Lewis Hamilton started on pole and had a right to feel the race was his. Then after 23 laps his gearbox failed, and he pulled off and handed the lead and the victory in Singapore to Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull.
It was the second victory of the year for the Red Bull driver, another success for the Renault engine and another little bit of proof of how important consistency is this year, as Fernando Alonso climbed up into third and gained points on everyone except Vettel in the title race. Consistency paid off for Kimi Raikkonen too, as he finished in the points again in his Lotus, also powered by Renault, and profited by the Hamilton abandon to hold on to his third place in the series despite no wins.