Hamilton is first in Singapore

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, and Brawn GP driver Jenson Button extended his Formula One championship lead by one point.

Hamilton started from the pole and protected his lead to finish 9.6 seconds ahead of Timo Glock, who equaled Toyota’s best Formula One result by finishing second. Fernando Alonso gave scandal-hit Renault a lift by finishing third for the French team’s first podium finish of the season.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel pursued Hamilton for much of the race, and closed the gap to half a second after 37 of 61 laps. But his hopes of victory were dashed by a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane. He finished fourth.

Button worked his way up the field from 12th place to finish fifth, one place ahead of teammate and championship rival Rubens Barrichello. Button leads Barrichello by 15 points with three races to go.

“I’m really happy to get fifth, four points, pull one on Rubens and only lose one to Vettel, so really this has been a good race,” Button said.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber exited on Lap 45 after a brake failure sent him spinning off the track, effectively ending the Australian’s slim championship hopes. Webber was fourth in the early part of the race.

Hight wins again

Robert Hight raced to his second funny car victory in two playoff events, winning the NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis.

Hight beat Jack Beckman in the final round with a 4.218-second run at 296.44 mph in his Ford Mustang.

Tony Schumacher beat Larry Dixon in the top-fuel final with a run of 312.86 mph.