Race Notes - Alonso wins Singapore GP

Fernando Alonso won the Singapore Grand Prix tonight in his Ferrari, in a close fought battle with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in second place by 0.2 seconds. Mark Webber finished a distant third in his Red Bull, 29.1 seconds behind.

Alonso takes pole-position, fastest lap and the race win - the first driver to do so since Michael Schumacher at the 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Webber continues to lead the championship with 202 points, followed by Alonso with 191, Hamilton with 182, Vettel with 181 and Button with 177 points. Red Bull continues to lead the Constructors' Championship as well, with 383 points over McLaren-Mercedes with 359 and Ferrari with 316 points.

Jenson Button (30.3s), finished in the McLaren-Mercedes in fourth place, followed by Nico Rosberg (49.3s) in the Mercedes GP in fifth, Rubens Barrichello (56.1s) in the Williams-Cosworth in sixth, Robert Kubica (86.5s) in the Renault in seventh, Adrian Sutil the Force India-Mercedes in eighth, Nico Hulkenberg in the second Williams in ninth and Felipe Massa, from last place on the grid, in his Ferrari takes the final point.

The top five drivers in the championship fill the top five grid positions. Massa starts last, as a gearbox problem prevented him from turning a lap in qualifying. Hulkenberg drops from 12th to 17th on the grid as a result of a gearbox change.

Before the start, after a strong qualifying effort to start 11th by Jaime Alguersuari, he will start from the pit-lane after the team were investigating a suspected water leak. All the top runners are starting on the super soft tyre option.

At the start, Alonso takes the lead from pole-position from Vettel, Hamilton, Button and Webber. Kubica gets by Rosberg the start, but the German gets the position back on the first lap. Barrichello falls back to 8th.

Damage on the front of Nick Heidfeld's Sauber.

Massa pits on at the end of the first lap to switch to the hard tyre - trying to take a different strategy from the back of the grid. Heidfeld pits for a new front nose.

Vitantonio Liuzzi comes to a stop on the circuit with suspension damage.

On lap 3, the Safety Car is deployed, in order to clear the Force India. Of the top runners, only Webber pits for hard tyres. Many of the runners further back in the field come to the pits.

Under the Safety Car, the order is Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Kubica, Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi and Timo Glock in tenth. Webber runs 11th, Massa up to 15th.

At the end of lap 5 the Safety Car pulls in and the race resumes.

On lap 6 Webber passes Glock for tenth place. Jarno Trulli crawls around with a left-rear tyre puncture, and pits.

On lap 7 Webber passes Kobayashi for ninth place. Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov bang wheels, both running off the turn and losing positions, but continue. A line of cars starts to form behind Glock in 11th place.

Ferrari informs Massa that his oil temperature is running a bit hot.

At lap 10, Alonso sets fastest lap again, as he leads Vettel by 1.8 seconds, followed by Hamilton (3.7s), Button (7.6s), Rosberg (9.4s), Kubica (10.5s), Barrichello (15.2s), Schumacher (16.0s), Webber (16.5) and Kobayashi (17.9s) in tenth place - Massa (25.2s) runs in 14th place.

Red Bull asks Vettel to cool his brakes.

On lap 11, Schumacher makes a small mistake and Webber takes advantage to take eighth place.

On lap 14 Heidfeld passes Lucas di Grassi for 19th place.

On lap 15, Adrian Sutil passes Glock for 11th place, to break away from the queue. The next lap Hulkenberg battles with Glock and gets past as well.

Alonso and Vettel continue to set fastest laps at the front, trying to get enough of a gap to pit and still come out clear of Webber, who has already pitted.

At lap 20, Alonso continues to lead Vettel by 3.2 seconds, followed by Hamilton (14.4s), Button (20.9s), Rosberg (24.2s), Kubica (28.0s), Barrichello (36.4s), Webber (37.3s), Schumacher (43.4s) and Kobayashi (44.6s) in tenth place - Massa (60.3s) in 13th.

Webber closes on Barrichello's Williams in seventh. McLaren tell Hamilton that he needs to go 3-tenths of a second per lap to stay ahead of Webber at the pitstop.

Alonso continues to maintain around a 3 second lead on Vettel. The two McLarens lap times have started to drop off - their tyres perhaps starting to give up.

On lap 27 Trulli pits with a suspected hydraulics problem.

On lap 29 Hamilton pits from third place for tyres - coming out in eighth place

On lap 30 Alonso and Vettel pit from the front, as well as Button from third. Vettel's crew makes a faster stop, but the German is bogged down, leaving in second gear, but doesn't stall. Alonso maintain his lead.

On lap 31 Rosberg pits from third place.

Schumacher and Kobayashi come together coming together, Schumacher then clouts the wall. Schumacher then pits.

On lap 32 Kobayashi runs into the wall - a moment later Bruno Senna comes around the corner and runs into the stopped car. The Safety Car is deployed.

Kubica and Barrichello pit - the last to make their tyre stops.

On lap 33 Sebastien Buemi and Christian Klien pit - Klien retires.

Under the Safety Car the order is Alonso, followed by Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Kubica, Barrichello, Sutil, Hulkenberg and Massa in 11th place.

On lap 35 Kovalainen pits.

On lap 36 the race resumes. Webber gets slowed up by a backmarker. Hamilton gets a run and attempts to pass Webber for third, the two make contact entering the next corner - Hamilton comes to a stop with a punctured tyre on his McLaren. The stewards will investigate the incident. A furious Hamilton gets out of the car - his championship hopes dim further with his second retirement in a row.

On lap 37, Schumacher and Heidfeld make contact - Schumacher limps back to the pits with front wing damage while Heidfeld ends up in the barriers, out on the spot.

At lap 40, Alonso continues to lead Vettel by 1.4 seconds, followed by Webber (9.7s), Button (11.7s), Rosberg (14.4s), Kubica (15.3s), Barrichello (18.3s), Sutil (24.3s), Hulkenberg (25.0s), and Massa (26.0s) in tenth place.

Vettel is slowly, by tenths, closing on Alonso. McLaren telling Button to push hard, as Webber in front of him has older tyres.

On lap 46, Kubica pits from seventh place - with a punctured rear tyre - he rejoins in 13th place.

Vettel closes to under one second behind Alonso - the two drivers trading fastest lap.

The stewards of the race announce that no further action will be taken in the incident between Webber and Hamilton, deeming it a racing incident.

Kubica closes on Buemi for 11th place.

At lap 50, Alonso leads Vettel by 1.0 second, followed by Webber (18.4s), Button (21.5s), Rosberg (27.2s), Barrichello (36.6s), Sutil (61.3s), Hulkenberg (61.9s), Massa (62.5s) and Petrov (64.0s) in tenth place.

On lap 52, Kubica gets past Buemi for 11th, then past his team mate Petrov, and closely chases Massa on older tyres.

The next lap Kubica passes Massa for ninth place, and Hulkenberg on lap 54 for eighth place - the Polish driver cutting through the field.

On lap 55 Kubica passes Sutil for seventh place, passing the German on the outside of turn 7.

On lap 59, Buemi and Heikki Kovalainen touch, both continuing.

Later in the lap Kovalainen's Lotus catches on fire. The finn comes to a stop and helps put out the fire.

Vettel pushes all the way to the end, but Alonso stays ahead to take the win.