Fernando Alonso: 2008 Singapore Grand Prix Champion

At 27 years old, Spanish race car driver Fernando Alonso captured the first race in the inaugural Formula One Singapore Grand Prix - this was Alonso's first win of the current season and his 50th overall since he started racing professionally.

Sunday's race was a thrilling affair, although reports are coming out that President of Ferrari Luca di Montezemolo is none too pleased with the event. Quotes published online have di Montezemolo criticizing the racecourse as being unsuitable for a Formula One event. He said that the track used for the first night event was better suited "for a circus." Whether this had any bearing on the outcome of the race is anybody's guess.

Ten teams with a combined total of 20 drivers took to the circuit to compete in the event. In the beginning of the race, winner Alonso's teammate, Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. was the first casualty. Was it not for this mishap, the Italian team would no doubt have captured a one-two finish. However, Piquet's crash resulted in the safety car being brought out. This resulted in some confusion. It caused Ferrari's Italian team of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to end up at the back of field. Piquet was followed by Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) and Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota), who ended up in the pit. However, this did not prevent Nico Rosberg from maintaining his second place position throughout the race.

The top eight drivers for the event were:

o Fernando Alonso (Renault)

o Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)

o Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

o Timo Glock (Toyota)

o Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari)

o Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)

o David Coulthard (Red Bull Renault)

o Kazuki Nakajima (Williams Toyota)

Alonso's winning time was 1:57:16.304. This was Alonso's first win since last year's Italian Grand Prix held September 7 to 9, 2007 at the Autodromo Nationale Monza, Italy. His win was not expected: "After qualifying, our homes were gone already. It was nearly over, but it shows that Formula One is unpredictable on Sunday."

The 2008 Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix is the first Formula One race where artificial lighting was used. The lights, 1,500 lighting projectors, were positioned so that the beams took on the shape of the track.

The event also happened to be the 15th round of the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) Formula One World Championship races. The event was held September 26 to 28 in Marina Bay, Singapore. The Singapore Grand Prix was formerly billed in the 1960s and 1970s as a Formula Libre event. In many ways this was an historic event as the first Formula One race to be held at night.

His team may not have won the Singapore Grand Prix, but McLaren-Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton is full of confidence. With three major Grand Prix races left to compete in for the year and points to spare, he and his team have reason to be hopeful. (They came away with six points in Singapore.)

The three big events left on the calendar are the Japan Grand Prix to be held from October 10 to 12, The China Grand prix scheduled for October 17 to 19 and Brazil's event to be held from October 31 to November 2.

In fact, even though settling for third place at the Singapore Grand Prix, Hamilton's team may have put themselves in the position of finishing the season on top, having extended his team's Championship lead. Hamilton reportedly said of the Singapore's showing, "We only finished third, but we couldn't really have asked for more from the result - all I can do now is take one race at a time, while keeping one eye on the final result at the end of the year."

Seed Newsvine

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