News 2010 FORMULA ONE SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

[Lucy]

Formula One returns to the darkness this weekend as the raging five-way battle for the championship rolls under the floodlights at Singapore's unique golden ribbon of a race track. Most of the teams have brought upgrades to this track, with the notable exception of Hispania Racing, whose car has remained unchanged since the first race of the season at Bahrain. Always a hard circuit on brakes with straights leading to maximum braking under full downforce, this track offers a real challenge at the best of times, but for this weekend, the recipe for a thrilling night race also includes a smattering of rain in the forecast.

Also notable by absence this weekend is the unwell Sakon Yamamoto, believed to have food poisoning, who will be replaced at Hispania by Christien Klien for the duration.

Practice One, Friday September 24th, 18:00 track local time:

A truly pioneering affair, a damp session on a wet track which dumped the circuit into a sort of no-man's-land, where only the drivers who needed to get some track experience (Including Michael Schumacher, who has yet to race here) were out burning up tyres until well into the last half hour of the allocated 90 minutes.

Eventually, as the day ended and night fell over Singapore (an occurrence not reflected in trackside light level), the track did dry out as the session was dry with a wet track, but it was noted that with no sun to bake down on the surface, the track simply remained sodden for a much longer time than normal. In addition, the kerbs (or curbs) retained a lot of water within their serrated surfaces, which lay in wait for an unsuspecting driver throwing a wheel onto them in anger.

No major incidents occurred in the session, however, and everyone got some track time, including the lesser-known test drivers for some of the midfield teams, this being their prime opportunity to go out and get some TV time and some recognition within the paddock. By the end of the session the drivers were out on prime tyres (the harder compound of the two slick tyres) to get some solid aerodynamics data which could not be obtained on the intermediate tyres, but as far as testing goes the session was something of a washout.

Mark Webber eventually took the top spot as the chequered flag waved, nicking the honours from Michael Schumacher who was technically blocked on the final lap and somewhat deprived of the bragging rights. Nevertheless, a strong showing for both him and Mercedes as the teams now disappear into their garages for the next two hours.

Official timing result for first practice:

Pos|No|Driver|Team|Time/Retired|Gap
1|6|Mark Webber|RBR-Renault|1:54.589|
2|3|Michael Schumacher|Mercedes GP|1:54.708|0.119
3|14|Adrian Sutil|Force India-Mercedes|1:54.827|0.238
4|5|Sebastian Vettel|RBR-Renault|1:55.137|0.548
5|17|Jaime Alguersuari|STR-Ferrari|1:55.160|0.571
6|1|Jenson Button|McLaren-Mercedes|1:55.333|0.744
7|15|Vitantonio Liuzzi|Force India-Mercedes|1:55.510|0.921
8|16|Sebastien Buemi|STR-Ferrari|1:55.523|0.934
9|11|Robert Kubica|Renault|1:55.672|1.083
10|12|Vitaly Petrov|Renault|1:55.914|1.325
11|8|Fernando Alonso|Ferrari|1:56.090|1.501
12|23|Kamui Kobayashi|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:56.339|1.750
13|22|Nick Heidfeld|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:56.458|1.869
14|4|Nico Rosberg|Mercedes GP|1:56.598|2.009
15|19|Heikki Kovalainen|Lotus-Cosworth|1:56.603|2.014
16|9|Rubens Barrichello|Williams-Cosworth|1:56.615|2.026
17|10|Nico Hulkenberg|Williams-Cosworth|1:56.840|2.251
18|2|Lewis Hamilton|McLaren-Mercedes|1:56.884|2.295
19|7|Felipe Massa|Ferrari|1:57.760|3.171
20|24|Timo Glock|Virgin-Cosworth|1:59.034|4.445
21|25|Jerome d'Ambrosio|Virgin-Cosworth|1:59.275|4.686
22|21|Bruno Senna|HRT-Cosworth|1:59.783|5.194
23|20|Christian Klien|HRT-Cosworth|2:03.424|8.835
24|18|Fairuz Fauzy|Lotus-Cosworth|2:05.694|11.105

Practice Two, Friday September 24th, 21:30 track local time:

Practice Two finished up much the same as Practice One did. The track remained mostly dry, but venturing just a fraction off-line resulted in catching a damp part or even a puddle and veering straight to the scene of the accident, as a few drivers found out to their cost.

Notable results for Sebastien Vettel, who topped the timesheet a full six-tenths clear of Mark Webber in the second place spot, while the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso laboured in fourth place behind Jenson Button's McLaren Mercedes in third. The true pace characteristics, however, remain something of a mystery until qualifying, when the sandbagging and testing end and the raw pace comes out to shine.

Singapore's unique charm dominates this venue in every session, and this mundane practice was no exception, including an interesting spot on the track where electromagnetic interference is creating a sort of "black spot", interfering with both TV pictures, sound, and team radios for a fraction of a second during the lap. Nobody is really sure why this is the case, but as track quirks go it's certainly an interesting one. Not that a track full of 3,000 lights and raced in the dark really needs an extra quirk.

Official timing results for Practice Two:

Pos|No|Driver|Team|Time/Retired|Gap|Laps
1|5|Sebastian Vettel|RBR-Renault|1:46.660||29
2|6|Mark Webber|RBR-Renault|1:47.287|0.627|27
3|1|Jenson Button|McLaren-Mercedes|1:47.690|1.030|28
4|8|Fernando Alonso|Ferrari|1:47.718|1.058|20
5|2|Lewis Hamilton|McLaren-Mercedes|1:47.818|1.158|28
6|9|Rubens Barrichello|Williams-Cosworth|1:48.302|1.642|31
7|7|Felipe Massa|Ferrari|1:48.341|1.681|28
8|4|Nico Rosberg|Mercedes GP|1:48.679|2.019|26
9|11|Robert Kubica|Renault|1:48.855|2.195|15
10|3|Michael Schumacher|Mercedes GP|1:48.889|2.229|31
11|10|Nico Hulkenberg|Williams-Cosworth|1:49.153|2.493|32
12|23|Kamui Kobayashi|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:49.438|2.778|30
13|22|Nick Heidfeld|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:49.558|2.898|26
14|12|Vitaly Petrov|Renault|1:49.608|2.948|30
15|15|Vitantonio Liuzzi|Force India-Mercedes|1:49.896|3.236|28
16|14|Adrian Sutil|Force India-Mercedes|1:49.984|3.324|11
17|17|Jaime Alguersuari|STR-Ferrari|1:50.191|3.531|31
18|16|Sebastien Buemi|STR-Ferrari|1:50.896|4.236|35
19|19|Heikki Kovalainen|Lotus-Cosworth|1:51.878|5.218|30
20|24|Timo Glock|Virgin-Cosworth|1:52.150|5.490|22
21|25|Lucas di Grassi|Virgin-Cosworth|1:53.431|6.771|25
22|18|Jarno Trulli|Lotus-Cosworth|1:53.526|6.866|27
23|21|Bruno Senna|HRT-Cosworth|1:54.725|8.065|27
24|20|Christian Klien|HRT-Cosworth|1:55.542|8.882|25

Following session times:

Session|Date|Local time|UTC/GMT|Time remaining
FP3|Saturday 25th September|19:00|11:00|Session ended
Qualifying|Saturday 25th September|22:00|14:00|Session ended
Race|Sunday 26th September|20:00|12:00|Session ended

 

[Lucy]

In the news today before I get into anything race related, in an interview with the BBC's pundit Eddie Jordan, Bernie Ecclestone has said that F1's move to HD coverage will take place for the 2011 season.

That being the good news, in the same interview it was also revealed that the scheduled Korean F1 Grand Prix is still uncertain, as the track failed to pass its 90-day pre-race inspection, but the race stands on the calendar. When asked about the future of F1 and how packed the calendar will be for 2012, the reply was that 20 races (planned for 2011) will be the maximum number of events on the calendar. In context as per the new planned racing venues in Austin, Texas and the proposed street race in Rome, Ecclestone's response was that it was perhaps time to look back at older venues and see which ones do not meet up to scratch and "move on", the underlying hint of course being that the older tracks would be dropped from the schedule.

Let's see where I left the Singapore-specific stuff...

Practice Three, Saturday September 25th, 19:00 track local time:

I didn't see this session, so just a result table for it:

Pos|No|Driver|Team|Time/Retired|Gap|Laps
1|5|Sebastian Vettel|RBR-Renault|1:48.028||15
2|8|Fernando Alonso|Ferrari|1:48.650|0.622|16
3|2|Lewis Hamilton|McLaren-Mercedes|1:49.000|0.972|12
4|7|Felipe Massa|Ferrari|1:49.023|0.995|18
5|4|Nico Rosberg|Mercedes GP|1:49.056|1.028|17
6|6|Mark Webber|RBR-Renault|1:49.212|1.184|13
7|10|Nico Hulkenberg|Williams-Cosworth|1:49.304|1.276|17
8|11|Robert Kubica|Renault|1:49.520|1.492|16
9|14|Adrian Sutil|Force India-Mercedes|1:49.916|1.888|15
10|16|Sebastien Buemi|STR-Ferrari|1:49.949|1.921|16
11|12|Vitaly Petrov|Renault|1:50.040|2.012|15
12|9|Rubens Barrichello|Williams-Cosworth|1:50.053|2.025|16
13|1|Jenson Button|McLaren-Mercedes|1:50.060|2.032|12
14|17|Jaime Alguersuari|STR-Ferrari|1:50.067|2.039|16
15|3|Michael Schumacher|Mercedes GP|1:50.067|2.039|14
16|15|Vitantonio Liuzzi|Force India-Mercedes|1:50.868|2.840|16
17|22|Nick Heidfeld|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:51.016|2.988|15
18|23|Kamui Kobayashi|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:51.027|2.999|17
19|24|Timo Glock|Virgin-Cosworth|1:52.340|4.312|14
20|19|Heikki Kovalainen|Lotus-Cosworth|1:53.146|5.118|15
21|25|Lucas di Grassi|Virgin-Cosworth|1:53.297|5.269|15
22|18|Jarno Trulli|Lotus-Cosworth|1:53.681|5.653|17
23|20|Christian Klien|HRT-Cosworth|1:54.826|6.798|16
24|21|Bruno Senna|HRT-Cosworth|1:55.367|7.339|16

Qualifying, Saturday September 25th, 22:00 track local time:

Big loser this session was Felipe Massa, whose gearbox packed up before he could set a qualifying time, leaving him 24th on the grid. In a dramatic finish to the session, Fernando Alonso clinched pole position after a lary moment from Sebastien Vettel saw him getting a touch too friendly with the barriers and stopped him sneaking pole away from the Spaniard.

Results:

Pos|No|Driver|Team|Q1|Q2|Q3|Laps
1|8|Fernando Alonso|Ferrari|1:46.541| 1:45.809| 1:45.390|21
2|5|Sebastian Vettel|RBR-Renault|1:46.960| 1:45.561| 1:45.457|17
3|2|Lewis Hamilton|McLaren-Mercedes|1:48.296| 1:46.042| 1:45.571|18
4|1|Jenson Button|McLaren-Mercedes|1:48.032| 1:46.490| 1:45.944|18
5|6|Mark Webber|RBR-Renault|1:47.088| 1:45.908| 1:45.977|19
6|9|Rubens Barrichello|Williams-Cosworth|1:48.183| 1:47.019| 1:46.236|22
7|4|Nico Rosberg|Mercedes GP|1:48.554| 1:46.783| 1:46.443|18
8|11|Robert Kubica|Renault|1:47.657| 1:46.949| 1:46.593|15
9|3|Michael Schumacher|Mercedes GP|1:48.425| 1:47.160| 1:46.702|17
10|23|Kamui Kobayashi|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:48.908| 1:47.599| 1:47.884|18
11|17|Jaime Alguersuari|STR-Ferrari|1:48.127| 1:47.666||16
12|10|Nico Hulkenberg|Williams-Cosworth|1:47.984| 1:47.674||13
13|12|Vitaly Petrov|Renault|1:48.906| 1:48.165||13
14|16|Sebastien Buemi|STR-Ferrari|1:49.063| 1:48.502||16
15|22|Nick Heidfeld|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|1:48.696| 1:48.557||16
16|14|Adrian Sutil|Force India-Mercedes|1:48.496| 1:48.899||14
17|15|Vitantonio Liuzzi|Force India-Mercedes|1:48.988| 1:48.961||11
18|24|Timo Glock|Virgin-Cosworth|1:50.721|||9
19|19|Heikki Kovalainen|Lotus-Cosworth|1:50.915|||9
20|25|Lucas di Grassi|Virgin-Cosworth|1:51.107|||9
21|18|Jarno Trulli|Lotus-Cosworth|1:51.641|||10
22|20|Christian Klien|HRT-Cosworth|1:52.946|||7
23|21|Bruno Senna|HRT-Cosworth|1:54.174|||9
24|7|Felipe Massa|Ferrari|No time|||2

Race, Sunday 26th September, 20:00 track local time:

SPOILERS AHEAD - READ NO FURTHER UNLESS YOU WANT TO KNOW THE RESULT :dry:



Major incidents in this race dominated the session with several safety cars punctuating the race into distinct sections. Drama was in play from the moment the lights went out (The red race start lights, thankfully not the 3,000 lights keeping the track lit up ), with the first safety car being deployed as early as lap 3 for an incident involving Vitantonio Liuzzi, who retired with broken rear suspension very early into the race. At this, Red Bull took the decision to pit Mark Webber and swap his option tyres for the prime, leaving him to run the remainder of the race on the harder tyre and dumping him, eventually, to 11th and seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Not for long did he stay there, as to make his strategy of any use he needed to swiftly pass the three cars in front, which he did in short order, screaming past Timo Glock with relative ease, battling around Kamui Kobayashi and slipping up the inside of Michael Schumacher with all the practised ease one would expect from a man bidding to be F1 world champion.

In the meantime, of course, Alonso remained firmly in control of the race despite Vettel sticking to his gearbox hustling him through every corner. Not one easily tempted into mistakes, the Ferrari driver lead throughout, navigating his way past traffic and the twisting, greasy track surface alike to build up a substantial lead over Webber, sufficient to pit and rejoin without losing position to him (32 seconds being anticipated pit loss).

When it happened, both Alonso and Vettel pitted in unison, and the drilled teams made short work of swapping the tyres out for both cars. Vettel had a brief moment with the anti-stall system on exiting the box, causing his clutch to cut in and bog him down a touch before he could get cleanly away, and both this small hiccup and the fact that he could not continue longer into the race "handed the high ground firmly to Alonso" (Martin Brundle, BBC F1 commentator).

That was that, seemingly. Alonso rejoined in the lead and Vettel behind him in second place, and the action took place much further down the field with the McLaren cars, previously running third and fourth - neither were able to pull out enough of a gap to Mark Webber to avoid being jumped by the Australian after their pit stops, Lewis Hamilton leading Jenson Button up behind the Red Bull through traffic as all three homed in on the two front runners.

It was the traffic that ended Lewis Hamilton's race, as Webber pulled out to lap a Virgin Racing driver who had held him up after the night's second safety car, caused when Kobayashi dumped his Sauber into the railings at turn 18 and collected Bruno Senna into a rather hefty collision just before the bridge, pulled off and the race restarted, Hamilton saw an opportunity to pass and took it, screaming up the inside of Webber as they approached the left turn of Turn Seven. Webber retained the inside line for the corner, and Hamilton believed his job done, turning for the corner in such a way that Mark drove for the only route left available to him and suddenly found it full of McLaren. The result - inevitable contact, and Lewis was unceremoniously dumped to the outside of the track, and out of the race.

Mark raced on with, as he put it, "A hell of a lot of vibration from the front end". After the race it was found that his front right tyre, which had made contact with the McLaren, was significantly buckled inwards from the rim of the wheel, and as was commented at the time, he was very lucky that the tyre remained attached to the wheel and did not puncture, allowing him to roll into third place, and maintain the lead of the Drivers' Championship.

That lead is now only nine points from Alonso, though, as the Spaniard blazed through the lights to take 25 points and a well-earned victory from pole position to flag, with Vettel finishing in second just two tenths of a second (for context, the amount of time it takes you to blink, roughly) behind, in a race he perhaps should have and could have won. Regardless, it remained Ferrari's day, and Alonso's day, neither him nor Vettel put off by the stricken Lotus abandoned on the start/finish straight a lap before the end of the race. It belonged to Heikki Kovalainen, who appears to be considering a new career in firefighting after snatching an extinguisher from the Williams garage and taking on the job of fire marshall. Lotus chief Mike Gascoyne later reported on Twitter that "Heikki was hit by buemi and as he spun the fuel take prv cracked open and caused an airbox fire", which he navigated to a spot along the pit wall. There was no safety car for this incident, though the final turn on the lap was under double waved yellow flags as the driver was on track.

Race result:

Pos|No|Driver|Team|Laps|Time/Retired|Grid|Pts
1|8|Fernando Alonso|Ferrari|61|1:57:53.579|1|25
2|5|Sebastian Vettel|RBR-Renault|61|+0.2 secs|2|18
3|6|Mark Webber|RBR-Renault|61|+29.1 secs|5|15
4|1|Jenson Button|McLaren-Mercedes|61|+30.3 secs|4|12
5|4|Nico Rosberg|Mercedes GP|61|+49.3 secs|7|10
6|9|Rubens Barrichello|Williams-Cosworth|61|+56.1 secs|6|8
7|11|Robert Kubica|Renault|61|+86.5 secs|8|6
8|14|Adrian Sutil|Force India-Mercedes|61|+112.4 secs|15|4
9|10|Nico Hulkenberg|Williams-Cosworth|61|+112.8 secs|17|2
10|7|Felipe Massa|Ferrari|61|+113.3 secs|24|1
11|12|Vitaly Petrov|Renault|60|+1 Lap|12|
12|17|Jaime Alguersuari|STR-Ferrari|60|+1 Lap|11|
13|3|Michael Schumacher|Mercedes GP|60|+1 Lap|9|
14|16|Sebastien Buemi|STR-Ferrari|60|+1 Lap|13|
15|25|Lucas di Grassi|Virgin-Cosworth|59|+2 Laps|20|
16|19|Heikki Kovalainen|Lotus-Cosworth|58|+3 Laps|19|
Ret|24|Timo Glock|Virgin-Cosworth|49|+12 Laps|18|
Ret|22|Nick Heidfeld|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|36|Accident|14|
Ret|2|Lewis Hamilton|McLaren-Mercedes|35|Accident|3|
Ret|20|Christian Klien|HRT-Cosworth|31|+30 Laps|22|
Ret|23|Kamui Kobayashi|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|30|Accident|10|
Ret|21|Bruno Senna|HRT-Cosworth|29|Accident|23|
Ret|18|Jarno Trulli|Lotus-Cosworth|27|+34 Laps|21|
Ret|15|Vitantonio Liuzzi|Force India-Mercedes|1|+60 Laps|16|

Drivers' Championship after round 15:

Pos|Driver|Nationality|Team|Points
1| Mark Webber|Australian| RBR-Renault|202
2| Fernando Alonso|Spanish| Ferrari|191
3| Lewis Hamilton|British| McLaren-Mercedes|182
4| Sebastian Vettel|German| RBR-Renault|181
5| Jenson Button|British| McLaren-Mercedes|177
6| Felipe Massa|Brazilian| Ferrari|126
7| Nico Rosberg|German| Mercedes GP|122
8| Robert Kubica|Polish| Renault|114
9| Michael Schumacher|German| Mercedes GP|46
10| Adrian Sutil|German| Force India-Mercedes|46
11| Rubens Barrichello|Brazilian| Williams-Cosworth|39
12| Kamui Kobayashi|Japanese| BMW Sauber-Ferrari|21
13| Nico Hulkenberg|German| Williams-Cosworth|20
14| Vitaly Petrov|Russian| Renault|19
15| Vitantonio Liuzzi|Italian| Force India-Mercedes|13
16| Sebastien Buemi|Swiss| STR-Ferrari|7
17| Pedro de la Rosa|Spanish| BMW Sauber-Ferrari|6
18| Jaime Alguersuari|Spanish| STR-Ferrari|3
19| Heikki Kovalainen|Finnish| Lotus-Cosworth|0
20| Karun Chandhok|Indian| HRT-Cosworth|0
21| Lucas di Grassi|Brazilian| Virgin-Cosworth|0
22| Jarno Trulli|Italian| Lotus-Cosworth|0
23| Bruno Senna|Brazilian| HRT-Cosworth|0
24| Timo Glock|German| Virgin-Cosworth|0
25| Sakon Yamamoto|Japanese| HRT-Cosworth|0
26| Nick Heidfeld|German| BMW Sauber-Ferrari|0

Constructor's Championship after Round 15:

POSITION|TEAM|POINTS
1|Red Bull-Renault|383
2|McLaren-Mercedes|359
3|Ferrari|316
4|Mercedes GP|168
5|Renault|133
6|Force India-Mercedes|62
7|Williams-Cosworth|57
8|BMW Sauber-Ferrari|27
9|Toro Rosso-Ferrari|10
10|Lotus-Cosworth|0
11|Virgin-Cosworth|0
12|Hispania-Cosworth|0

 

[mjessick]

Vettel had a brief moment with the anti-stall system on exiting the box, causing his clutch to cut in and bog him down a touch before he could get cleanly away, and both this small hiccup and the fact that he could not continue longer into the race "handed the high ground firmly to Alonso" (Martin Brundle, BBC F1 commentator).

It was clear from the view of Vettel's steering wheel shown on our telecast that he tried to leave the pits initially in second gear.

 

[Lucy]

It was clear from the view of Vettel's steering wheel shown on our telecast that he tried to leave the pits initially in second gear.

Yup, that's exactly right! He forgot to downshift to first on entering the box, so when he dumped the clutch trying to pull away he didn't have the right amount of power to rev ratio because he was in second gear, not first. The car has a system built in to prevent it stalling (in case that happened on the grid, which makes bad things like people driving into the back of you happen), which effectively slams the clutch back in if it thinks the car isn't producing sufficient power to prevent a stall - hence his little moment and why you can see his left hand working the clutch a few times on the onboard shots.