The 14^th race of the season in the republic of Singapore was also the 50^th for Sébastien Buemi. Forced to retire in 2009 and only 14th last year, Buemi arrived at the Marina Bay Street circuit with a good knowledge of the toughest race of the calendar, both physically and mentally. The length of the floodlit street race which runs close to the sport's two-hour limit, bumpy surface, high temperature and humidity are all characteristics of the Singapore great night show.

While Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull could have wrapped up the 2011 Championship, Buemi and Alguersuari were focusing on closing the gap with seventh-placed Force India in the Constructors’ Championship as well as resuming their internal rivalry. But the first day practice was inconclusive after the morning session was delayed to modify kerbs on the circuit and, after both Toro Rossos stopped during practice two, the Scuderia was lacking long run data.

All cameras were on Buemi when he came on track an hour into second practice. Equipped with the super soft and faster tyres we could appreciate a very good start of lap significantly reducing his time on sectors 1 and 2. But Sébastien was a victim of the multiple traps of the challenging street circuit.  The brushing of the wall near the end of the lap was a little too hard for the front right wheel of the Toro Rosso and Sébastien had to abandon his car. We all heard the subdued and despondent voice of Buemi in his cockpit communicating with his team, “I hit the wall... at the exit of the last corner!” Buemi was to recover from a difficult Friday during the last testing and qualifying sessions, making Q2 and taking 14th on the grid, two places ahead of team-mate Jaime Alguersuari.

At the start of the race, Sébastien kept his mid-pack position but was relegated to 19^th after an early first tyre stop.  From then he produced a strong and consistent race to come back behind Barrichello’s Williams and after very fast lap time with his third set of tyres, behind Maldonado’s Williams which was 11^th.  The Vaudois finished 12th at a fraction of a second behind the Venezuelan. His Spanish team mate was not able to show the form seen previously in Monza and his Toro Rosso was visibly not comfortable on the Singapore twisty track, ending his race on a wall.

It was another magic day for Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull team - who must now await the next race to collect the highest accolade in motor racing - but not so good for the sister team. Force India has two point place finishes and reinforces its position by 12 points in the Constructor Championship over Toro Rosso, while Sauber gains one point with 10^th placed Sergio Perez. For the next race in Japan, the Ambassador Pain Paillasse will be looking for a track much more suited to his Toro Rosso and build on the good performance of today’s race.