As 20 cars waited for the red lights to dissolve, an otherworldly wall of sound built of a collective of 14,800 horsepower and 380,000 revolutions created by 20 V8 engines per slammed against the grandstands to start the inaugural Formula 1 SINGTEL Singapore Grand Prix. As the Scuderia Ferrari 056-powerd F2008 of Felipe Massa enjoyed the jump on the field and Lewis Hamilton’s FO108V-propelled MP4-23 hounded him, the RS27 motivated R28 Renault of former World Champion Fernando Alonso took off from its lowly 15th place grid position and began what looked to be a hopeless chase.

While Massa and Hamilton went at it on the 23-turn, 5.067-kilomoter, count-clockwise street circuit, Alonso was mired way back with the also-rans. Meanwhile, Massa’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen clawed his way into the fight and began to gain on Hamilton. Behind the trio came BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica, STR’s Sebastian Vettel, McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota’s Timo Glock.

However, on lap number 14 of the 61-lap affair, the entire complexion of the entire race changed when Nelson Piquet and his Renault were involved in a frightening shunt. Immediately after, the safety car was summoned out onto the track. As history will reflect, the timing of it all was remarkable serendipitous for Fernando Alonso, who had decided to roll the dice and gamble by pitting early in lap number 12. And while the safety car was a gift from the racing gods for Alonso, it turned the Williams of Nico Rosberg and BMW of Robert Kubica into pumpkins as they were forced to dive down pit late when the pits were, in fact, closed. Penalties resulted. Massa also experienced major problems when he left his pit stall with the fuel hose still in the car. He would be forced to perform a drive-through penalty for the gaffe.

As the race played itself out, Alonso ultimately powered his way into P1 and began to clear out from Rosberg, Coulthard and Hamilton. Hamilton would pass Coulthard, while Alonso, even after hitting pit lane, reentered the race in the lead and opened up a 14 second lead over Rosberg. 25 seconds further back came Hamilton. With only 11 laps remaining in the race, the safety car had to make another cameo appearance when the Ferrari 056-powered VJM01 clouted a wall. The safety car allowed the field to collapse back together and Alonso, leading the pack, knew he had his hands full. But being a two-time World Champion is good for something, the Spaniard using his experience and prodigious talents to throw the hammer down and streak away to a six second lead. Rosberg held onto second place, while Hamilton’s third place score bumped his lead in the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship up to seven points. Toyota driver Timo Glock placed fourth, in front of Sebastian Vettel, Nick Heidfeld, Coulthard and Williams' man Kazuki Nakajima.

Eric Johnson