LEWIS RULES SINGAPORE
Well last year saw the first ever night race in Formula 1, Fernando Alonso won it but I don't think anyone realised at the time what had been going on behind the scenes. Now the show has returned to the Asian port for another night race and Renault were in need of a new team boss. Some guy from Belfast called Bob Bell was given the job till the end of the season having previously been the technical director. In the title race, Jenson was still under fire and this weekend was seen as being do or die for him. However so many drivers were in a position to win this race that things were as unpredictable as ever. Problems in practice did not help the world championship leader though.
In qualifying, well both Brits survived Q1 fairly smoothly though Fisichella was one of those taken out of the picture early on. Q2 though and Jenson's problems returned - he wound up starting P12 though Lewis's performance was effortless. Rosberg was the first guy to set a Q3 time after having been on fire in Q2 and he was quickly outgunned by Vettel and then Lewis hit the top...and then a red flag ended the session with only seconds to spare. No one else bothered to come out and Lewis was left to collect his second pole in a row. Jenson was later promoted to P11 after Heidfeld was withdrawn from the grid due to a technical concern.
In the race itself Jenson had an OK start but a heavy fuel load meant that he couldn't come up with much initial speed and then had to pit earlier than scheduled due to a safety car. By that point he was certainly in the points though and eventually was in the mixer with Barrichello and at one point was even up as high as second. Slight problem, despite earlier speculation he did have to stop again and then some concerns with the brakes meant that he had to hold back in his pursuit of more points. 5th on the face of it doesn't sound ideal but given that none of his title rivals got on to the podium, that result wasn't so bad for Jenson. The title is one race nearer.
Lewis however smoothly held on to his lead to start with only to run into possible Kers issues later on. Those resolved themselves pretty quickly and the 2008 world champion only lost his lead due to coming into the pits briefly. When the dust settled though, the McLaren driver was back in front and at one point, looked like he might be heading up a British 1-2. That moment, like others both this season and in the past few years proved to be a mirage but still Lewis cruised home to take the chequered flag for his second win of the season. In terms of defending his title it's too little too late but he's certainly proving that he'll be a factor in 2010.
In the meantime though, Jenson still leads the championship, now on 84 points and his lead increses to fifteen points. He is now garunteed to at least match his 3rd place championship finish in '04 and may even claim the title at the next race. Further down, Lewis moves up to 6th place on 37 points.
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