It means the championship champagne will have to be put on ice for another fortnight until the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka where the 24-year-old has won on the last two occasions.

In claiming his ninth victory of a thoroughly dominant season, only one man has won more races in a single campaign - Michael Schumacher who chalked up 11 in 2002 and a record 13 in 2004.

Behind the leading duo Mark Webber was third in his Red Bull, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso fourth.

Both men are now out of the championship reckoning, along with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who finished a distant fifth, 67.7secs down following more controversy.

Far too often this season Hamilton’s accidents have been a talking point, and so it will prove again after this race in the wake of another collision with Felipe Massa.

The Brazilian yesterday suggested Hamilton “didn’t use his mind again” after their minor skirmish in qualifying when the Briton frustratedly barged his way past the crawling Ferrari.

Massa’s remark carried weight bearing in mind Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix for crashing into his rival.

So when Hamilton came up behind Massa on lap 12, after the latter had managed to stay ahead in the first round of pit stops as they had come in together, the inevitable happened.

From a failed pass, Hamilton attempted to duck in behind Massa at one of the corners, only to turn the left corner of his front wing in on the right-rear tyre of the Ferrari.

In causing a puncture, it came as no surprise when the stewards announced an investigation into the matter, and even less of a shock when they handed him a drive-through penalty, his fifth of the year.

After 15 laps Hamilton had dropped to 19th having pitted three times – once for tyres, once for a new front wing, and once for serving the penalty.

Ahead of him, Vettel again served as a shining example of how to execute the perfect race, keeping his cool even when he saw a 19 -second lead evaporate courtesy of Schumacher’s smash on lap 30.

At that stage Vettel had victory in the bag, only for Schumacher to plough into the back of Sauber’s Sergio Perez as he ran too close behind the Mexican.

Unlike Webber’s crash into the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus in the European Grand Prix in Valencia last season when the Australian did a full somersault, Schumacher narrowly avoided also flipping.

Instead, the 42-year-old came down with force on all four wheels before smashing nose first into a barrier at the right-handed turn eight.

For the fourth consecutive year since the inception of what has become one of the best and most spectacular events on the calendar, the safety car was brought into play.

When it made its exit, and with the majority of the field making a dash into the pits for fresh rubber, there was a hope Vettel would be caught.

But instead he again opened up a comfortable cushion that only in the dying stages was threatened when Button closed to 3.9secs with three laps remaining.

A gaggle of backmarkers, though, scuppered any hope of a challenge in the dying laps, leaving Vettel to again take the plaudits and the acclaim from a packed grandstand at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Paul di Resta secured his best result of his debut campaign with sixth, executing a perfect two-stop strategy after a gamble by Force India in starting him on the more durable soft tyre compared to the faster supersofts.

Behind the Scot, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was seventh, followed by Adrian Sutil in his Force India, Massa and Perez.

Vettel made the ideal getaway in in his bid to become the youngest back-to-back world champion in Formula One history.

From his 11th pole position of the season, Vettel was faultless once the five red lights disappeared to signal the start of the 61-lap race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Alongside him on the front row, Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber made his now traditional poor start, dropping to fourth behind McLaren’s Button and Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari.

The Spaniard had also leapfrogged Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren as the Briton was squeezed out at the first corner, and worse still he was also passed by Mercedes’ Schumacher on lap one, dropping to eighth.

Hamilton spent a frustrating 24 laps stuck behind the seven-times champion in the last race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but at least managed to get by on lap four to move up to seventh.

After four laps Vettel had already opened up a 5.5secs cushion over Button, who was followed by Alonso, Webber, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes, Hamilton and Schumacher, with Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta ninth and 10th respectively.

2 AUTO Singapore

On lap five Hamilton passed Rosberg, using the DRS (drag reduction system), going around the outside of the German through the slightly angled kink of turn six.

After nine laps Rosberg was the first of the frontrunners to take on fresh rubber, followed by Alonso and Schumacher a lap later.

Alonso had dropped to fourth on lap 10 following a superb manoeuvre from Webber, initially failing into the right-handed turn 14 before managing to get by at the next right-hander at turn 16.

At the end of lap 11 Massa and Hamilton pitted together, only for the Ferrari pit crew to match their McLaren rivals and keep their man ahead of the 26-year-old.

But then on lap 12, as Hamilton attempted a move on Massa he just failed to pull off, as they turned into the next corner, the front left of the McLaren hit the right-rear tyre on the Ferrari.

Massa yesterday accused Hamilton of ’not using his mind again’ in the wake of yesterday’s minor fracas in qualifying, and in light of their collision in Monaco for which the latter was given a drive-through penalty.

With Massa sustaining a puncture, he was forced to pit immediately, however, despite running without the front-left portion of his wing, Hamilton stayed out until pitting for a replacement a lap later.

It came as no surprise when the stewards announced an investigation into the incident, and again when they gave Hamilton another drive-through penalty, which he served after 15 laps, dropping to 19th.

A lap earlier Vettel and Button made their first stops, the duo then separated by 11.4secs after 16 laps, with Di Resta in his highest position of the year in third having gambled on starting with the more durable soft tyre.

Behind him came Alonso, Webber, Rosberg and Schumacher, with Sutil eighth.

When Di Resta eventually pitted a third of the way through the race the Scot then dropped to eighth, just behind team-mate Sutil.

On lap 27, however, Di Resta comfortably went by the German who appeared to ease to one side to allow him through into fifth at that stage as Rosberg and Schumacher had pitted for a second time prior to that.

On lap 30, with Vettel holding a commanding 18.4secs lead ahead of Button, the race was then blown wide open when Schumacher crashed out in spectacular fashion.

The initial spark came from Rosberg and Sauber’s Sergio Perez dicing going into the turn, the duo banging wheels into turn one, and with the Mexican yielding.

That then allowed Schumacher to file in behind Perez, albeit too close as he ran into the back of the Sauber, sending him airborne.

Unlike Webber’s crash into the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus in Valencia last year when the Australian did a complete somersault, Schumacher’s Mercedes narrowly avoided flipping.

Instead, the 42-year-old came down with force on all four wheels before smashing into a barrier at the right-handed turn eight.

For the fourth consecutive year of this event, the safety car was deployed, prompting virtually the entire field to a make a stop for fresh rubber.

After 34 laps, Vettel’s lead had been cut to 8.9secs, with Webber third, followed by Alonso, Di Resta, Rosberg, Sutil and Hamilton in eighth.

Hamilton grabbed seventh off Sutil on lap 37, followed by a blast past Rosberg for sixth on the subsequent lap.

He then deployed the DRS to claim fifth from Di Resta, albeit with a gap ahead of 14 seconds to Alonso after 39 laps.

Further down the field Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, who crashed out in qualifying yesterday, compounded his weekend by being given a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags.

The busy stewards opted not to take any further action following the clash between Perez and Rosberg, however, announced an investigation after the race into Schumacher’s smash.

With 15 laps remaining Vettel led by 13 seconds from Button, with Webber a further 3.9secs adrift, followed by Alonso, Hamilton and Di Resta.

As the final round of pit stops unfolded, there was a scare for Vettel as Kovalainen was released into his path, forcing the Finn to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

With three laps remaining Button managed to close within 3.9secs, but came up to a gaggle of cars, including the squabbling Williams’ of Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello that put him on the back foot.

It was then a cruise to the line for Vettel, who is now one point shy of becoming the youngest driver in F1 history to claim back-to-back world titles.

In taking the chequered flag by 1.7secs from Button, as he eased up in the dying moments, Vettel now holds a 124-point lead, with just 125 available from the final five races.

Behind the leading duo Webber was third, followed by Alonso, with both men now out of the championship reckoning, along with Hamilton who finished a distant fifth, 67.7secs down.

Di Resta scored his best result of his debut season with sixth, with Rosberg, Sutil, Massa and Perez claiming the minor points.