In-control Vettel closes in on his second title

F1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX:SEBASTIAN VETTEL will have to wait two weeks before he can properly celebrate his second Formula One drivers' title after a win at the Singapore Grand Prix left him just a single point shy of a unassailable championship lead.

Had the German’s closest rivals finished off the podium then the victory would have handed the 24-year-old his second championship crown in a row, but with McLaren’s Jenson Button second on the night, Vettel will have to postpone the party until Suzuka and the Japanese Grand Prix, where he’ll require just 10th place to complete the job.

On the basis of last night’s dominance, he should be able to take that single point even if he decided to run the whole event in second gear.

On Saturday, the Red Bull Racing driver claimed his 11th pole osition of the season with comparative ease, slotting on to the front of the grid with almost half a second in hand over team-mate Mark Webber and McLaren’s Jenson Button. The advantage was quickly magnified after the race start.

Webber got away badly and dropped back behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and that allowed Button to move to second, where he should have been on the tail of Vettel’s Red Bull.

The German, though, was already into the first turn and out of sight. By the end of the first lap, he was over two seconds clear of Button. By the time the champion-elect headed towards pitlane for his first stop, he had a better than 10-second gap to Button and the race was largely run.

The only danger to Vettel’s win came in his third stop, when an unsafe release by the Lotus team thrust Heikki Kovalainen into the German’s path as he made his way out of the pits, but even then Vettel was in control, later admitting that he was well aware of how the Lotus pit stop was proceeding as he could see their pit-stop light system signalling an end to their work and that he knew Kovalainen would pop out into his path.

It’s that level of awareness that has put Vettel on the brink of another title. Later in the race Button made a valiant attempt to exert pressure on the Red Bull driver, but Vettel simply found another gear, blipped his pace up a notch, filtered through the snaking back markers ahead and crossed the finish line just under two seconds ahead of Button, a similarly controlled and thoughtful driver who afterward admitted Vettel and his Red Bull are currently operating on a different plane to everyone else.

“There was no catching Seb for most of the race,” he said. “His pace was very, very good and it was impossible really to close for much of the race. Overall our pace has been good but we cannot challenge Seb and the Red Bulls. Second is as good as we can be.”

For Vettel, it is simply another venue to chalk off the list of operational circuit’s he’s now won at. Last year he endured a frustrating night chasing but never truly pressuring winner Fernando Alonso and the German last night admitted winning at the Marina Bay Circuit had given him a great deal of satisfaction.

“I really like this track, especially after last year when it was a tough fight with Fernando, battling with him all the way. It was nice to come back and get the job done. This is one of the toughest challenges we face all year. It’s hot, the race is long, so it’s nice when you cross the line and you’ve done your best and achieved the optimum. In the heat we kept our heads cool again. A perfect day at the office I would say.”

Behind him minor dramas unfolded. Michael Schumacher crashed heavily after colliding with Sauber’s Sergio Pérez, Lewis Hamilton unsurprisingly clashed with a number of rivals as he ping-ponged his way up and down the field, most notably Ferrari’s Felipe Massa who later ranted that the McLaren driver “didn’t use his mind”.

Up front, though, Vettel would have been oblivious, save for flying past the debris and the backmarkers on his way to victory.

And now the title awaits.

Anticipating it, Vettel smiled mischievously as he once again repeated his season-long mantra that it isn’t over until it’s over.

The truth, though, is that the season was over as a contest a long time ago, victory at six of the first eight races and an unblemished reliability record putting Vettel in total control of his destiny.