Singapore heros and zeros

[Ian]

The BIG zero, Luca, he said today that Singapore was a circus, well if Singapore was a circus Ferrari were certainly the clowns.

[cosworth151]

I hate to say it, but I agree with Luca. If it hadn't been for Piquet's shunt, and the ensuing mess, this would have been another boring parade, just like Valencia.

[johnbull]

I missed most of the race as we had a hill climb on at the time.

Apparently I didn't miss much. Am I correct in stating that the pace car did almost as many laps as the race winner?

How the hell Max and Bernie can have the cheek to threaten proper circuits like Spa, Silverstone, Monza, Imola etc then produce abortions like Valencia and Singapore.

[Chameleon]

To be fair to Singapore, John, it was quite a spectacular race.  The night setting and the lighting (that everyone worried about) added to the visual drama and there were a few fairly dangerous bits that helped to spice things up a bit.  It did take the safety car to really mix things up and this is what produced the unusual finishing order (together with Ferrari's monumental blunder during Massa's pit stop), but the race was not going to be a complete borefest even before that.  Hamilton was quick enough to keep Massa honest and Raikkonen was catching them both.

Like most circuits where they tell you overtaking is impossible, there were a few pretty good passes, notably by Rosberg, Hamilton and Kubica.  What makes the difference in Singapore is the chicane at turn 10; it has these nasty tortoise-like kerbs that everyone said were dangerous and, even though they ground them down a bit before the race, they were like a trap waiting for the unwary.  In the event, the only sucker they caught out was Raikkonen, but they did ensure that there was no nonsense about cutting the chicane at this venue!

The thing is, the danger of the chicane is vastly exaggerated.  All of them were taking it pretty fast and in a virtually straight line - it really isn't that difficult.  They will probably get rid of the tortoises for next year and make the circuit that much more boring, but it is good enough to watch, even if that happens.

The safety car wasn't out for that long really.  It was the long wait before the stewards decided the obvious (that Rosberg and Kubica had pitted when the pit lane was closed) that stood out more.  Rosberg made the most of it since he had somehow come out in front, and I applaud his opportunism in stretching the rules to their fullest extent.  He deserved his second place just as much as Alonso deserved to win.

Take a look at a video of the race if you can get hold of it, John - it's well worth it.

[Steven Roy]

johnbull,

Not so many laps under the safety car and it was only out once.  The setting was good but for me that was it.  The racing was dull with Lewis stuck behind DC for 20 laps.  Tells you how easy overtaking was.  I guarantee the marshals at your hillclimb were better than those in Singapore and I bet there was more thought put into the road up the hill than the circuit design.  The one thing it had in its favour was we had Valencia as a low water mark to compare it with.  It was Valencia with a sparkly setting.  To be fair the lights were fabulous.  Way better than the Moto GP earlier in the season.

[cosworth151]

The Safety Car was out twice (Piquet & Sutil). The lights were good, but I don't know how they would have been in the rain.

The course itself was very much like the old Columbus, Ohio street circuit used in the IMSA (now ALMS) series in the 1980's.

The best review of the race I've seen was on PlanetF1.com:

F1 wants Singapore to be a success; nay, it needs Singapore to be a success. The desperation was evident in the post-race purring that blissfully ignored the reality that, but for Piquet's spin into the barriers, the race would have been a snore-fest.

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3265_4210509,00.html

[Steven Roy]

Looks like my memory of the race is fading already.  Either that or my memory in general is going.  Tanks for sorting me out Cos.

[cosworth151]

I have to admit to cheating a bit on that one, Steven. I'd just watched the race video in the F1 website.