Sebastian Vettel made it nine wins from 14 races in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.
The German Red Bull driver stands on the brink of back-to-back championships after leading from gun to flag. Only McLaren's Jenson Button, who finished second ahead of Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, can stop the German from reclaiming his title.
Vettel was dominant from the start, opening up a four-second lead on Button inside three laps. By the time he pitted on lap 14, that gap had grown to 12 seconds. Button, who also pitted on lap 14, did close the gap in the closing stages but never truly threatened Vettel's lead.
The British driver was more occupied with keeping the gap between himself and Webber in third, the Australian twice passing Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari to claim the final podium place. After overtaking Alonso on turn 15, Webber had to do it all over again following a collision between Michael Schumacher and Sergio Perez in the Sauber.
Schumacher drove his Mercedes into the back of Perez and found his car airborne, but walked away from the crash unhurt. After the safety car period ended, Alonso found himself held up Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso and allowed Webber to pass him on turn 10.
Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle after starting fourth on the gird, losing ground at the start after failing to overtake the slow starting Webber. He dropped down to eighth and then collided with Ferrari's Felipe Massa in an ill-advised passing move at turn seven. The 2008 world champion damaged his front wing in the manoeuvre, and received a drive-through penalty that saw him fall down to 15th and resulted in a puncture for Massa.
But he fought back in the latter stages, and after the introduction of the safety car ended the race in a creditable fifth place behind Alonso. Paul di Resta drove superbly to claim sixth for Force India, after bravely choosing a different tyre strategy to the rest of the field. Nico Rosberg was seventh for Mercedes ahead of Adrian Sutil for Force India, who held off Massa in ninth with Perez in 10th.
Pastor Maldonado was 11th for Grove-based Williams, with teammate Rubens Barrichello 13th. Bruno Senna finished 15th for Enstone-based Renault, with Vitaly Petrov down in 17th.
