Vettel hails 'incredible year'

Sebastian Vettel stopped short of conceding what he has achieved this season is magical, but under the lights of Singapore he was certainly dazzling.

Vettel produced another stunning drive to claim his ninth win this year, 19th of his career, and 15th from pole - the latter statistic drawing him level alongside the legendary Jim Clark. The 24-year-old led every single lap of the race to leave him one point shy of becoming the youngest back-to-back and double world champion in Formula One history.

Asked if this season was a magical one, Vettel said: "Magic? I don't know, maybe for some people. It has been an incredible year for us, an incredible record for both of us (team-mate Mark Webber) in terms of reliability."

He added: "We have had no problems with the car, the engine has been perfect from start to finish, so touch wood, nothing has gone wrong so far this year.

"It does need a lot of small things to come together to make sure you have an incredible season like we have had so far.

"It's been very enjoyable. Everyone has been extremely disciplined in a way, target-orientated and we've all enjoyed it.

"Those things sum it up pretty well, but of course we hope to carry on like that, carry the momentum into the next races, and into next season as well."

Not even a safety car for a crash involving seven-times champion Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes, at a time when Vettel held a 19-second cushion over Jenson Button on lap 30, halted his charge.

Come the end, Button finished just 1.7secs adrift, although Vettel insisted he was "in control" of the situation.

Behind the leading duo Red Bull's Mark Webber was third, Fernando Alonso fourth, whilst Lewis Hamilton was fifth after yet another incident involving Felipe Massa.