If there's one thing I will happily admit now, I haven't got a clue who will win this race. In the past I've attempted to look at the recent form of the various teams and try and match that with the suitability of the car to the circuit and from there make my predictions. Most of those have been wrong I grant you however this time I feel they would be even more wrong than usual.
If there is one thing I am prepared to bet this season the eventual winner of the drivers crown will have done so as much because his rivals have blown their own chances as he has in scoring the most points. In a season this tight with currently six drivers in with a chance of the title on both a mathematical basis and more crucially on performance of their cars I don't think there has been as potentially a tight a finish to a season for a long time.
I think it's clear that barring a huge pile up or a mass batch of mistakes the eventual winner will come from RBR, McLaren or Ferrari but the question is, which team will turn up on the day? Which driver will make the least mistakes and who will have luck on their side?
From outside the top three teams there are a batch of contenders waiting to pick up where the others leave off. Mercedes has a driver who knows how to perform at this track while Renault, Williams, Force India and Sauber will all think they are in with a shout.
Towards the back of the field, sadly for Red Bulls Italian brother it seems to be more about making up the numbers from here on in and not having to suffer the ignominy of being the first established team to be overtaken in qualifying (in outright pace) by one of the three new guys.
As for the three new teams themselves, the battle for 10th place is becoming all the more important with the financial implications involved. Of the three, Lotus would realistically, although they would not want to, be the least harmed by not finishing in 10th hence the reason they are spending more time focusing on the 2011 car. Virgin have announced that they are bringing a further upgrade package to Singapore in order to push as hard as they can for that 10th place spot. Currently all that is required to pinch that is for one of the teams to get a driver into 12th spot at the chequered flag. Given the high retirement rate and potential for problems at this circuit that wouldn't seem as far off a prospect as it would be at other tracks with even HRT hoping their cars could make it to the line and allow them some much needed cash if they are to survive next year.
Finally, in terms of driver changes, Paul Di Resta will once again miss out on a Friday run as he did in Belgium to give the regular Force India line up more track time. Virgin will run the Belgian, Jerome D'Ambrosio in place of Lucas Di Grassi which I believe sees the first Belgian on an F1 track since Bertrand Gachot. Lastly it's a welcome back to Nick Heidfeld who replaces Pedro De la Rosa at Sauber.
If there is one thing I am prepared to bet this season the eventual winner of the drivers crown will have done so as much because his rivals have blown their own chances as he has in scoring the most points. In a season this tight with currently six drivers in with a chance of the title on both a mathematical basis and more crucially on performance of their cars I don't think there has been as potentially a tight a finish to a season for a long time.
I think it's clear that barring a huge pile up or a mass batch of mistakes the eventual winner will come from RBR, McLaren or Ferrari but the question is, which team will turn up on the day? Which driver will make the least mistakes and who will have luck on their side?
From outside the top three teams there are a batch of contenders waiting to pick up where the others leave off. Mercedes has a driver who knows how to perform at this track while Renault, Williams, Force India and Sauber will all think they are in with a shout.
Towards the back of the field, sadly for Red Bulls Italian brother it seems to be more about making up the numbers from here on in and not having to suffer the ignominy of being the first established team to be overtaken in qualifying (in outright pace) by one of the three new guys.
As for the three new teams themselves, the battle for 10th place is becoming all the more important with the financial implications involved. Of the three, Lotus would realistically, although they would not want to, be the least harmed by not finishing in 10th hence the reason they are spending more time focusing on the 2011 car. Virgin have announced that they are bringing a further upgrade package to Singapore in order to push as hard as they can for that 10th place spot. Currently all that is required to pinch that is for one of the teams to get a driver into 12th spot at the chequered flag. Given the high retirement rate and potential for problems at this circuit that wouldn't seem as far off a prospect as it would be at other tracks with even HRT hoping their cars could make it to the line and allow them some much needed cash if they are to survive next year.
Finally, in terms of driver changes, Paul Di Resta will once again miss out on a Friday run as he did in Belgium to give the regular Force India line up more track time. Virgin will run the Belgian, Jerome D'Ambrosio in place of Lucas Di Grassi which I believe sees the first Belgian on an F1 track since Bertrand Gachot. Lastly it's a welcome back to Nick Heidfeld who replaces Pedro De la Rosa at Sauber.
