents in F1: Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica and Vettel.
Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber, 6th
Hamilton, like Piquet benefited from a trip over the opening chicane. He'll be pleased to have beaten the increasingly-surly Robert Kubica, but Kubica's demise was more down to bad timing than bad driving.
David Coulthard, Red Bull, 7th
DC managed to keep his car in front of Lewis Hamilton for longer than expected. He was the beneficiary of some lightning thinking and good timing from Red Bull to get their cars in before the Safety Car was deployed
Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 8th
The fact that Nakajima kept his car on the island and drove confidently for his single point bodes well for his 2009 seat.
LOSERS
Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 13th
On Saturday he took P1 with what could easily be the qualifying lap of the year. Riding on board with Felipe Massa his pole time looked effortless and Sunday proved that he had virtually the same level of fuel as Raikkonen and Hamilton. So, an immense achievement on Saturday. The second he responded to the green light that told him it was clear to leave the pits on Sunday his race was over. And none of it his fault.
After that he lost heart and it looked like he wasn't really trying. When he got caught out by Trulli's limping Toyota he spun his car weakly. It looked like a different driver. In fact it looked like the driver that gave up at Silverstone which doesn't bode so well for his focus at the next couple of GPs. Forza Felipe!
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, DNF
Before the first Safety Car Raikkonen looked in ominous form. We've seen it so many times this season that he takes five or six laps to get up to speed and then - wham! Kimi was closing in on Hamilton before Piquet stuffed it into the wall and without the Safety Car we could easily have had a Ferrari 1-2 in Singapore. Raikkonen's late race accident looked like a fatigue-induced crash. To be honest I wouldn't want to be present at the post-race debrief with Luca Montezemolo on Monday.
FIA Race Stewards
The problem with so much focus on controversial decisions is that everyone waits for the next example to rear its head and see how the latest set of race stewards react. In Singapore they should probably have announced they were looking at Heidfeld, Alonso and Piquet for cutting the chicane if only to give them the benefit of the doubt.
With Felipe Massa's unsafe release, it was no different to Valencia (no penalty) or in the Spa GP2 race with Bruno Senna (penalty). It was the right decision, but bizarrely happened after Rosberg and Kubica had entered a closed pitlane to incur an automatic stop/go. They then announced they were looking at Massa's more complex incident that happened after these two very easy penalty calls. Their delay allowed Rosberg to sprint away and make light of the eventual penalty.
On the balance of things not too bad - but considering the massive unspeakably expensive investment in the track and the lighting system, it's remarkable that so little time is invested in making the decision-making process uniform and comprehensible.
Jarno Trulli, Toyota, DNF
Trulli had wrestled the lumbering Toyota round the track heroically until his gearbox failed.What his Bridgestone softs would have looked like after 28 laps is an academic point, probably as bad as he looked in the garage.
Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 10th
Though he was in good company at the back, Kovalainen should have been able to keep his McLaren ahead of Jenson Button's tortoise-like Honda at the very least.
Robert Kubica, BMW, 11th
In qualifying we got snippets of a really grumpy Robert Kubica telling off his engineer for putting negative thoughts into his head before he went out. The engineer, on the radio, had asked Robert to report back if he touched the wall - the implication being that at previous circuits he had touched the wall but failed to tell the team. He won't be doing that again. In the race Kubica gave Kovalainen a decisive thump that put the McLaren back three places, but he lost out for having an aggressive early-stopping strategy.
Rubens Barrichello, Honda, DNF
The first time Singapore GP fans will be thinking - how come the most experienced driver in F1 history has no idea how to throw his gloves properly.
Monaco GP
The we-love-the-Singapore-GP hype was going into overdrive following the race. And though it was impressive, the buildings looked lovely, the grandstands were full, the pit lane was wide etc, if there hadn't been a place to overtake at Turn 7 it would have been a slightly more glamorous, dark version of Valencia. In fact Valencia would probably improve by being run in the dark because you wouldn't see that the race was being run round Valencia's dockside trading estate.
F1 fans watch to see a great race, not great scenery. If we wanted great scenery we'd go back to the glorious environs of Imola that exudes so much F1 history. I'm glad that the F1 teams had nice soap in their hotels but ultimately I don't care, if the race is processional. As it was Singapore both looked good and produced a great race and that's what TV fans want most.
ITV Commentary team
Steve Rider was clearly amazed that anyone would want to have sex with Louise Goodman judging from the tone of his voice when he said: "We can't blame Jenson Button for seeking out alternative attractions. And he took Louise Goodman..." From behind, from the front, with relish, what?
James Allen declared that we were watching qualifying from Valencia, an easy mistake. Much funnier was when he suggested that Massa should have a "teat" at F1's top table - which he quickly corrected to "seat".
However it was our man Blundell who came up with the goods yet again. Talking about Sebastian Vettel's mature drive at Monza, Blunder waxed lyrical: "He's got such a balanced pair of shoulders with an old head."
Poetry.
Andrew Davies
