The 2010 Singapore Grand Prix (formally the 2010 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 September 2010, at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore. It was the 15th race of the 2010 Formula One World Championship, and the third Singapore Grand Prix held as part of the Formula One World Championship. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso won the 61-lap race from pole position. The Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were second and third.
Webber led the World Drivers' Championship and his team Red Bull led the World Constructors' Championship going into the race. Alonso earned pole position by setting the fastest lap in the third qualifying session and he held off Vettel to maintain his start line advantage on the first lap. Lewis Hamilton, who started third, fought off teammate Jenson Button to retain his start position. The top two remained the same through the first and only round of pit stops. Webber's team, Red Bull, opted to pit him early allowing him to move ahead of Hamilton. The race was neutralised by the deployment of the safety car after Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna crashed on lap 31. Hamilton retired after a collision with Webber shortly after the race restarted on lap 36. Alonso maintained the lead for the remainder of the race under pressure from Vettel.
The race was Alonso's second consecutive victory and his fourth of the 2010 season; he had started from pole position to win the two weeks earlier. It also turned out to be Alonso's first and , only grand slam of his career, which was also the last by a Ferrari driver until Charles Leclerc at the 2022 Australian Grand Prix. Alonso's win moved him to second in the World Drivers' Championship, 11 championship points behind Webber. Hamilton's retirement dropped him to third, while Vettel's second-place finish moved him to fourth past Button. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull extended its lead over McLaren to 24 championship points, with Ferrari a further 40 championship points behind, with four races remaining in the season.
Background The Singapore Grand Prix was the 15th round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship after taking a two-week break from the previous race in Italy. The event was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on 26 September 2010. The Grand Prix was contested by twelve teams with two drivers each. The teams, also known as constructors, were McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, Renault, Force India, Toro Rosso, Lotus, Hispania, Sauber, and Virgin. Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the green-striped side-walled super soft "options" and medium "primes" dry compounds, and the intermediate and full wet green-lined wet-weather compounds to the Grand Prix. The rules of 2010 Grand Prix races stipulated that all cars should use both types of tyre during a race unless the driver used any one of two wet-weather compounds. Each driver was limited to 11 sets of dry tyres for the weekend.
Before the race, Red Bull driver Mark Webber led the World Drivers' Championship with 187 championship points. He was ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second with 182 championship points and Fernando Alonso in third on 166 championship points. Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button was fourth with 165 championship points, and Sebastian Vettel was fifth on 163 championship points. Red Bull was leading the World Constructors' Championship with 350 championship points; McLaren and Ferrari were second and third with 347 and 290 championship points respectively, while Mercedes on 158 and Renault with 127 championship points contended for fourth position.
Singapore was a critical race in the championship as all five drivers had a chance to take the lead with a victory. The situation was made difficult for Alonso as he had used his allocation of eight engines following the Italian Grand Prix, and to replace one would incur a ten-place grid penalty. His rivals each had at least one untouched engine in reserve; Webber had two. Nevertheless, Alonso set himself the target to score championship points in Singapore. He also acknowledged that his car was not the fastest in the field and felt he needed five podiums in the season's five remaining races. Webber stated that he expected Singapore to be a tough weekend for him after he had retired from the event in 2008 and 2009, but felt there was still some time before a driver clinched the championship. After crashing out of the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton said he would push hard to stay in championship contention: "I'll take each race as it comes, but I'll also be making sure I get to the finish of the next five races, that's more important than anything. I go to Singapore to win." Hamilton felt Alonso was the favourite to win the Grand Prix and viewed the latter as his main rival for the Drivers' Championship which was shared by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Button himself believed Alonso would have an extra advantage as the latter's teammate Felipe Massa was out of contention for the title.
The Marina Bay Street Circuit was resurfaced between turns three and seven, along with turns thirteen to seventeen, after drivers complained about its bumpiness following the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix. The Singapore Sling chicane was adjusted to allow for a more gradual curve to exist which enabled a safer exit for drivers. The outside wall at turn 21 was brought closer towards the race track to cover up half of a drain which was previously exposed to cars, and the pit lane was resurfaced to allow for a smoother exit for drivers rejoining the circuit. Hamilton, a vocal critic of the circuit's condition, described it as "dangerous" because it had remained uneven, and said the Singapore Sling chicane was "the worst corner I have ever driven in Formula One" despite the safety modifications made to it. The organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix introduced a new machine to clean the surface of the track after drivers had problems with a dusty and slippery track surface in the previous year's race. Two days before the first practice session, drivers expressed concerns over low visibility caused by rain showers combined with the glare from the circuit lighting.
There were two driver changes for the event. Hispania Racing announced that Sakon Yamamoto, one of the team's drivers since the season's 10th race, was to be replaced for the weekend by the team's reserve driver Christian Klien because he was suffering from food poisoning. Several journalists noticed a seemingly healthy Yamamoto in the paddock, suggesting that he had been dropped for sponsorship reasons instead. Team principal Colin Kolles confirmed that the arrangement would be for one race and Yamamoto would return to race at Suzuka. Pedro de la Rosa was summarily dropped by Sauber and replaced by Pirelli test driver Nick Heidfeld, who last drove for the Sauber team in . The change was made because of De la Rosa's poor performance relative to that of teammate Kamui Kobayashi, and Heidfeld's knowledge of the Marina Bay Street Circuit and the Yas Marina Circuit.
Several teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. McLaren, Red Bull, and Williams all revised their front wings. McLaren's revision was designed to separate airflow into two separate channels, with both directing airflow around the outside of the car's front tyres. Red Bull's design, used in the Friday practice sessions, had two vertical slots to the rear of its endplate along with another to avoid creating a vortex when it operated with the planes and endplate. A previous design, debuted at the , was used both in qualifying and in the race. In addition, the team used a revised diffuser to allow for better management of airflow to the top of the diffuser's side section. Williams's design debuted for the first time and was designed to make the tyre act like a diffuser which took air in to improve its efficiency.
Practice
There were three practice sessions held in accordance with the 2010 regulations: two 90-minute sessions on Friday morning and afternoon and one 60-minute session on Saturday morning. The first practice session was initially held on a wet track with a clear sky after rainstorms earlier in the day left standing water on parts of the circuit, and high humidity slowed the drying process. These conditions meant drivers used intermediate tyres first before dry tyres were utilised in the session's closing minutes. Webber set the fastest time of the first session with a late lap of 1:54.589, one-tenth of a second faster than Michael Schumacher in second who was briefly quickest before Webber set his lap. Adrian Sutil was third fastest ahead of Vettel, Jaime Alguersuari, Button, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sébastien Buemi, Kubica, and Vitaly Petrov in positions four through ten.
In the second practice session, when the track was still damp in some sections, Vettel set the fastest time of the night, a lap of 1:46.660 on super-soft tyres; Webber finished with the second fastest lap. Button drove aggressively and battled Vettel for the fastest time throughout before he ended with the third quickest lap, half a second off Vettel's pace. Alonso, who was fourth fastest, ran wide at turn 17 while on a quick lap and slid down the access road at the next corner; he stalled while attempting to rejoin the track and abandoned his car requiring marshals to push his Ferrari away from the track. Hamilton, Barrichello and Massa were in positions five to seven. The two Mercedes drivers were eighth and tenth; with Nico Rosberg ahead of Schumacher, separated by Kubica. Sutil's Force India was launched into the air when he hit a kerb at the Singapore Sling chicane and his front-left suspension was broken upon landing requiring him to miss half the session, and Alguersuari's left-rear tyre made contact with a barrier but he avoided major damage to his car. Sutil was fined US$10,000 (£6,300) by the stewards because he attempted to drive back to the pit lane in his damaged car and did not stop at a safe position on the circuit.
Rain hit the circuit on Saturday afternoon, ending three hours before the session started, resulting in several damp patches on the circuit though the air temperature remained hot. Different sections of the circuit dried out at different rates making it difficult for drivers to tell precisely how wet or dry certain corners were. The teams ran intermediate tyres before switching to the super-soft tyre as the session progressed. Some drivers ran deep into turn five. Vettel was the session's fastest driver with a time of 1:48.028 set in the last 20 minutes. He was four-tenths faster than Alonso. Hamilton, Massa, Rosberg, Webber, Nico Hülkenberg, Kubica, Sutil and Buemi rounded out the top ten. Hispania Racing driver Bruno Senna's right-rear tyre got onto a white line at the Singapore Sling chicane and spun. Senna later brushed a wall entering the Esplanade Bridge in the final minute and stopped his car, causing the yellow-flags to be shown; drivers were unable to improve on their lap times because of the limited time available.
Qualifying