Sebastian Vettel reignites title race with F1 Singapore GP title

By Meg Anderson

SINGAPORE: (TheSportsNEXT) September 23, 2012: Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull claimed the Singapore Grand Prix title for second consecutive year on Sunday to reignite the Formula One Drivers’ Championship race.

With his second straight triumph in Singapore, Sebastian Vettel has now jumped to second position in the Formula One drivers' championship thus leaving it wide open.

Sebastian Vettel, who was trailing Lewis Hamilton of McLaren until Lap 22, got a lucky chance as the pole-sitter Hamilton had to drop out due to a gearbox failure and ever since achieving the lead, he never turned back and completed the race in style.

This is Sebastian Vettel’s second victory this season with the first one coming at Bahrain Grand Prix 2012.

Talking to reporters after his triumph, Sebastian Vettel mentioned the gearbox failure of Lewis Hamilton when he said, "We benefited a little bit from Lewis' failure. We had a very, very strong pace all weekend and a good start, which got us in the hunt."

Lewis Hamilton tried his best to carry on with the faulty gearbox which was leading fluid for several laps but had to drop out after finding no solution to the technical problem.

While Hamilton had to drop out, his teammate Jenson Button managed to finish second ahead of Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

After the Singapore Grand Prix 2012, the Championship race has gotten intriguing as leader Fernando Alonso’s lead has been cut down to 29 from 37 and six races are yet to be played this season.

Vettel stated, “It looks better than before. It's a tough championship but we are still in it, and looking forward to the next few races, and the goal is to beat Fernando."

Interestingly, Paul di Resta of Force India finished with career-best finish of fourth ahead of Nico Rosberg while Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus had to content with sixth as he still finds himself third in the championship standings despite of not winning a single race this year.

The champions driver of yesteryears Michael Schumacher of Mercedes also had to drop out of the Singapore Grand Prix 2012 after a huge crash into the back of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne.

Team Red Bull after Singapore Grand Prix 2012 Victory