MOTORSPORT: F1 title chase going Webber's way

Webber went to Singapore leading the world championship by five points and leaves with an 11-point advantage.

The man who has been his main rival for the title, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, did not finish -- for the third time in the past four GPs. Hamilton and Webber collided in Singapore but, while McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has pointed the finger at Webber, it was purely a racing incident and Hamilton has not tried to blame him.

While Alonso is now second in the championship it must be only a matter of time before he incurs a 10-place grid penalty when he needs to use a ninth engine for the season -- something that most likely will rule him out of winning at least one of the four remaining GPs.

It also was to Webber's huge advantage that Vettel didn't get to overtake Alonso and win in Singapore. The German has come away with 18 points to Webber's 15.

And Jenson Button, the reigning world champion and the "sleeper" in the pack of five fighting for this year's title, finished behind Webber, in fourth, in Singapore.

The top five drivers are clustered within 25 points -- the amount for a race win under this year's revised scoring system.

The title is looking good for Webber with the Japanese GP at Suzuka on October 10, the new Korean GP two weeks later, provided the new Yeongam circuit is finished and approved in time, then the Brazilian GP at Interlagos in Sao Paulo on November 7 and the Abu Dhabi finale on November 14.

The Federation Internationale de l'Autombile (FIA) race director Charlie Whiting will not inspect Yeongam until the day after the Japanese race, but surely it will have to be completed to avoid a potential fiasco in what has been arguably the best world championship in history.

If the Korean circuit is not approved in time for the race there may be hasty moves to run another Asian race, most likely at Fuji in Japan, or even in Europe.

More on F1 below.

Pye, from Mt Gambier, won 12 of the 25 races in the series, including one of the final two at Brands Hatch at the weekend, had 18 podiums in total and 16 pole positions driving a French-built Mygale car for Jamun Racing, which has now taken the title six years in a row.

Pye is the first non-European to win the prestigious British title that has been the launchpad of many great careers since the turn of the century.

His aim now is to move into the British Formula Three Championship won last year by Perth's Daniel Ricciardo, who is now the reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and a contender for the World Series by Renault title to be decided in Barcelona the weekend after next (October 9-10).

"I'd really like to try to follow in Daniel Ricciardo's footsteps and try to win that championship," said Pye, who is supported by the Australian Motor Sport Foundation and Triple Eight Race Engineering/Team Vodafone V8 Supercar boss Roland Dane.

Read more reports on Pye final two races at the weekend at http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk/news/2010/250910.htm and http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk/news/2010/260910.htm.

It was Chevrolet driver Johnson's 53rd victory in 319 Cup races, his sixth victory this season and his sixth at Dover.

Jeff Burton finished second in another Chevrolet and youngster Joey Logano third in a Toyota, with Kurt Busch fourth in a Dodge and Carl Edwards fifth in a Ford.

Australia's Marcos Ambrose, in a Toyota, finished a lap down in 20th while another Toyota driver, Denny Hamlin, leads Cup standings by 35 points over Johnson.

Clint Bowyer, disqualified after winning the first round of the Chase the previous week, finished three laps down in 25th at Dover in his Chevrolet.

"Waking up this morning (Sunday) I would have been happy with third," Webber said. "I am very happy -- this was the toughest weekend of the year for me. I didn't feel comfortable all weekend. To get third place out of it...

"Our start was very good … it was good for us to get away well (after two bad starts). I settled into the first stint and we had an early safety car. The team told me to pit, which I questioned, but they assured me it was the right thing.

"I wasn't sure and knew it was going to be a long stint on the primes (tyres), but when we came out and re-queued behind the safety car I realised I was in a reasonable position. It is easy to panic so I had to stay composed. I passed a few guys, then got to Rubens Barrichello, who was driving very well and I couldn't clear him.

"We then had another restart and it can be difficult to get away cleanly when you have backmarkers involved. I got caught up behind one the Virgin cars, he was doing his best, but Lewis (Hamilton) got a good run on me and unfortunately we made contact. It's obviously not desirable, as it was a key part of the race for me to maintain my position.

"Fernando and Sebastian drove fantastic races. They drove well all weekend and it was a good race for everyone to see. I'm very happy with third."

Vettel too was content with his second place. At times he backed off from Alonso to prevent his Renault engine from overheating.

"It was more clever to back off a bit and control the gap because otherwise it can get too hot for the car to stay too close," Vettel said. "That was the story of the race -- trying to push him as hard as I could (without overheating). Towards the end of the first stint my soft tyres were pretty much finished, so the car was sliding a lot.

"We came in on the same lap as Ferrari and unfortunately I made a little mistake at the pit stop, otherwise I think it would have been very close. I tried to push Fernando as hard as I could into a mistake, but he didn't make a major one and it's hard to overtake here -- it would have been too risky. In the end we got second and some good points."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called it "a fantastic team performance to get a double podium".

"Both our drivers drove excellent races," Horner said. "We took a bold decision with Mark early on to stop him behind the pace car, which meant going a long way on the prime tyre. He made it work by making some great passing moves and he had great pace. The incident with Lewis Hamilton was a racing incident.

"It seemed to be caused by a backmarker who cost Mark a lot of time and enabled Lewis to get a run. He squeezed Mark too much, so Mark didn't have anywhere to go through the corner and there was contact.

"Sebastian made a good start and harried Fernando for pretty much two hours. We've extended our lead in the constructors' championship (to 24 points over McLaren) and Mark has extended his lead in the drivers', with Sebastian closing in also."

Alonso has now won two of the three Singapore night GPs -- the first of them in controversial circumstances, after his Renault teammate in 2008, Nelson Piquet Junior, was ordered to crash to aid the Spaniard -- and has been christened "The Prince of Darkness" in one report today.

However, Alonso's fourth win this season brought his career tally to 25 -- equal with the great Scotsman Jim Clark and Austrian Niki Lauda in the all-time list of GP winners. Esteemed company indeed.

Having overtaken his great foe Hamilton for second in the championship, Alonso said of the five-way tussle for the title: "Around 20 per cent chance all of us. Maybe Mark a little bit in front, because he is leading.

"It remains very tight. Mark is still first with some margin, so ... for the others we need to keep catching. For sure we will do our best -- we don't know if it will be enough. We hope so, but people can be sure we (Ferrari) will fight 100 per cent to the end. Forza Ferrari."

Hamilton had been in fourth place and on fresh tyres after his pitstop when he tried to overtake Webber on lap 36 after the safety car had come in.

The pair came together as Hamilton moved across Webber's Red Bull into turn seven. Hamilton, who had won in Singapore last year, suffered race-ending damage. He angrily threw his steering wheel out of his McLaren but, despite now trailing Webber by 20 points, made no attempt to blame the Aussie for his misfortune.

"I saw Mark made a mistake and got caught up with a backmarker, so I was in a position to slipstream him ... going into turn seven," Hamilton said. "I thought I was enough past him, I couldn't see him and turned in and tried to leave enough room on the inside and the next thing I know I got hit.

"I think it's a racing incident. I came out a bit unfortunate -- but that's racing. Twenty points is massive and with four races to go that is a big gap -- I have to get my head down and hope for something."

Hamilton's teammate Button is now fifth in the championship but still within striking distance.

"We (McLaren) have a good upgrade for Suzuka, a circuit where we go better than Singapore, so that will be a double whammy -- we will have a competitive car," Button said.

Michael Schumacher's first race in Singapore ended with an unhappy 13th place after two unscheduled pitstops after incidents. The seven-time world champion, who continues to insist he will continue with the Mercedes factory team next season, had trouble with his rear tyres and again was outshone by young teammate Nico Rosberg, who started seventh and finished fifth.

Nick Heidfeld, back in F1 after the Sauber team dropped Pedro de la Rosa, hit Vitantonio Liuzzi's Force India-Mercedes at the start and later collided with Schumacher to be one of nine non-finishers.

Christian Klien, who returned to F1 in place of Japan's Sakon Yamamoto with Hispania Racing, outshone Brazilian teammate Bruno Senna but had a hydraulic failure after his second pitstop.

Formula One drivers' world championship after 15 of 19 rounds -- Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 202 points, Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 191, Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 182, Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 181, Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 177, Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 128, Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 122, Robert Kubica (Poland, Renault)  114, Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 47, Michael Schumacher (Germany,  Mercedes) 46, Rubens Barrichello (Brazil, Williams-Cosworth) 39, Kamui Kobayashi (Japan, Sauber-Ferrari) 21, Vitaly Petrov (Russia, Renault) 19, Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Williams-Cosworth) 17, Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy, Force India-Mercedes) 13, Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 7, Pedro de la Rosa (Spain, Sauber-Ferrari) 6, Jaime Alguersuari (Spain, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 3.

F1 constructors' world championship -- Red Bull-Renault 383, McLaren-Mercedes 359, Ferrari 319, Mercedes 168, Renault 133, Force India-Mercedes 60, Williams-Cosworth 56, Sauber-Ferrari 27, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...