Vettel wins tactical battle as Hamilton suffers broken gearbox

Monday 24 September 2012

Thankfully for world champion Sebastian Vettel the Singapore Grand Prix is a marathon and not a sprint as the German overcame a self-perceived lack of pace in his Red Bull to claim the two-hour night race.

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A poor final qualifying session meant Vettel started yesterday's race in third place, but he slipped past Pastor Maldonado's Williams by Turn 2 before benefiting from the gearbox failure of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren to stride to victory in Singapore for the second consecutive year.

"It was great to win last year but to repeat is even greater. I'm very happy, especially with this year's championship being very tight," said the 25-year-old German after the 23rd victory of his Formula One career."We didn't have the fastest package, but still we won."The victory helped Vettel cut the deficit on championship leader Fernando Alonso to 29 points after the Spaniard steered his Ferrari around the street circuit for third place.Alonso was delighted with the podium finish as he once again demonstrated his ability to score points with an inferior car, something Vettel is keen to replicate over the final six races of the season."I'm not a genius but it is looking 10 points better than it did before, and there are a lot of races left," said Vettel. "We have to make sure we finish the races first of all. I think the pace is there . . . even if we are not quick enough to win, it is good enough to collect a lot of points. It is a tough championship but we are still in it and looking forward to the next couple of races."Having dominated the three practice sessions, Vettel was unable to match the blistering qualifying pace of Hamilton, who took pole with a time half a second quicker. But Vettel managed to stick with Hamilton in the opening stages of yesterday's 59-lap race, reduced from 61 when the two-hour time limit was reached, before slipping past the English driver on lap 23 when the McLaren's gearbox failed.The German then had to contend with his lead over Jenson Button being eaten away twice when the safety car was deployed following two crashes. Button looked set to challenge Vettel in the closing stages but the German responded with his fastest lap of the race to ensure a comfortable victory as the McLaren's tyres degraded."It was a bit of a different kind of race, very tactical," Vettel said. "Obviously, it was a long race, a lot of laps, the full two hours again, but it is fun in a way."You are excited, a bit nervous knowing there is a little bit of a marathon coming, but that is what makes this race so special."Not only racing at night, it is also the circuit, a lot of corners, a lot of bumps, making it extremely difficult and making it a great challenge for us. I'm very happy with the result."

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Vettel wins tactical battle as Hamilton suffers broken gearbox

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