Singapore GP: Vettel Wins, Hamilton Retires

Sebastian Vettel was handed the win in a timed Singapore GP and second in the Championship when Lewis Hamilton's gearbox failed

Leading from pole position, Hamilton held a steady 1.5 to 2 second advantage over Vettel through the first round of pit stops.

Appearing to be comfortably maintain his lead, the McLaren suddenly slowed down on lap 23, forcing Hamilton to park it. The Brit's race engineer confirming it was a "gearbox failure" and that the team already knew about it.

Hamilton's demise put Vettel up into P1 with the Red Bull racer holding a three second advantage over Jenson Button while Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso raced for the final podium position.

The Safety Car spiced things up when on lap 33 Narain Karthikeyan put his HRT into the wall.

The drivers dived into the pits with Alonso winning his battle against Maldonado to move up to third while the Williams driver came out a dismal P10. A lap later, while behind the Safety Car, Maldonado was told he had a hydraulic problem and must retire. He did.

Restarting on lap 39 it wasn't long before the race was again behind the Safety Car as Michael Schumacher slammed into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne as the Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez braked for the corner.

Bunched up again the race resumed on lap 43 with Vettel staying ahead of Button and Alonso. The 2011 Singapore GP winner slowly begun to etch out a lead over Button who in turn pulled away from Alonso.

The trio maintained position as they raced to the finish line, which was determined by the two hour mark instead of the number of laps, with Vettel taking his second Singapore victory by 8.3s over Button. Alonso was a further six seconds back.

Paul di Resta secured his best-ever result ahead of Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen.

Results
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2h00:26.144
02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 8.959
03. Alonso Ferrari + 15.227
04. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 19.063
05. Rosberg Mercedes + 34.759
06. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 35.700
07. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 36.600
08. Massa Ferrari + 42.800
09. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 45.800
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 47.100
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 50.600
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

Did Not Finish
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 41
Schumacher Mercedes 41
Maldonado Williams-Renault 41
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 33
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 25

Source: Planet-F1