F1:Singapore Part Deux - Vettel's To Lose Now!

Let's get back to the action and see if anyone really could stop Vettel...

By now, with his two and a half second lead, Vettel was quickly told by his engineer, Guillame "Rocky" Rocquelin, to use up his tires and build up that lead all over again.

Issues affecting other drivers at this point included a concerned Hamilton notifying his team of front right tire issues, yet nothing was confirmed and the issue seemed to settle down for him.

So with the swapping and changing of positions as teams came in for their pit stops, this allowed Webber to gain another set of places and move up into third position yet by no means did he look anywhere near as electric as Vettel, something I have often wondered about if they're supposed to be given the same tech, bro's!

By now, it was looking pretty decent for French driver Romain Grosjean until his team told him they needed him to come into the pit to sort out an air consumption problem. He was severely unimpressed with this message and, in fifth position, you can see why he would be upset, can't you?

On the opposite end of the fortune scales, was Paul Di Resta, who was looking good after consecutive retirements, in sixth position so it was a good bet that this would be the day when the worm turned for him... not so!

Having been behind Vettel for most of the race, Nico Rosberg's car was starting to hold up the likes of Webber & Hamilton etc and as lap 41 of 61 approaches, Webber comes in to pit to see if he can break that stranglehold on second that Rosberg had throughout this race.

By now, tire change strategies were playing out forcing Lewis Hamilton's race engineer to tell him to push and moments later his team-mate would come in giving him the advantage.

So now with the podium consisting of Vettel, Alonso & Hamilton (who all gained on Webber's next pit stop) it was a safe bet that this was probably how it would finish, right? You'd be a fool to think so, bro's!

Still more drama was to unfold as both Di Resta and Massa came into the pits before Hamilton pits then race leader Vettel, meaning that he could still get out ahead of Alonso thanks to his significant advantage upon pitting. So, with Rosberg having pitted, he was now advised to push to catch Alonso but he quickly and rather abruptly told his team he had no intention of doing that lest he ruin his good fortune with the tires and race position.

At this point the race was gradually coming into life more and more as team strategies came up against one another and positions were fought for and both won and lost as the Red Bull guys continued to set the mark. On setting a time of 1:48.574 for Vettel, he was advised to look after his car and prepare for another safety car period, which thankfully never came.

Further down the order, Esteban Gutierrez was in the thick of the action racing for position against the likes of Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton who emerged here having pitted moments ago. A straightforward D.R.S. pass from Webber gets him past before Rosberg swiftly follows through at a tight left-hander.

Someone who hadn't been mentioned so far was Jenson Button and he was creeping up the order as people fell away from him into the pit lane allowing him and Räikkönen to creep up the order towards the sharp end of the grid separated from Vettel by only one man and one man only; Fernando Alonso.

The man was on a mission and even though Vettel was way out in front by this time, it was clear to see that, should anything go wrong for the Red Bull driver, he would be waiting to pounce!

Now, how about this for team-work? The reason I kinda berated the Lotus driver for his poor showing in qualifying was because of an injury suffered in one of the earlier practice sessions (which makes me feel just a tad silly now, lol!) and it was great to hear that it was one of the Red Bull physios who sat down with the Finn to discuss and treat his injured back.

With eleven laps to go now, this was getting all the more exciting for me the listener and there's something about hearing a message on the radio and not being able to see the car as well simultaneously, that makes it all the more exciting.

It's why I do these reviews; to bring you the very best in terms of quality with little sacrificed in the way of quantity!

Hamilton's radio it was that alerted him to brake vibrations before Webber, now in seventh position is told that the cars ahead of him are struggling for pace.

Disaster would strike next, but for whom? Find out in part three ===>>