The race was Alonso's second consecutive victory and his fourth of the 2010 season; he had started from pole position to win the Italian Grand Prix two weeks earlier.

[7][b] The Singapore Grand Prix was the fifteenth round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship after taking a two-week break from the previous race in Italy.

The teams, also known as constructors, were McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, Renault, Force India, Toro Rosso, Lotus, Hispania, Sauber, and Virgin.

The situation was made difficult for Alonso as he had used his allocation of eight engines following the Italian Grand Prix, and to replace one would incur a ten-place grid penalty.

"[15] Hamilton felt Alonso was the favourite to win the Grand Prix and viewed the latter as his main rival for the Drivers' Championship which was shared by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

[15] The outside wall at turn 21 was brought closer towards the race track to cover up half of a drain which was previously exposed to cars,[17] and the pit lane was resurfaced to allow for a smoother exit for drivers rejoining the circuit.

[15] Hamilton, a vocal critic of the circuit's condition, described it as "dangerous" because it had remained uneven, and said the Singapore Sling chicane was "the worst corner I have ever driven in Formula One" despite the safety modifications made to it.

[19] Two days before the first practice session, drivers expressed concerns over low visibility caused by rain showers combined with the glare from the circuit lighting.

[12] The first practice session was initially held on a wet track with a clear sky after rainstorms earlier in the day left standing water on parts of the circuit, and high humidity slowed the drying process.

Button, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sébastien Buemi, Kubica, and Vitaly Petrov rounded out the session's top ten fastest drivers.

Sutil's Force India was launched into the air when he hit a kerb at the Singapore Sling chicane and his front-left suspension was broken upon landing requiring him to miss half the session,[30] and Alguersuari's left-rear tyre made contact with a barrier but he avoided major damage to his car.

[29] Sutil was fined US$10,000 (£6,300) by the stewards because he attempted to drive back to the pit lane in his damaged car and did not stop at a safe position on the circuit.

Hamilton, Massa, Rosberg, Webber, Nico Hülkenberg, Kubica, Sutil and Buemi completed the top ten ahead of qualifying.

[36] Alonso was joined on the front row of the grid by Vettel, who recorded a lap 0.067 seconds slower, and felt he could have taken pole position as he misjudged a gap while following Schumacher and brushed a wall exiting the Singapore Sling chicane.

[35] Hamilton qualified third and was happy with his starting position despite losing downforce on the track's final sector while running in teammate Button's tow.

He had lost control of his car after he went deep, under braking, heading for turn five (a corner that was damp from the earlier rain shower), with his right-rear wheel hitting the wall.

[40] As the five red lights went out to signal the start of the race, Alonso maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner and withstood Vettel's attempt to pass him.

[41] Further down the field, the early momentum was broken when Heidfeld, attempting to overtake both Force India cars at turn seven, hit Sutil's rear, damaging his front wing.

[5] Vettel and Alonso traded fastest laps as they pushed hard in their efforts to build up a sufficient lead over Webber to maintain first and second positions after their pit stops.

[41] Webber changed his engine settings to give him a higher top speed in an attempt to get past Barrichello and decrease the time gap to Hamilton on lap 22.

But his car had a large amount of oversteer, as his rear, super-soft, compound tyres began to deteriorate, causing his lap times to drop off the leader's pace.

[5][41] Kobayashi damaged his Sauber, losing control of his rear-end, and crashed at the exit of turn 18 after his front wing was knocked off entering the corner.

[43] His tyre, which made contact with Hamilton's, had been pushed five millimetres (0.20 in) off its normal mounting on the rim,[44] and Button drew closer to Webber who managed to maintain a good pace.

Button was urged by his McLaren mechanics on lap 42 to push Webber whose tyres were older, while Vettel gradually closed the gap with Alonso.

[40] With the advantage of having newer tyres which gave him more grip, Kubica passed Alguersuari, Buemi, his teammate Petrov, Massa, Hülkenberg, and Sutil (who was holding up a queue of five cars) within nine laps.

[5] Kovalainen and Buemi made contact in the final sector of the lap, with the latter spinning around in front of the Toro Rosso, who was quick to avoid a head-on collision.

Kovalainen's car suffered a cracked fuel tank pressure release valve and he limped back to the pit lane, the rear of his Lotus catching fire during the final few turns.

It reminded him of the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix where Schumacher won that year's world championship from his main rival Mika Häkkinen.

[40] BBC pundit and former team principal, Eddie Jordan was highly critical of Schumacher arguing that the latter should have been sacked by Mercedes to prevent him from being "slaughtered" in the event he was unable to win another race.

Force India withdrew an appeal of Sutil's penalty following the decision,[57] and Williams technical director Sam Michael said that his team had accepted the stewards' judgement.