Alonso The Shining Star

The cards fell in place for Fernando Alonso, who, starting 15th on the grid, benefitted from his team-mates accident to record his first win of the season. Alonso becomes the seventh different winner this year.

As for the championship battle, Ferrari more or less sent McLaren both titles wrapped up with a ‘please give a loving home to’ tag on them. Shocking, completely shocking is all that is can be said about Ferrari. We can assume we have seen the last of the automated system, with the lollipop back in operation evident at Raikkonen’s last stop. Of course, while ITV Sport were keen the slam Ferrari for it, they didn’t attack the Red Bull mishap that could easily have ended up in similar circumstances.

As for Raikkonen, I do hope Ferrari have some get-out clause. Crashing that late in the race is a joke for a world champion to do. Four non-scoring races for the Finn is completely unacceptable at this level. Even Heikki Kovalainen, who is looking more second-rate with each passing race, has provided more points for his team than the current champion.

Ferrari should’ve easily walked Singapore. Lewis Hamilton was nothing but ordinary, showing none of the racers quality that ITV vault on about. As per usual, I found myself cursing at the television as Allen lauded his ‘magnificent’ move on Coulthard – even though everyone had been doing pretty much the same thing throughout the race. The so-called ‘racer’ who never settles did a great job at settling for third. Don’t get me wrong, it is a smart game he is playing, but, don’t go telling the world your are the bees knees if you aren’t going to back that up.

After qualifying, Alonso was cursing his bad luck. How things can change in the space of a few minutes. The decision to go on aggressive strategy paid off, putting him in pole position for the victory. Alonso then showed why he is one of the best drivers in the sport still, commanding the race from the front.

Nico Rosberg finished in a career best second, despite a stop and go for pitting under a closed pitlane. Aided by a Force India chicane in the form of Fisichella, Rosberg pulled some blinding laps out, allowing him to take his penalty and come out in front of the Coulthard/Hamilton scrap.

Three races left. All Hamilton has to do is follow Massa home at each of the races to secure the championship. That is of course, if Ferrari don’t feel the urge to give McLaren more free points.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso. A fuel pressure problem left him 15th on the grid. At a street circuit, the going norm would say there is probably no point in showing up for the race. An aggressive strategy didn’t work out until his team-mate found the wall. Once out front, he was unstoppable.