The Singapore scandal in depth

Excerpts from Joes Award:

When the F1 circus arrived in Singapore, Renault F1 had not won a race for almost two years. The pressure was on Renault F1 to justify the cost of the sport and there were many rumours that Renault boss Carlos Ghosn was going to stop the programme.

Singapore was a big new event with a great opportunity to make an impact in Asia. In qualifying Alonso was only 15th, with Piquet 16th. The track offered no real opportunities for overtaking and so winning from that position was virtually impossible, no matter how fast the car was.

Alonso started the race with fuel for only 12 laps. He made up some places and was 11th when he pitted but, of course, this dropped him to 20th place as a result of the stop. Piquet then crashed on lap 14 and the pitlane was closed, the only team getting its cars into pitlane before the Safety Car was deployed being Red Bull Racing. Two drivers (Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica) had to pit when the pitlane was closed because they did not have the fuel to go further. Most of the others pitted when the pitlane was declared open.

The result was that Alonso emerged in fifth place, behind Rosberg, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella and Kubica. Trulli and Fisichella pitted later and Rosberg and Kubica were penalised and so Alonso took the lead on lap 34 and was able to remain ahead all the way to the finish.

Read the rest of the write-up here.

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