Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend?

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.

Singapore Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Fractionally slower than Webber on the medium tyres in practice, but emphatically fastest on the super-softs. Took a big risk by only doing a single run in Q1, and nearly lost out as Rosberg closed to within a tenth of a second of him, but held on for his fifth pole position of the season. Rosberg then got the better of him at the start but Vettel was quick to reverse the move. Vettel held onto his lead throughout the race and increased his championship advantage to 60 points.

Mark Webber – Was bumped back to fourth in qualifying by Grosjean, leaving him on the dirty side of the grid. Got ahead of Grosjean at the start but lost out to Alonso. Didn’t pit under the Safety Car which left him needing to make progress through the field after his second pit stop. He passed the Saubers and McLarens more quickly than the Mercedes drivers managed and might have been able to put Raikkonen under pressure had a water leak not caused his engine to fail. Walking onto the track after the race to get a lift from Alonso was a strange lapse, earning a reprimand and consequently a ten-place grid penalty.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Consistently faster than Massa throughout practice, Q1 and Q2 – then was pipped by less than five hundredths of a second in qualifying. But he made a demon start, flying around his rivals on the outside to take third place. Ferrari gambled when the Safety Car came out and Alonso was able to make his medium tyres last until the end, leaving him second to Vettel for the third race in a row. Then collected a reprimand for stopping on the racing line to pick Webber up.

Felipe Massa – Struggled in practice and came close to being eliminated in Q1, but set-up changes brought the car back to him and he ended up out-qualifying his team mate. Scrapped with Hamilton at the start and was handed the position on lap two, but was jumped by the Mercedes driver after his first pit stop. Massa went the other way to Alonso when the Safety Car came out, taking super-soft tyres, but remained stuck behind Di Resta’s similarly-shod car. After his second pit stop he recovered from twelfth to sixth, passing the Saubers and McLarens and benefiting from the demise of Di Resta and Webber.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Took the unco-operative MP4-28 into Q3 for the eighth time this year and qualified on the fourth row. But McLaren’s attempt to run a 36-lap stint on the mediums at the end of the race didn’t go as well as it did for Alonso and Raikkonen. With eight laps to go Button was still in the top three but their hopes of finally finishing on the podium this year vanished as his tyres began to wilt.

Sergio Perez – Didn’t make the cut for Q3 but an excellent start got him straight up into the top ten. He was handed another place when the stewards penalised Hulkenberg for going off the track while the two fought for position. Had the same tyre problems as his team mate at the end and slipped back to eighth place.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Aggravated a back injury from 2001 during practice and said that was partly the reason why he couldn’t get the most out of the car in qualifying. From 13th on the grid he passed Di Resta and Gutierrez early on, then Lotus gave him an early pit stop so he could benefit from running in clear air. That got him ahead of Perez and pitting under the Safety Car for a set of mediums brought him into contention for the podium. Passed Button around the outside of turn 14 for a surprising and richly deserved third place.

Romain Grosjean – Despite brake troubles during all three practice sessions Grosjean looked speedy whenever he took to the track and ended up an impressive third on the grid. He lost out at the start but was lying sixth after the Safety Car and would surely have finished on the podium had he not suffered an engine problem.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – While Vettel looked on nervously in the pits Rosberg came close to pinching pole position off him. He then got ahead at the start but braked fractionally too late for the first corner and with that his chance of victory was gone. Struggled with understeer after the Safety Car period due to tyre rubber in his front wing. Once that was cleared after his final pit stop he passed four cars to take fifth, which became fourth when Webber dropped out.

Lewis Hamilton – Hamilton looked to be in his usual Singapore groove when he went fastest in the first session on Friday. But he never looked as comfortable as that again and ended up being out-qualified by Rosberg. He was judged to have gone off the track while passing Massa at the start and had to hand the position back, but he reclaimed it at the first round of pit stops. Spent the rest of the race shadowing his team mate and finished behind him, unhappy that he’d been unaware of his position relative to other cars at the end.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Said his DRS didn’t work properly in Q2, costing him a place in Q3. Went off the track while battling with Perez early on and was deemed to have gained an advantage: the stewards told him to give the place back, which he didn’t agree with. Was never going to be able to keep the likes of Webber and the Mercedes behind at the end but held on for ninth place.

Esteban Gutierrez – Achieved his best qualifying result of the year, beating Hulkenberg for the first time, and credited the performance to taking a more aggressive approach. had high hopes for his race pace but after the Safety Car came in he lost five places in two laps. Had that been it he’d still have taken a point, but Sutil and Maldonado passed him as well.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Made up even more places at the start than Alonso did, moving up five places to 12th. Unsurprisingly he wasn’t able to fend Raikkonen off, but he stayed out far longer than his rivals on the super-soft tyres. Had he chosen medium tyres at his stop he could have had a surprise result, but the team weren’t to know the Safety Car would come out four laps later. Even so a sixth place finish was in the offing when he crashed out seven laps from home. “I took the corner the same way as I had done the previous lap and the car went straight on and wouldn?������t stop,” he said. “The team is investigating what happened.”

Adrian Sutil – Was the only driver to start on mediums yet pitted to change them before his team mate replaced his super-softs. Was hopeful of passing Hulkenberg or the McLarens at the end but “as soon as I reached the back of the train my tyres went off… I couldn?������t attack anymore because it felt like driving on ice”. Nonetheless he salvaged a point.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Still finding the FW35 tricky to drive, he went out in Q1. But was happier with its tyre degradation in the race and enjoyed one of his better showings this year. However it again went unrewarded – he finished just outside the points after passing Vergne and Gutierrez in the last two laps.

Valtteri Bottas – Impressively out-qualified Maldonado at a track where his team mate started on the front row last year. But lost several places at the start and took until lap 17 to find a way past Van der Garde. Passed Vergne on the final lap.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Converted to a three-stop strategy early on but still found his car a handful. By the end of the race his tyres were shot and overheating was becoming a concern, but he finished 14th.

Daniel Ricciardo – Qualified well – he’s now been in Q3 more often than not this year – but started poorly, slipping to 14th place. Accepted responsibility for the crash which ended his race on lap 24.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Tried to make it to the end without pitting after the Safety Car period but couldn’t make it, falling to last.

Giedo van der Garde – Delighted with his car’s performance on the super-softs, but only used them for one of his four stints. Passed Pic after his final stop to take 16th.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Had to make an extra pit stop to replace his steering wheel due to a gear change problem, which left him well out of contention. The Safety Car period brought him back in range of his rivals but his tyres went off while he was stuck behind his team mate – despite the team instructing Chilton to let him past – and he subsequently dropped back.

Max Chilton – Finished ahead of Bianchi on the road for the first time this year, though it seems he did not heed an order from his team to let Bianchi through following the first Safety Car period. Still it was a stronger weekend for Chilton, who qualified just a tenth of a second behind Bianchi.

Qualifying and race results summary

Review the race data

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?

Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2013 Singapore Grand Prix weekend? Sebastian Vettel (54%)

Mark Webber (1%)

Fernando Alonso (12%)

Felipe Massa (1%)

Jenson Button (1%)

Sergio Perez (0%)

Kimi Raikkonen (26%)

Romain Grosjean (2%)

Nico Rosberg (0%)

Lewis Hamilton (1%)

Nico Hulkenberg (0%)

Esteban Gutierrez (1%)

Paul di Resta (0%)

Adrian Sutil (0%)

Pastor Maldonado (0%)

Valtteri Bottas (0%)

Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)

Daniel Ricciardo (0%)

Charles Pic (0%)

Giedo van der Garde (0%)

Jules Bianchi (0%)

Max Chilton (1%) Total Voters: 685

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2013 Singapore Grand Prix

Images ?�?� Red Bull/Getty, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Lotus/LAT, Force India