Vettel hits new high speeds to win nail-biting Singapore Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel romped home in the night race from Marina Bay, but not without incident, as he overcame a potentially sticky safety car situation by hitting the quickest pace the track has ever seen.

The German blitzed the track immediately following the inopportune safety car deployment on lap 25 of 61, stretching an advantage that was even unaissable for the chasing Fernando Alonso despite Vettel yet to pit.

The Ferrari driver boasted a mature, tactically sound race to claim second, with Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen playing a tactical blinder amidst the safety car drama, leaping from 13th on the starting grid to round off the podium in third.

The final stages of the race saw many drivers who had pitted just before the safety car trying to defend positions on older tyres than those who had waited until later, such as Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, who had to try and cut their way back into a points finish.

Vettel initially lost the lead to Nico Rosberg on turn one, before the former gained it back mere moments later as the Mercedes man ran wide on turn two. No contact on the first lap is a rarity at Marina Bay, with the slightly altered track paying dividends for driver safety.

Alonso made a flying start, jumping up the grid from 7th to 3rd, as Daniel Ricciardo slipped dramatically down the order from 9th to 14th within two laps.

Raikkonen, future Ferrari driver for 2014, made early inroads as he attempted to battle from 13th, as the Finn had struggled with back pain on Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions. He'd climbed to 11th after ten laps at the expense of Adrian Sutil.

The Finnish former World Drivers' Champion was also the first man to pit-in, on just the 11th lap, as Vettel stretched his lead to eight seconds over Rosberg after 15 laps.

Nico Hulkennburg was harshly penalised by the race officials for an incident with Sergio Perez on the 17th lap, after leaving the track, but with no advantage to be gained for the German from running wide, it was a strange decision that he was told to hand the position back a couple of turns later.

Toro Rosso's Ricciardo locked up on lap 25 and crashed into a wall, to force the safety car deployment for five laps, as Alonso, Raikkonen and Jenson Button opted to take their second pit stop and continue through 30 laps on a single set of medium tyres.

From there, Vettel had his advantage cut in half over the rest of the field, knowing that he was going to have to fly around the circuit to create enough of a gap to pit and still end up coming out ahead.

By lap 34, Vettel's advantage was above eight seconds, and four laps later it was plus-20 seconds ahead of second placed Alonso.

Romain Grosjean had his race ruined on the 35th lap, as an air pressure issue meant he had to retire three laps later, after his impressive 3rd place qualifying performance.

Vettel opted to pit on the  lap, crucially coming back out three seconds ahead of title-rival Alonso, with the real story developing further down the pack.

Hamilton, Rosberg and Webber had finally all pitted after 44 laps, coming out outside the top ten, but with slower cars ahead of them on much older tyres.

By this point, Button and Raikkonen, who had been battling for in excess of twenty laps, were positioned 3rd and 4th respectively, with Webber, Rosberg and Hamilton carving through the minor places to catch them by lap 49.

Raikkonen finally overtook the ailing McLaren of Button on lap 54, with Webber going past Hulkenburg and Perez to close the gap a lap later.

From there, Button sank like a stone as his tyres began to skid, falling to 7th overall.

Paul Di Resta suffered a third retirement in as many races, crashing into a barrier on the 56th lap, as Raikkonen found some pace to break costless of the chasing pack and secure an amazing podium finish, with the Mercedes pair of Rosberg and Hamilton finally getting past Perez to take 4th and 5th.

Webber's engine failed on the final lap as his Red Bull team-mate coasted home to win, with the Australian slipping from 4th to 15th, requiring a lift to the finishing line from his friend Alonso, perched on the side of the Spaniard's Ferrari.

Unfortunately for the Aussie, he was reprimanded for hitching a lift by Alonso and faces a ten-place grid penalty for October's next race in Korea.

Vettel's 33rd career win was as commanding as expected, with the German stretching his Championship advantage to a mighty 60 points ahead of Alonso. Barring a total catastrophe, the German simply will not be stopped in pursuit of his fourth World title.