FORMULA ONE

• Alonso snaps winless drought with Singapore GP victory

  
  

  Singapore (Sports Network) - Renault's Fernando Alonso ended a year-long winless streak by taking the Singapore Grand Prix, the first Formula One race run at night, on Sunday. The Spaniard benefited from both a safety-car period prompted by his teammate, Nelson Piquet, crashing early in the race and a pit- road mishap by leader Felipe Massa shortly after.

  The victory was Alonso's 20th career F1 victory but his first since the Italian Grand Prix one year ago.

  "It was fantastic," Alonso said. "I'm extremely happy and cannot believe it. I think I need a couple of days to realize that we won a race this year." Alonso started 15th after mechanical problems plagued him during Saturday's qualifying session. He crossed the finish line 2.9 seconds ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg.

  Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock and Sebastian Vettel completed the top-five.

  Massa started on the pole and jumped out to a good start as he built a nearly three-second lead by the fifth lap.

  Two laps later, he ran over a piece of debris on the track, but it did not effect the performance of his car.

  Piquet slammed into the wall on Lap 14 to bring the safety car on the track. With pit lane closed, Rosberg and Robert Kubica ran out of fuel and were forced to stop. Both drivers picked up a 10-second penalty as a result.

  When pit lane opened, Massa, after leading the first 18 laps, came in for his stop, but exited too early as he knocked over one of his mechanics and left with the fuel hose still attached to his car. Massa's crew eventually removed the hose and he rejoined the field in 18th-place.

  After running five laps under the safety car, the race resumed with Rosberg leading the way on Lap 19. However, Rosberg had yet to serve his penalty. When he did on Lap 29, Jarno Trulli captured the top spot, despite a slow start in the race.

  Meanwhile, Massa's frustrations continued as he was forced to pit again on Lap 32. The Brazilian was running 16th at the time.

  Trulli finally pitted for the first time on Lap 33, handing the lead over to Alonso.

  Alonso established an eight-second lead over Rosberg by Lap 39. Rosberg pitted the following lap and dropped from second to seventh. When Alonso came in for his stop on Lap 41, he held a 22-second advantage over David Coulthard and Hamilton, who were battling for the second spot.

  Alonso remained in front after he exited pit lane.

  Coulthard and Hamilton pitted at the same time on Lap 43. Coulthard had a slight delay exiting his pit area as he tried to leave with the fuel hose still in the car. He fell to ninth in the field.

  Glock pitted and gave up the second spot to Rosberg on Lap 45. Alonso's lead over Rosberg was more than 15 seconds.

  However, Alonso's massive lead evaporated on Lap 51 when Adrian Sutil slid and hit the barriers, bringing the safety car on the track again.

  The safety car left the track two laps later with Alonso pulling quickly ahead of Rosberg and Hamilton. Alonso built a six-second advantage by Lap 56.

  Kimi Raikkonen was knocked out of the race on Lap 57 when he lost control of his car and slammed into the wall. Raikkonen positioned his car off the track to prevent the safety car from making a third appearance. However, Raikkonen's 15th-place finish coupled with a 13th-place finish for Massa ended Ferrari's 46-race scoring streak as no points were awarded to each driver.

  Hamilton now holds a seven-point lead over Massa in the World Championship standings with just three races to go in the season.

  "I really enjoyed driving this track," Hamilton said. "I anticipated it being probably the hardest circuit to drive on, but it was no where near, so I was pretty happy." The next F1 race is set for Sunday, October 12th, in Shanghai, China.

  09/28 11:28:49 ET