Singapore Grand Prix 2016

[AndyL]

Qualifying complete and Hamilton has been on the back foot all weekend. Excellent lap from Ricciardo to take 2nd from him. But Mercedes seem to have solved the problem they had in Singapore last year, and have great pace, so a Mercedes 1-2 is still on the cards.

From the replays, Perez is surely going to take a penalty. He slowed down by only 0.1s past the double yellow flags for the Haas, and then passed another car under the yellows for Button's incident.

[N4D13]

Is there an explanation for Lewis' poor performance yet? Rosberg outperforming him is not a huge surprise, but the margin is way more than you could have expected.

[Nitrodaze]

Is there an explanation for Lewis' poor performance yet? Rosberg outperforming him is not a huge surprise, but the margin is way more than you could have expected.

He had brake problems which prevented him from completing single fast lap in practise 3. He kind of went int qualifying without a proper preparation for it. Vettel had problems with setup and a broken rear suspension sort of screwed up his weekend.

Singapore is for Rosberg to win or lose. I think with the Redbull having a better start than the Mercedes, Ricciado could take the lead from the start and win his first race of 2016. But he needs Rosberg to have a bad start.

If Rosberg manages to get it together, he would scamper off in the distance and end the weekend back in the driver championship lead by a minimum of 5 points. But if Hamilton finish where he starts the race, it could be as much as 13 points.

[steveaki13]

Lewis has had a mare of a weekend however its the race where the prizes are handed out. Nico was awesome yesterday and is really hitting his stride now. Gonna be an interesting title battle.

I really hope today we can see an exciting race with incident, action and an actual race for the win. Whether that is the Bulls challenging Mercedes (ideal) or Lewis jumping Daniel and racing Nico I dont care as such. I just hope Nico doesnt scream off into the distance again. Or Lewis for that matter should a bizzare first lap unfold.

[Mia 01]

the start will be interesting. It´s hard to overtake here.

Go Kimi!

[steveaki13]

Go Kimi +1

Ricciardo into the lead from the start would be awesome to keep the Mercedes in a fight.

By the way..........

Morning/afternoon/evening everyone

[steveaki13]

I really hope for chaos and carnage today..... a real race and mix ups galore 7 finishers anyone? :D

[Tazio]

Morning dudes! I'm really looking forward to this start!

[steveaki13]

anyone watching with me?

[steveaki13]

Hey Taz :beer:Probs with my laptop connecting to the forum aside I am here.

[steveaki13]

Grosjean is out of the race before it starts..... oh dear. 21 left

[Tazio]

Top o' the morning mate :)

[Koz]

Kimi will do good!!

[gm99]

Wow, that didn't take long for the safety car to appear!
Good start by Rosberg.

[steveaki13]

The Hulk smashed out straight away. 20 left

[steveaki13]

Sadly with Nico in front of Daniel it could be race over already. :(

[Tazio]

Safety car already!

[Tazio]

I really hope for chaos and carnage today..... a real race and mix ups galore 7 finishers anyone? :D :stareup:

[Koz]

Lewis is so much faster than Ricciardo. He's a sitting duck :(

Or not.

[N4D13]

Alonso really has a thing for safety cars in Singapore. :p

[steveaki13]

that marshall was mighty lucky

[Tazio]

Alonso train.

[steveaki13]

brake saving sounds an issue. pretty dull race up front again I fear.

Vettel is coming through the field nicely, Alonso is creating a huge gap between Kimi & himself.

[gm99]

Kvyat showing Max who's the Boss :D

[steveaki13]

Glad the battle for 8th is so exciting. The rest is boring as......

[steveaki13]

Cant believe Max is moaning about anothers driving.

Toro Rosso bascially telling Kyvat to move out the way. Nice...... Hope Kyvat dont listen

[Tazio]

Kyvat giving Max a dose of his own medicine!

[Tazio]

Kimi gonna' get The Boss

[gm99]

It's really a shame Vettel had to start from the back - I have a feeling he could have mixed it up at the front today.

[steveaki13]

Go Kimi

[steveaki13]

anyone still awake?

[gm99]

I'm not sure pitting Kimi was the best of ideas...

[N4D13]

I am. Right now the race is the only thing between me and my lunch. :p

[steveaki13]

Suddenly Rosberg is massively under pressure.

20 seconds ahead. 11 laps left and almost 4 seconds a lap different.

The last few laps are going to suddenly be good hopefully.

[N4D13]

I get the impression that by trying to get Lewis into third place, Mercedes have also (indirectly) cost themselves the win. Go figure.

[steveaki13]

Damn. 5 laps to go and Rosberg has got him covered all of a sudden. Same lap time.

[Koz]

One more lap and he would have had him!

[steveaki13]

At least it livened up the end of a average race.

[N4D13]

Jesus, that was one hell of a tense finish. I'm delighted that Nico won because I feel that he really deserved to, but you can only feel sorry for Danny Boy, who has just missed his third chance to win a race this season.

This wasn't all that boring for a Singapore GP after all. :)

[Mekola]

Kvyat and Magnussen on points. When they most needed to do so.

[AndyL]

That race really woke up in the final quarter didn't it.

Great results for Alonso and Vettel.

[AndyL]

Sky got a classic Kimi interview after the race.

Rachel Brooks: "It was the timing of that pit stop wasn't it, they undercut you"
Kimi: "Yeah... mumble mumble..." [turns round and walks away]

:D

[N. Jones]

Great start, boring end.

[Mia 01]

After Kimi overtok Lewis on track he deserved a podium spot but the team let him down.

[airshifter]

Well at least the race livened up with some hopes of action on track. Ricciardo was closing quick but it seemed that Mercedes left some brakes in hand so Nico could fight him off at the end.

Good weekend for Nico.

Ferrari probably have cost themselves a podium.

Great drive by Seb coming from the back.

Max got punked with some of his own tactics.

Ricciardo still got it done.

Great strategy and drive by Perez as well. Shame the Hulk was out so quick, as it could have been a really good weekend for Force India.



Marshalls for donkey of the race.... that was too close.

For me, several eligible for driver of the race, and hard to pick just one.

[zako85]

That was a gratuitously long show for a dry race...

[Tazio]

What has F1 come too! From the sound of the messages from their respective race engineers you would have thought that Nico, and especially Lewis were in danger of brake failure. Then I read this:

Race winner Rosberg was asked to manage his brakes early on, and not long after that he was told "This is serious Nico, we do need that brake management."Hamilton (https://www.motorstore.com/en/f1/drivers/lewis-hamilton?utm_source=www.motorsport.com&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=E-Store%20Button&utm_content=Article%20%7C%20Mercedes%20drivers%20d idn%27t%20have%20brake%20problems%20in%20Singapore&pass=1) also needed to be careful with his brakes until the final part of the race, when he was allowed to push.
Lowe stressed that the car is designed to fine margins, and the team was always aware that brakes would have to be nursed at certain venues.
"They didn't have any problems with brakes, it's a question of management," Lowe told Motorsport.com.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-drivers-didn-t-have-brake-problems-in-singapore-828326/
A real chess match F1 has become imo.

[N4D13]

What has F1 come too! From the sound of the messages from their respective race engineers you would have thought that Nico, and especially Lewis were in danger of brake failure. Then I read this:

A real chess match F1 has become imo.
There's also the possibility that Paddy Lowe was talking the problem down so as to make Mercedes sound bulletproof. That's not really unrealistic considering that they have to maintain their PR facade.

Even so, I would imagine that it's a bit of both; they had to nurse their brakes before things got to a dangerous point. And that's a pretty serious concern, isn't it?

[steveaki13]

What has F1 come too! From the sound of the messages from their respective race engineers you would have thought that Nico, and especially Lewis were in danger of brake failure. Then I read this:

A real chess match F1 has become imo.

I agree. I know I am probably going to be shot down for this, but F1 needs more risk, danger and cars on the edge. That makes the racing exciting. Knowings its brave, risky and that anyone could crash, spin or retire at any moment. It also mixes up the championship battles.

These days racing is so predictable. There is little chance of mechanical failures or variation of strategy. Its very dull IMO and a sport I once loved with a passion is close to me switching off.

[The Black Knight]

I agree. I know I am probably going to be shot down for this, but F1 needs more risk, danger and cars on the edge. That makes the racing exciting. Knowings its brave, risky and that anyone could crash, spin or retire at any moment. It also mixes up the championship battles.

These days racing is so predictable. There is little chance of mechanical failures or variation of strategy. Its very dull IMO and a sport I once loved with a passion is close to me switching off.

I'm still of the opinion that strategy has had vastly less influence on racing since refueling was banned. I think this needs to be brought back and remove DRS. I'd rather see 2 great overtakes in a race than 200 DRS moves. I'd rather not know what strategy someone is on than have strategy predictably dictated by tyre wear. The sport was vastly more entertaining 7-8 years ago when Pirelli were not part of it. This weekend was the first weekend I haven't seen a race live in over ten years. I didn't bother watching the race after either because it was predictable and boring.

F1 and Bernie made a bad choice keeping Pirelli in the sport. From the sounds of it the teams want Michellin but Bernie, for whatever reason, wanted to keep Pirelli. Anyway, I hope F1 gets back to great racing next year but with the cars being heavier, DRS being there, no refuelling and shite tires, it seems to me like it is just going to be more of the same.

[zako85]

I'm still of the opinion that strategy has had vastly less influence on racing since refueling was banned. I think this needs to be brought back and remove DRS. I'd rather see 2 great overtakes in a race than 200 DRS moves.


I enjoyed watching many races of the 1990s where the entire team strategy was setup in order to execute a single deceive overtake. And that one overtake did matter a lot.

Besides that, I think the current F1 strategists still do not understand that the beauty of the sport of racing is in close racing rather than easy overtakes. I'd rather watch two cars following each other for half an hour or longer within about one second range from each other and setting up one another for a crucial overtake, rather than watch an automatic DRS overtake as soon as a car within the DRS range.

[Starter]

Several changes:
Three types of tires - dry, intermediate and wet. Tires must last the race distance - replacements only allowed for flats or weather changes.
No DRS.
Brake discs must be steel, pads are free.

[Nitrodaze]

What has F1 come too! From the sound of the messages from their respective race engineers you would have thought that Nico, and especially Lewis were in danger of brake failure. Then I read this:

A real chess match F1 has become imo.

I felt it was odd that they would say it was serious when not anywhere near the end of the race. But among the Mercedes weakness is brake fragility. Remember how Hamilton's brake failed in Canada in 2014 and the same happened to Rosberg a year later l think. Hence might be a real concern for the Mercs, shame nobody could capitalize on this. I thought Ricciado was going to do something interesting. I certainly thought Raikonnen was going to steal a podium at one point. Unfortunately, it was one of those races where nothing interesting was happening at the front.

Tell you what, l really enjoyed the part where Max was trying to get past Kyvat. What a joy to watch Kyvat show his racecraft fighting a superior Redbull car with his 2015 Ferrari shod Torro Rosso. He has still got it and it would be a shame to lose him from F1.