Nick Heidfeld received a three-place penalty for impeding Rubens Barrichello during qualifying, dropping him from sixth to ninth on the grid.
Heidfeld claimed he could have done nothing to prevent delaying Barrichello due to the awkward configuration of the pit lane entrance at Singapore. That may have played a role in the stewards’ thinking as they gave him a three-place penalty instead of the usual five.
Here’s the grid for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix in full plus some of the talking points.
1. Felipe Massa
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Robert Kubica
5. Heikki Kovalainen
6. Sebastian Vettel
7. Timo Glock
8. Nico Rosberg
9. Nick Heidfeld*
10. Kazuki Nakajima
11. Jarno Trulli
12. Jenson Button
13. Mark Webber
14. David Coulthard
15. Fernando Alonso
16. Nelson Piquet Jnr
17. Sebastien Bourdais
18. Rubens Barrichello
19. Adrian Sutil
20. Giancarlo Fisichella
*Three-place grid penalty
Ferrari stand a good chance of ending the first lap with both cars at the front of the field. Massa and Raikkonen will start on the clean side of the grid with Hamilton and Kubica on the dirty, little-used side on this new circuit.
Watch out for drivers cutting the track at turn two, particularly on the first lap. Many of them did it in practice, and places gained by going off the track in this manner will have to be given back.
Fernando Alonso starts 15th having had the pace to start on the front row, he claims. Watch his progress in the race, and remember a safety car period could play into his hands as it did for Nelson Piquet Jnr in Germany.