Pit tangle costs Massa in Singapore Grand Prix
Felipe Massa has seen his chances of winning the formula one drivers championship slide in the Singapore f1 grand prix thanks to a tangled fuel hose.
The ferrari driver was leading the race when a crash by Piquet on lap 14 saw the safety car come out. In the rush that followed in the pits Massa was held up by the sloppy pit work. Massa saw green in his car howeve the fuel hose was still attached, he drove off and knocked over a mechanic as the hose tore loose. After rejoining the race at the end of the field he was later further hampered with a 10 second stop go penalty.
In the end it was Hamilton who took advantage of Massa’s misfortune. Hamilton scored six valuable points thanks to a third place finish while Massa did not collect any points coming home in 13th position. Raikkonen also missed out on the points after he crashed out of the race on the 58th lap while battling Glock for fourth place .
The surprise winner in the first ever night Grand Prix was Renault’s Fernando Alonso, thanks in part to his team mate Nelson Piquet. It was Piquet’s crash that changed the race dramatically. In the reshuffle that followed the safety car period the pit lane action Alonso found himself in a good position.
After the first safety car period Hamilton was in fourth behind David Coultard. Hamilton was frustrated by the pace of the Red Bull driver as he was losing a second a lap. This cost him any chance of winning unless those in front failed. In the end his two main rivals completed the race out of the points so third place was good enough on the night.
Alonso will now go down as the winner of the first night grand prix. It is his first victory since Monza in 2007. Rosberg took second which is a career best result for him.
Hamilton leads the drivers championship by seven points with three races remaining. McLaren has also gone to the lead in the constructors race. The next formula one grand prix will be in Japan on the weekend of 10-12 October.
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