King of Spain dominates

Who would have ever put money on Fernando Alonso winning a grand prix this year? Who would have ever bet he would win two races?

Who would have thought that Ferrari were going to put on such a farce in Singapore? If Ferrari lose the championship this year, the team and Kimi Raikkonen are to blame. I am sorry that Felipe Massa had to try to win races on his own; support for the Brazilian was erratic.

In Singapore, Nico Rosberg, who excelled once more, showed that his talents are being hampered by the lack of a performing car.

Pole Robert Kubica nearly won the Japanese Grand Prix with a car that showed a sense of advantage at the beginning of the season. Somehow it could not keep the development momentum that is required by a top team. By the time you read this, the winner of the Shanghai Grand Prix will be known. Lewis Hamilton has been given a fast and reliable - and very competitive - car. However, he seems to be losing his nerves when crunch time is round the corner. This faltering started in Monza when McLaren seemed to be gaining momentum on both championships, but how did this progress?

In Fuji, it was obvious that Hamilton races with his heart and not with his brain. In Japan, he could have easily stepped in the right direction of winning the world championship but his move at the start really showed that he needs to concentrate more. Niki Lauda always said that races are not won at the first corner. On the other hand, Massa's tangle with Hamilton could have been easily avoided by both drivers.

The rest is all history, with current world champion Raikkonen seeming to have his race split up in sectors, one time he is on autopilot and blames the car and the tyres, and then, before you know it, he is racing like a world champion doing one fast lap after another. After last Sunday's result, he returned to the podium after a string of non-point scorer and Did Not Finish (DNF) results almost like a driver racing for a second-rate team.

So now we have to wait and enjoy the last two grand prix. Hamilton deserves to win the world championship, with the crown returning to the UK, a decade since Damon Hill won it with a British team.

As for Singapore, it was an excellent opportunity to race under the lights. I am not a supporter of street races but Singapore was different. It was an instant relief after Valencia which felt like a chicken farm with all the wire fencing. True, there was wire fencing in Singapore with all the security and safety issues, but the track was much wider than Valencia.

Singapore will still remain iconic being a night race. But if Bernie Ecclestone had to listen to Alonso's comments that we need more night races, then the story would be different. More night races would lose Singapore its limelight.

Incidentally, the race stewards should let drivers race. If an irregularity occurs, penalise the driver by all means but let them show their skills by racing.

Singapore Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso (Renault), first
"This is a fantastic result - my first podium of the season. My first victory and I'm very happy, although I think it will take several days for me to realise what we have achieved. Winning a Grand Prix here just seemed to be impossible because we missed our chance yesterday in qualifying, but we were very fortunate today and it's a superb result for the team. We chose a very aggressive strategy and we had a bit of luck, but we had the pace and the car was fantastic throughout the weekend."

Nico Rosberg (Williams), second
"It was a race of so many ups and downs for me. It started badly as I ended up behind a heavy Jarno Trulli and I absolutely had to get by him to allow my strategy to work. It was quite a hairy moment getting past because it is so bumpy to outbrake at Turn Seven and I couldn't get close at Turn One, the only two places where overtaking is possible. I couldn't believe it when I saw that the safety car had come out just after the team had called me in for my stop. Before my stop-go penalty, I just had to push like mad and do qualifying lap after qualifying lap and I managed to build enough of a gap to complete my second stop and hold on to second place. With a handful of laps to go in the most physical race this year and a car in your mirrors, time goes amazingly slowly, but for once everything went our way. I think Frank will have to wear his lucky tartan trousers again."

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), third
"A positive end to a difficult weekend at this fantastic new venue. I started well, but then my rear tyres faded and, although we had good pace, I wasn't in a position to challenge Felipe ahead of me. During my first pit stop I lost a bit of time because everybody came in due to the safety car period. After that, I was unfortunately stuck behind David and although I was clearly faster, it was really difficult to overtake him. After the second re-start, I tried to stay as close as possible behind Nico. I didn't want to take chances, particularly as the Ferraris were outside the points. Also, this is not a track where overtaking is easy. The first night race in Formula 1 history was great fun, and I now look forward to the forthcoming double-header in Japan and China."

Timo Glock (Toyota), fourth
"I made no mistakes and fourth is a good result. It was quite tough out there in these conditions and with such a bumpy track, the car was not very comfortable to drive. I am sure I will feel the effects tomorrow. My goal at the beginning of the year was to score 20 points this season so I am very satisfied to achieve that with three races still to go. However, I am fighting for the team to help them finish fourth in the constructors' championship and we were a bit unlucky with that today, but congratulations to Fernando, who did a great job. Now we will go to Fuji and aim to recover the lost ground."

Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso), fifth
"Overall, this was a good race for us, even if the safety car didn't help. It was a difficult race for everyone, but the important thing is we have scored some more points. The hardest elements in the race were dealing with the heat and concentrating not to make any mistakes, as it could be very easy to clip a kerb. I tried to keep the car on track but still push like crazy. It was one of the toughest races of the season, but I think with everything that happened, this was the best result we could get. Maybe fourth might have been possible if I hadn't lost a place to Timo (Glock) when I missed a braking point, but we can be happy with this fifth place."

Japan Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso (Renault), first
"It's still difficult to believe what we have done today. Winning in Singapore was unexpected, but we benefited from special conditions. Today, we won again on a circuit that was not supposed to suit us. The team has really done a remarkable job to fight back this season and we are now the third strongest team. It's unbelievable and I am extremely happy this evening."

Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), second
"My start was good but the clutch slipped a little, therefore Jarno Trulli was able to pass me on the straight. I then decided to take the inside line and braked very late, too late actually and I locked the front wheels. But then everybody went wide while I was more or less able to keep my line, and after the second corner I was in front. I then tried to pull away, but I couldn't. My tyres were graining and I lost time, particularly in the last sector. I was pushing as hard as I could, but after the pit stop, Fernando Alonso was in front of me and I was not able to match his pace. At the beginning of the final stint the tyres were graining heavily and my lap times were slow, so I came under strong pressure from Kimi Raikkonen and we had a great fight. At one point he was beside me in corner two, but I was on the inside, just didn't back off and was able to keep him behind."

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), third
"Even if third place has put an end to a run of poor results, I am a bit disappointed because today we had the means to win. At the start, I got away well but then, at the first corner, the two McLarens arrived too fast at the braking point and prevented me from turning in, taking me off the track. That lost me a lot of ground and I found myself in the middle of the pack. On top of that, the car was not quite right as I was hit by one of the McLarens: the steering was a bit light and there was other damage as well. Before the second stop, I closed on Kubica but I couldn't pass him in the pit stop because on my in lap I found myself behind Rosberg a lap down. Then I tried several times to attack Robert but he defended his position well."

Nelson Piquet (Renault), fourth
"I am very happy with this great result for the team. I had a bit of luck at the start, but after that the car handled really well, I was on the pace, and I just had to remain concentrated and keep pushing. The team is having a really strong end to the season and I hope that is going to continue."

Jarno Trulli (Toyota), fifth
"We have to be happy with that today but honestly I wanted to give a bit more both to the team and to all the Japanese fans who cheered us on. I was really hoping that we could make the podium, but this fifth place was all that we could have done this afternoon. I gave everything from start to finish but we could not do any better today. We've been competitive all weekend and the car was good again in the race but the lower temperatures didn't help us. That meant that the car was slightly unbalanced. I tried to keep Piquet's Renault behind me but they were very quick today."