Grand Prix 2011 Singapore Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Getting closer and closer

Every time we say that Vettel won't win, he comes up trumps with a flawless performance and Monza was no different, taking pole, won the race and put a smart move on Alonso which won him the race.

Ferrari have pretty much admitted defeat and are stopping development on their frankly dissapointing 2011 car which so far has only taken one win at the rain affected British Grand Prix which was also the only track where the EBD was banned which was negatively affecting McLaren and Red Bull more than it was Ferrari. It means that Fernando Alonso will have gone 5 years without adding to his 2 world championships which he took at Renault in 2005 and 2006 and he will be more determined than ever to fix that soon. Felipe Massa looks to be just going through the motions and is a shadow of his pre 2009 self.

Jenson Button continued his strong second half of the season with a podium at Monza to further assert himself as the number one driver at McLaren, indeed his performances recently have been putting his team mate in the shade and a series of overtakes in Spa and Monza have showed that he has the mantle to be the leading driver at McLaren.

In contrast Lewis Hamilton has been somewhat troubled recently, after a crash in Spa, a spin in Hungary and just 1 podium in 8 races, he was notably less agressive in Monza, particularly when trying to overtake Schumacher who arguably should have been penalised for agressive defending which other drivers have been penalised for recently.

Apart from over agressive defending Schumacher has been driving a lot better recently and has been up at the front on a more consistent basis and surely he must be close to a podium now? Rosberg has been very unlucky recently, a good strategy in Monza was ruined when he was t-boned by the missile that was Liuzzi who was given a penalty for his spin, he claimed that he was pushed off by Kovalainen but this wasn't true and the stewards took a dim view of him.

Toro Rosso have enjoyed a very strong second half to the year with another double points finish in Monza with Alguesari continuing his Lazarus act from near expulsion to take his season total to 16, 3 ahead of his team mate Buemi who took a solitary point in the sister Toro Rosso, both will be looking to get the upper hand on each other as the season draws to a close and Riccardo in the rear view mirrors when the 2012 contracts get drawn up.

Renault showed a resurgance in Monza with Bruno Senna taking his first F1 points in 9th, he might have finished higher but he was caught up in the first corner crash which forced Petrov to retire after both cars had made it into Q3, but with Singapore being a totally different track, it will be a good test on whether the last upgrades for the car have worked.

Singapore is the first night race in F1 but apart from 2008 which was affected by deliebarate crashing and race fixing, the races have been rather dull with little action throughout the race and many fans criticising the circuit despite decent overtaking figures.

For Galahads superb write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/marina-bay-street-circuit/
 
I must admit, Singapore is not a race I look forward to.

The whole night thing leaves me cold and I find the circuit particularly uninteresting.
Totally agree!

I think its sterile and numb, the lights are the only interesting thing about it. Still hoping for a good race tho.
 
2 things - the 2010 race was entertaining enough, but the circuit is too slow i.e. the last sector - and more specifically the succession of right-angled turns onto the bay front. The races only just make the 2-hour time limit in the dry so if it is wet (which is inevitable at some point in the future) it will go over the time limit. And the last thing we want is a curtailed race.

If it does rain, it will be very interesting to see how the drivers react to racing in the wet in the night. That is unless the FIA red-flag it all.
 
Totally agree!

I think its sterile and numb, the lights are the only interesting thing about it. Still hoping for a good race tho.

At least with street circuits like Singapore, the barriers are close by, so anything can happen. Unless they've surrounded the track with 2 miles of tarmac run-off.

least it's better than valencia!
Yep, Valencia has no hope.
 
It's a strange circuit, has a nice few corners, Turn 3 is really good, as is Turn 4, but then there's lots of really horrible corners, which are further ruined by run off tarmac.
 
According to Sky Bet Vettel is 11/8 to win the race while Webber is 7/1 behind both Hamilton, Alonso and Button with 7/2, 4/1 and 6/1 respectively. This really does highlight how poor Webber has been this year, and trust me you don't even want to know about qualifying odds...

Meanwhile I have an inkling that this years race will be a good one, normally without the DRS you can get a good tow up to turn four but can't quite get alongside, with the DRS starting about a 3rd of the way down I think it would put the cars just about side by side and could provide some interesting battles.
 
Might not have it for too long anyway, I read somewhere that the locals are getting fed up of the disruption to the city each year and that they’re considering moving it elsewhere outside the city.
 
Might not have it for too long anyway, I read somewhere that the locals are getting fed up of the disruption to the city each year and that they’re considering moving it elsewhere outside the city.

From what i read, The track is at threeat but not the GP. Mr Singapore GP oraganizer is looking to move the track to an area where there are some sports falicites a stones trow away from the track

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/change-coming-in-singapore/

Anywayz, I actually dont mind the track, infact id, go as far to say I like it. There are a couple of silly fiddly bits (someones alreay mentioned the triple chicane). I think if you could bypass those then it would be a really decent track.

I just wonder if being at night there could be a few suprises, maybe but i suspect not. And i wonder how the nighttime racing will affect Ferrari and there problems.
 
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