Mid-Day

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel survived an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix to reignite his world title defence with a thrilling victory yesterday.

After two safety cars, crashes and the shock retirement of title-challenger Lewis Hamilton, Formula One’s youngest double champion finished in front of McLaren’s Jenson Button for only his second win of the season.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso was third, claiming his eighth podium of the season in the dramatic night race that did not even reach the 61 allotted laps after hitting its two-hour time-limit, meaning it was halted after 59.

Sahara Force India’s Paul di Resta took an impressive fourth and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was fifth, ahead of Lotus’s former world champion Kimi Raikkonen. With the win, Vettel climbs to second in the standings behind the consistent Alonso, who has a reduced lead of 29 points. “This has been one of toughest races of the year, to be honest,” said Vettel, last year’s winner in Singapore. “There’s no room for mistakes and it just seems to go on forever... I’m just incredibly happy.”

Crash: Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes crashes into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso during the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit last night. Pic/Getty Images 

Schumi penalised
German veteran Michael Schumacher was hit with a 10-place grid penalty after admitting blame over a spectacular collision with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

The punishment will be served at next month’s race in Japan.