Felipe Massa has got his 2010 pairing at Ferrari with Fernando Alonso off to an awkward start, asserting that the Spaniard’s controversial win in Singapore last year "robbed" him of the world championship. The Brazilian, who is recuperating from serious head injuries and set to return as Alonso’s teammate next season, suggested that the 28-year-old should have been disqualified as the winner of F1’s first night race over the ‘crash-gate’ affair.

"All of what happened was robbery — but regarding the race nothing has happened, the result remains the same. This is not right," Massa, who like Alonso is 28, told Brazilian Globo television. "The robbery changed the outcome of a championship and I lost (the title)," he added, referring to Ferrari’s botched pitstop that was triggered by the safety car period to clear Nelson Piquet’s deliberately crashed Renault.

Massa said he cannot understand why F1’s results are set in stone just weeks after the end of each championship, even when serious race-fixing later comes to light. "I have seen in football how a referee took money to throw a game and all the suspect results were annulled," he charged. "In Italy, Juventus were relegated. But here (in F1) they just sent Briatore home. I don’t get it and I don’t think it was right."

By WCF

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won Formula 1’s second night race with a commanding performance from pole position in the Singapore Grand Prix. Timo Glock (Toyota) and Fernando Alonso (Renault) completed the podium with brilliant drives for their struggling teams, after pitlane penalties scuppered Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel’s chances of winning. Championship leader Jenson Button actually managed to extend his points advantage by recovering from 11th on the grid to finish fifth - one place ahead of his Brawn team-mate and main title rival Rubens Barrichello, who is now 15 points behind with three races to go.

Hamilton shot into a clear lead from pole position, with Rosberg’s Williams slipping past Vettel to take second and leave the Red Bull to fend off Alonso. Vettel managed to squeeze in front of the former champion through the first corners, allowing his team-mate Mark Webber to take advantage and attack the Renault for fourth. He eventually got ahead, but was adjudged to have done so by running off the track onto the wide run-off at Turn 7, so was later ordered to let Alonso back past - which meant he also had to wave Glock through as the Toyota had overtaken the Renault as it ran wide battling with Webber.

Glock and Alonso could not keep pace with the top three, who disappeared into the distance through the first stint. Rosberg never let Hamilton get more than 3s ahead, with Vettel also within 5s of the leader, although Hamilton’s extra laps before his pitstop meant he always had the advantage. Rosberg still looked like a genuine threat for victory until he ran wide in the pit exit as he rejoined after his first stop. The Williams crossed the blend line and kerbs at the right handed part of the exit lane, and although Rosberg quickly tucked back in, he had already done enough to incur a penalty.

That became even more costly when the safety car was called moments later. Adrian Sutil had spun his Force India in a desperate bid to pass the much slower Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari, and then clouted Nick Heidfeld’s BMW as he tried an immediate spin-turn - ending both Germans’ races. With Rosberg out of the way, Vettel made use of a smaller middle stint fuel load to hound Hamilton after the safety car period, sitting right behind the McLaren until pitting on lap 38.

This was where Vettel’s challenge for victory ended as he picked up a pitlane speeding penalty, leaving Hamilton free to cruise away and collect a second win of 2009. Glock pulled away from Alonso in the second half of the race, and as Rosberg and Vettel hit trouble, the duo moved up to second and third - giving Toyota its first podium since Bahrain and the battered Renault team its first podium all season at the track where its scandal began.

The championship battle provided the late excitement. When Webber crashed at Turn 1 with brake problems 15 laps from the end, most of those yet to pit dived in immediately in case of a safety car - including Barrichello, who had been running fifth, 6s and two places ahead of Button. But with the Red Bull cleared away without needing a full course yellow, Barrichello’s caution cost him dearly. Button was able to enjoy five more low-fuel laps and jumped ahead of his team-mate, rejoining just behind Vettel - who had minimised the effect of his penalty with some very quick out-laps on super-soft tyres - in fifth place.

Both Brawns then eased off to conserve drastically fading brakes, easing home fifth and sixth. Heikki Kovalainen and Robert Kubica completed the scorers for McLaren and BMW. Ferrari had an anonymous race, with Kimi Raikkonen chasing Kubica and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) home in 10th ahead of the delayed Rosberg, and Giancarlo Fisichella 13th after a race-long, occasionally physical, dice with his Force India replacement Tonio Liuzzi.

While Glock got Toyota back on the podium, his team-mate Jarno Trulli compounded his poor qualifying with a poor start and only finished 12th. Toro Rosso had a hectic race, with Alguersuari pulling away too soon at his first stop and damaging the fuel rig, and both the Spaniard and Sebastien Buemi later retiring with separate mechanical problems on the same lap. Renault’s Romain Grosjean was the other retirement, stopping on lap four with brake issues.

By AutoSport

The loss of their jobs may not be the only ramifications faced by Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds after effectively admitting to race-fixing amid the ‘crash-gate’ scandal. The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council meets next Monday and could impose lifetime bans on the pair.

But according to the Daily Telegraph, a guilty verdict could mean even more dramatic consequences, such as possible extradition to Singapore to face criminal charges for ordering a dangerous and violent incident take place. The British newspaper said other lawsuits are also possible, such as on behalf of Felipe Massa or Ferrari, who arguably lost the 2008 world championship because of the events at the Singapore night race. The F1 chiefs’ employer Renault SA, meanwhile, "may want to sue its former employees for allegedly bringing the company’s name into disrepute", the Telegraph added.

But specialist sports lawyer Stephen Hornsby said: "Renault are unlikely to want to keep the matter going for little reward." Also in the spotlight are Briatore’s separate roles as a leading driver manager with his own firm FFBB, and his co-ownership of the London football club Queens Park Rangers.

The Football League did not comment specifically, but the competition does not allow the involvement of "anyone subject to a ban from the involvement in the administration of a sport by a sport’s governing body". It is reported that the League is closely monitoring the situation.

The World Motor Sport Council, meanwhile, is tipped to look closely next Monday at the role played in the scandal by Briatore’s apparent conflict of interest in being both Nelson Piquet’s manager and his team boss. An insider told the Guardian: "The wider implications for Flavio and others found to have put Piquet in this position, and what sanctions can be brought to prevent this happening again, are likely to be looked at by the WMSC."

By WCF