Sweet win for Alonso

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso held off Sebastian Vettel's hard-charging Red Bull to win an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, boosting his chances of his third Formula One crown, writes John O'Brien.

Championship leader Mark Webber finished third, increasing his lead from five to 11 points in the standings with four races remaining.

The Australian again rode his luck, emerging unscathed from a collision with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton that forced his title rival to retire.

Webber has 202 points but Alonso moved up to second overall on 191 after successive wins in Monza and Singapore, and Hamilton lies a further nine points adrift in third place.

Vettel sits one point further back and world champion Jenson Button, who finished fourth, rounds out the top five on 177 points. A mere 25 points, the amount awarded for a victory, separates the top five.

"It really was tough. With the safety car problems and the people we were lapping, especially at the end, it was difficult," Alonso said.

"We know how difficult it is to overtake here so I was just not taking any risks."

Alonso won the scandal-tainted inaugural Singapore race for Renault in 2008 after his Brazilian team mate, Nelson Piquet, crashed deliberately to bring out the safety car and help the Spaniard win.

The safety car was again deployed this time but Alonso, starting aggressively from pole position, drove a brilliant race to hold off Vettel for 61 laps around the floodlit Marina Bay circuit.

After a gruelling, two-hour street fight and an almighty last-lap tussle, the double champion crossed the line 0.2 seconds ahead of the German who had started alongside him on the front row.

"It was very difficult ... we knew that it is perhaps the hardest race on the circuit, driving in this humidity for two hours," Alonso said of a race that finished just before the two-hour maximum time limit.

"This win means a lot ... to keep the fight in the championship. It seems we can be competitive on any track. So, let's see in the remaining races and Forza Ferrari."

Vettel felt he lost the race at the beginning but was still happy with his night's work.

"In the beginning, I had to let him go a little bit. I tried to push him into a mistake but he didn't make one and, as he said, it is too difficult and too risky to overtake so, we'll settle for second," the German said.

"The good news is the car is quick. In the end it is good to get points for the team."

Webber, starting the race in fifth place, was the biggest winner of the day after gambling on an early pit stop during the first safety car period. After three laps he worked his way through the field for a well-earned podium place.

"I got caught up a bit, Lewis got a big run on me. There was contact and it's not something you want to do all the time," Webber said of his collision with Hamilton.

"I am very happy with third place here today ... it was the toughest weekend of the year for me."

Meanwhile, Hamilton was the biggest loser after enduring his third retirement in four races.

The Briton thought he had passed Webber on turn seven, following the second safety car period, but was broadsided by the Australian going into the straight.

The race ended in bizarre fashion with Heikki Kovalainen, already lapped, steering his flaming Lotus to the side of the finishing straight after he swerved out of the pitlane realising his car was on fire.

With smoke and flames billowing out behind him, the quick-thinking Finn jumped out and grabbed an extinguisher to put out the fire himself as cars raced past.

Team-by-team analysis (listed in championship order)

RED BULL (Sebastian Vettel 2, Mark Webber 3): Vettel started and finished second, harrying Alonso all the way to the finish. Webber rode his luck and came off well from the collision that put Hamilton out of the race.

MCLAREN (Jenson Button 4, Lewis Hamilton retired): Hamilton's third retirement in four races dealt a big blow to his title hopes. Button is now fifth overall, but still only 25 points off the lead.

FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 1, Felipe Massa 8): Alonso chalked up his second race in succession, second in Singapore, and fourth of the season. Massa started last but finished 10th.

MERCEDES (Nico Rosberg 5, Michael Schumacher 13): Rosberg started seventh and finished fifth. Schumacher's first race in Singapore was less happy, with the seven-time champion forced to make two out-of-synch pitstops after racing incidents.

RENAULT (Robert Kubica 7, Vitaly Petrov 11): Kubica's last few laps were his most exciting of the race, with the Pole making a late extra pitstop for fresh tyres then picking off cars ahead of him from 13th place. Petrov ran in 10th place but lost three places after being pushed wide by Hulkenberg.

FORCE INDIA (Adrian Sutil 9, Vitantonio Liuzzi retired): Sutil finished eighth but was demoted to 10th for cutting a corner early on. He was then moved back to ninth after Force India protested Hulkenberg's result.

WILLIAMS (Rubens Barrichello 6, Nico Hulkenberg 10): Hulkenberg, who started 17th, finished ninth but was demoted to 10th after a stewards' inquiry. Barrichello lost two places at the start, but finished with the same position.

SAUBER (Nick Heidfeld and Kamui Kobayashi retired): Kobayashi crashed into the barriers after overtaking Schumacher. Bruno Senna's HRT then rammed into his stricken car. Heidfeld, back on the starting grid after Sauber dropped Pedro de la Rosa, hit Liuzzi's Force India at the start and later collided with Schumacher.

TORO ROSSO (Jaime Alguersuari 12, Sebastien Buemi 14): Alguersuari said it was 'possibly the most boring race of my career' after being stuck in traffic. Buemi made contact with Kobayashi on lap one and stopped for a new front wing.

LOTUS (Heikki Kovalainen 16, Jarno Trulli retired): Trulli suffered a hydraulics failure on lap 26 and Kovalainen's race ended with flames shooting out of his engine on the final lap.

HRT (Christian Klien and Bruno Senna retired): Senna crashed into Kobayashi's stricken Sauber and Klien, replacing Japan's Sakon Yamamoto, had a hydraulic failure after his second stop.

VIRGIN (Lucas di Grassi 15, Timo Glock retired): Glock ran as high as 10th place after the first pitstops and initial safety car period, holding up a train of faster cars. Di Grassi's was the only car from the new teams still running at the finish.

Results (with driver, country, car, laps completed and finishing time)

1. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Ferrari, 61 laps, 1 hour, 57 minutes, 53.579 seconds, 157.422 kph

2. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Red Bull, 61, 1:57:53.872.

3. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 61, 1:58:22.720.

4. Jenson Button, Britain, McLaren, 61, 1:58:23.963.

5. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes, 61, 1:58:42.973.

6. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Williams, 61, 1:58:49.680.

7. Robert Kubica, Poland, Renault, 61, 1:59:20.138.

8. Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, Williams, 61, 1:59:46.370.

9. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 61, 1:59:46.876.

10. x-Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India, 61, 1:59:45.995.

11. Vitaly Petrov, Russia, Renault, 60, 1:57:57.619.

12. Jaime Alguersuari, Spain, Toro Rosso, 60, 1:57.59.746.

13. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Mercedes, 60, 1:58:06.513.

14. Sebastian Buemi, Switzerland, Toro Rosso, 60,1:58:11.029.

15. Lucas di Grassi, Brazil, Virgin, 59, 1:59:32.061.

16. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, Lotus, 58, 1:55.07.506.

17. Timo Glock, Germany, Virgin, 49, 1:40:25.572.

18. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, Sauber, 36, 1:12:33.638.

19. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren, 35, 1:10:28.006.

20. Christian Klien, Austria, Hispania, 31, 1:03:36.520.

21. Kamui Kobayashi, Japan, Sauber, 30, 59:12.025.

22. Bruno Senna, Brazil, Hispania, 29, 59:14.502.

23. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Lotus, 27, 1:00:50.278.

24. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italy, Force India, 1, 2:08.218. Top 10 (After 15 of 19 races) 1. Mark Webber: 202 points. 2. Fernando Alonso:191. 3. Lewis Hamilton:182. 4. Sebastian Vettel: 181. 5. Jenson Button: 177. 6. Felipe Massa:126. 7. Nico Rosberg: 122. 8. Robert Kubica: 114. 9. Adrian Sutil: 46. (tie) Michael Schumacher, Germany, Mercedes, 46.