From the moment that Barrichello slid into the wall in qualifying, thereby ending Q3, this looked like Lewis Hamilton's race. From pole position he is generally unbeatable, sailing off into an increasing lead from the start. In Singapore he had Rosberg and Vettel in close company for the first stint but they did not seem threatening, even their lighter fuel loads being insufficient for them to challenge him.
Lewis on his way
The fact that both the Williams driver and the Red Bull man put themselves out of contention with drive-through penalties for pitlane offenses left Lewis without serious competition and he duly cruised to victory. Behind him, both Glock and Button demonstrated the value of keeping out of trouble and letting others make way for you. Glock raised Toyota spirits with an excellent second place and Jenson did the necessary, finishing one place ahead of his nearest championship contender, Barrichello.
This was not a classic motor race, overtaking being almost non-existent and little to grip the viewer as a result, but the setting is so dramatic that I am inclined to forgive the circuit. With the organizers apparently willing to make changes to the track, a few alterations to corners, as suggested by KNF in the comments to Keith Collantine's article on the facts and figures, could solve the passing problem.
Perhaps the most interesting points of the weekend were the strange coincidences with last year's race. Romain Grosjean's crash in practice, almost identical to Piquet's infamous and self-induced exit from the race, was one, but less noticed was the repeat of Massa's clumsy faux pas at the entrance to the grandstand tunnel in 2008.
You may remember that Felipe had ruined his race by trailing the fuel hose down the length of the pits in that race, and it was later, when he was trying to regain lost ground, that he spun into the barrier at the grandstand corner. Sutil's Force India was bearing down on him at the time but Massa restarted and drove the Ferrari right into its path. Poor Adrian had nowhere to go and ended up in the barriers.
It may have been this experience that led Sutil to think it okay to drive back on to the track without looking and that is exactly how he took out Nick Heidfeld, ending the BMW driver's race right there. But the stewards thought otherwise and handed Sutil a penalty after the race. Had the Force India driver continued for more than the four laps he managed, they might have penalized him sooner.
Which is all well and good but leaves me wondering why nothing was done about Massa's dangerous maneuver the year before. As far as I am aware, the rules regarding rejoining the track only when it is safe to do so have not been changed in the meantime; is this yet another example of the stewards' apparent preference for red cars?
Ah well, I suppose we must be happy that the stewards are beginning to intervene at more appropriate moments this year. Perhaps the days of seriously flawed and partial decisions are drawing to a close. In Singapore they got everything right for once and their ruling on Webber's pass on Alonso should be examined closely by the Spa stewards - in conjunction with a video of Raikkonen's first lap of the Belgian GP, of course.
And, talking of Kimi, it seems likely that he will be back at McLaren next year. All caused by Alonso apparently guaranteed for Ferrari but a better outcome than a Raikkonen retirement, I think. From the very start, I said that he looked out of place at Ferrari and the world will now return to its natural state with him back where he belongs.
For those who expect a repeat of the Hamilton/Alonso friction, I suggest a look at Kimi's reaction to being beaten by Massa - best described as complete indifference. The Hamilton/Raikkonen pairing will be interesting to watch but expect no fireworks.