After Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel looked set to walk pole position in Singapore, it was Fernando Alonso who mastered the street circuit on Saturday night.

The Ferrari driver, having won from pole position two weeks ago in Italy, left Vettel and his team boss Christian Horner bemused by outpacing the fastest RB6 by half a tenth.

Vettel, 23, called his Q3 effort “messy”, as Horner told British television BBC: “He touched the barrier on his final lap and that was the difference today.”

In the sister Red Bull, championship leader Mark Webber qualified fifth, having not looked comfortable between the walls of the city layout so far this weekend.

The Australian, also behind the two McLarens for the start of Sunday’s race, admitted he has had “trouble getting a rhythm around here”.

“We underperformed,” admitted Horner. “We should be two or three tenths up the road.”

In contrast, it was a notably focused session for Alonso, who grappled with having to change some settings from the cockpit following teammate Felipe Massa’s earlier gearbox failure.

“We made some safe changes in the car to avoid any risk,” said the Spaniard, whose team initially believed Massa’s problem was engine-related.

Alonso told his team on the radio: “No words, fantastic job today.”

He will have a clear run to turn 1 on Sunday at 8pm local time, alongside fellow front row sitter Vettel.

“I think we had the car to be on pole but we have a very good car for tomorrow,” insisted the German.

After 13 races without getting on the top step of the podium in Australia found victory in the first MotoGP race on the new facility “Motorland Aragon” Alcaniz, breaking his personal failures longest streak of his career when, in 2007, World Champion and star of absolute top class. The Ducatista, fiance of HRC for the next two years, gave substance to a race … its: great start, just an exhilarating pace and final escape. Even Dani Pedrosa was unable to reach him, undertook to recover after a difficult start (he found himself 5th), markedly lower in the final when his handicap has risen from 1 “3 to 4″ (power management or the outcome?) .

Stoner’s victory is also to Ducati, waiting for Valentino Rossi (his worst result of the season, sixth at 27 seconds from the top …) consoles herself with two riders on the podium for Nicky Hayden was “invented” a great overtaking down ‘latest variation on Jorge Lorenzo: 1-3 Ducati for the first time there is a Yamaha on the podium at 2010. There is especially Lorenzo, fourth after the sequence of 13 consecutive podiums while remaining largely leader with 56 points ahead of Pedrosa with only five races remaining.

Household Diapason Three small consolation in the thought in perspective, because Ben Spies has been protagonist of a great race winning the duel for fifth place where he is self-excluded Andrea Dovizioso, slipped on the final lap, opening the doors to Valentino Rossi for the sixth position. To judge the race by 9 times World Champion just consider the postings by rivals: 27 “from the top, 18″ by Lorenzo, 13 “by Spies. We need one or more explanations.

Behind Rossi Marco Simoncelli finished seventh ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Marco Melandri, all the top ten, far away from Ducati and Casey Stoner back from finally protagonists as the golden age. Too late or just in time to play the role of “referee” of the world?

With Tonio Liuzzi claiming ninth position and Adrian Sutil tenth. But it was a case of what might have been as Tonio was pushed wide at the first corner after the start and forced to pit for a new front wing, while Adrian picked up a puncture while fighting with Robert Kubica on lap 27. Both incidents relegated them to the rear of the field, however the pair refused to give up and fought to the end to give Force India a further three constructors’ points.

Adrian had a good start from ninth on the grid and made an early pit stop to change to the medium tyre compound on lap six when his soft tyres grained excessively. He recovered to enjoy a tight battle with Kubica for sixth but the pair touched wheels, with Adrian picking up a rear right puncture that necessitated a further pit stop. He dropped back to 13th however was able to reclaim tenth after hard battles with Hulkenberg, Massa, and ultimately his team-mate Tonio. He finally moved into the points when he overtook Michael Schumacher on the final lap.

Tonio was desperately unfortunate not to be able to convert his fifth place starting position after he was squeezed onto the grass in the first corner. He fell to last after the stop for a new front wing, but was able to make in-roads into the field with a series of qualifying-style laps while the rest of the field pitted. By a third distance he was 13th and involved in the tight battle with Alguersuari, Massa, Adrian and Hulkenberg. Sensing points were still possible Tonio then closed to seconds from tenth, which he claimed when Massa pitted. He then put in some banzai laps to close on a slowing Schumacher and secured ninth position on the final lap.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Like Tonio, it was a pretty hard race. At the start I was racing Kubica and it seemed we could have got into the top five again, but then we touched and I got a puncture. Unfortunately it was at the first corner so I had to drive the whole lap back to the pits. I lost a lot of time like this and dropped out of the top ten, and then had to fight my way past Hulkenberg and then Schumacher to get back in the points. At the end of the race we knew Michael had some problems with his tyres so I really pushed to close the gap and I just got past him on the last corner to get the final point. Of course I’m disappointed as I think we could have got some serious points here today but I think I drove well, the car was good and we were fast the whole race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It was a tough race and I drove every lap pushing so hard. The team deserved to get a good result after the hard work they have done this weekend and in the past weeks on the developments. We should ultimately have had more points than we got in the end, but it’s always OK to get another few points on board, particularly after the last race when they seemed so far away. Unfortunately we lost a big part of the race as the door was closed on me in the first corner by Felipe [Massa]. It was a race accident as Jenson was on the other side and there wasn’t anything I could do – I was on the inside and holding my line. We lost the front wing and had to change the strategy then and there, but in the end we still got some points. The team is pushing like hell and we want to confirm the progress we’ve made with more results. Today showed we’re strongly in the top 10 and – more importantly – we will never give up.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Another double points finish for the team is a very positive result, but given our outstanding qualifying performance yesterday I think in my heart of hearts I would have hoped for more. Both drivers got caught in unfortunate accidents and dropped back but they drove excellently to salvage three points, which, given the circumstances of the race, is very good. We also picked up significant damage on both cars in the incidents and to still show that level of performance is very encouraging. What we have learnt this weekend is that we’ve got a very strong car that’s capable of fighting with the top four teams entirely on merit and we have two top line drivers who are functioning at their best. We’re really looking forward to Valencia now.

Source: Force India

F1′s governing body on Thursday admitted a “lack of clarity” in the rules led to the last-lap Monaco controversy.

When the safety car returned to the pits on the final lap of Sunday’s famous street race, Michael Schumacher passed Fernando Alonso and was subsequently handed a 20-second penalty by the stewards.

Mercedes vowed to appeal the decision but ultimately decided not to proceed, with the FIA now admitting the incident “showed a lack of clarity in the application of the rule prohibiting overtaking behind the safety car”.

“Adjustments to the regulations are necessary”, the Paris body explained in a statement.

The problem of the flashing green lights and waving of green flags is also to be addressed, with the FIA vowing to ensure “that the signalling for teams and drivers is made more clear”.

(GMM)

Well that’s how it panned out as the reigning F1 World Champion delivered a well judged and much deserved drive to notch up his second victory of the season. Prior to the start of the Chinese Grand Prix, at Shanghai International Circuit, few would have predicted a Jenson Button win, fewer would have waged odds on a McLaren 1-2.

The race under heavy Shanghai skies had everything: a dry spell, a semi-wet phase, wet with rain fall, first lap mayhem, a jump start and generous doses of overtaking.

It was by no means plain sailing (excuse the pun) for Button who took the lead on lap 19 and controlled the race from that point on, well almost, as in the final laps he faced a relentless challenge from team mate Lewis Hamilton who again was the star of the show with a gritty drive to second place.

Nico Rosberg, again showed impressively, bringing his Mercedes GP home third making it an all Merc powered driver podium. Rosberg flew the flag for the Silver Arrows as his illustrious team mate Michael Schumacher could only manage 10th place in an afternoon in some high profile battles which alas saw him come out second best in just about all of them. Twice he was overtaken with remarkable ease by Hamilton, Vettel and Webber, lost a battle with a rookie late in the race and was taken by a Ferrari on the very last lap which relegated him to tenth.

Fernando Alonso brought his Ferrari home in fourth, which was an impressive feat considering that the Spaniard was given a drive through penalty for jumping the start. It was marginal but replays showed the scarlet car edging forward before the lights went off. Hence he led briefly from the start. Team mate Felipe Massa was nowhere near Alonso’s pace all weekend and scrapped his way to ninth, well and truly overshadowed.

Renault again were impressive with Robert Kubica taking fifth place in yet another strong drive for the team and crowning a good day with rookie Vitaly Petrov having an action packed day with a  number of excursions, but also a number of duels with some big names and seventh place was a just reward for the Russian who clearly revels adverse conditions.

Sebastian Vettel who started on pole in his Red Bull will be wondering where it all went wrong. A win in conditions that he thrives in was almost a foregone conclusion prior to the start. But it was not to be and sixth is scant reward for a race that somehow escaped the team. Mark Webber who shared the front row defied his experience with some silly mistakes which saw him come home eighth. There will be few smiles in their garages.

YF1

Slowly but surely, Jamie McMurray has realized his victory in last Sunday’s Daytona 500 wasn’t a dream.  It’s real, and he’s enjoying every minute of it.  More than six hours after the start of the Daytona 500, McMurray joyfully hoisted the famed Harley J. Earl Trophy in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway.  McMurray endured lengthy delays for potholes that surfaced on the track, survived a crash-filled affair in the closing laps and held off a hard-charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap.

Last year, McMurray didn’t know for whom he would drive in 2010 after his Roush Fenway Racing No.26 team folded tent at the end of the season.  He landed a ride with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing in the No.1 car shortly after, and what a debut he made with the team.

With his second-place run, Earnhardt Jr. was the highest finisher among the four Hendrick drivers.  Earnhardt Jr., hoping to snap a 57-race winless streak, charged from 10th on the final two-lap overtime restart to second on the last lap, but McMurray held him off by 0.12 seconds.  California has not been one of Earnhardt Jr.’s best tracks, based on his previous performances there.  ”I don’t like going out west, but it’s much easier to go there after you run good somewhere else,” Earnhardt Jr. said.  Earnhardt Jr. has finished 25th or worse in three of the last four races at California.

McMurray celebrates his Daytona 500 victory with several obligations in Los Angeles this week previous to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 500 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.