Singapore Gp - Race - Lotus Renault Gp Report

Bruno Senna, P15, R31-04

Vitaly Petrov, P17, R31-06

Lotus Renault GP will leave Singapore licking its wounds after a hard Sunday’s work at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Just like the entire weekend, the Singapore Grand Prix took place in hot and humid conditions with an air temperature of 31°C, though the rain held off for the duration of the race. Unfortunately the team’s struggle for pace round the city streets also continued as Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov both finished down the order.

Bruno made a good getaway from P15 on the supersoft tyre, and he forced his way round the outside of Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso to take 14th place. He battled off the cars behind to hold the position on the run to the first pit stops. Unfortunately shortly after his stop on lap 11 he was forced to pit again to replace his front wing, pushing him down to 22nd place.

The race was then interrupted by a safety car period to clear an accident involving Michael Schumacher on lap 29. Like most of the field, Bruno took his second pit stop as the debris was cleared, exiting in P19. He duly set about the cars in front, making it up to P15 when he passed Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus. Bruno’s final stop was on lap 48, coming out 16th, after which he chased down Jaime Alguersuari to regain P15 by the flag.

Vitaly started from P18 on the soft tyre, the harder of the two available compounds. He found himself baulked on the inside at the first corner and he was unable to gain ground. Soon afterwards he lost a position to Alguersuari before he started to move up the order as the supersoft runners started pitting after 10 laps. The Russian was up as high as 13th before he had to cede ground as his tyres ran out of grip.

Vitaly exited his pit stop on lap 17 in 19th place and gained a few places before, like Bruno, he came in for his second pit stop behind the safety car, exiting in P17. He made his final stop on lap 47, coming out 19th. He then forced his way past the Virgin of Jérôme D’Ambrosio to take an eventual 17th place.

At the front Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory for Red Bull ahead of Jenson Button’s McLaren and Mark Webber in the second Red Bull.

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