Grand Prix 2010 Singapore Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

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.
 
Brogan said:
snowy said:
Was the snapshot taken just before first contact or just after?
Just after.

This is the one just before, but it's not a good camera angle.

At this point what is going through Webbers head?

If he concedes the position he knows Hamilton with the fresher tyres will keep ahead of him and extend his lead in the championship, his only choice would be to go for the shrinking gap and force Hamilton out wide, I don't think he deliberately took him out of the race. Unfortunately the luck was with the Aussie and not Hamilton.
 
F1Yorkshire said:
I don't think he deliberately took him out of the race.
I agree with that.
But at the same time a driver needs to know when he's beaten and concede the place.
Hamilton had the move completed and it was Webber's front wing hitting his rear tyre which caused the puncture.
 
Brogan said:
But at the same time a driver needs to know when he's beaten and concede the place.

If this was earlier in the season would he have tried as hard to keep the place? (Bad example I know :whistle:)

My point is when a championship is on the line a driver is less likely to concede a place than when its just racing for position. History shows many half arsed overtaking errors and tactical crashes by drivers at the sharp end of the season, usually commited by the champion to be.

Now hopefully Webber will turn his attention to Alonso which should let the McLaren boys sneak up on both championships.
 
F1Yorkshire said:
Now hopefully Webber will turn his attention to Alonso which should let the McLaren boys sneak up on both championships.

All depends if we have 3 or 4 more races.... :?:
 
F1Yorkshire said:
If this was earlier in the season would he have tried as hard to keep the place?

Without a doubt. Webber sees a red mist when Hamilton is around him on the circuit. Mark has initiated contact or gone off the circuit trying to defend a position against Lewis five times in the past two seasons. In Malaysia 09 before the monsoon, in Germany 09 at the start, in Australia twice, and now Singapore. He obviously feels he has something to prove against the guy, and he's never hidden his feelings in the past about Lewis jumping right into a competitive drive.

More than anything, in the last two races, Lewis has simply come up against the wrong two drivers. Massa had absolutely nothing to lose in Italy, as he was always just going to be the rear-gunner for Fernando. And considering the WDC standings and Webber's history with Hamilton, it's no surprise that Mark was willing to throw his car into the corner on the wrong line carrying too much speed.

 
I know I was in a minority but I always felt the incident between Webber and Vettel in Turkey was as much Webber's fault as Vettel's. No a popular opinion at the time, wonder if anyone feels like reassessing their view given recent events?
 
FB said:
I know I was in a minority but I always felt the incident between Webber and Vettel in Turkey was as much Webber's fault as Vettel's. No a popular opinion at the time, wonder if anyone feels like reassessing their view given recent events?
Nope.

That was 100% Vettel's fault, Mark didn't waver at all and Vettel drove into him.
 
Brogan said:
That was 100% Vettel's fault, Mark didn't waver at all and Vettel drove into him.

Might be interesting to see an on-board shot of the front wing, to see if we had any of the loading and unloading seemingly present when Vettel hit Button.
 
Brogan said:
Puhoon said:
No he didn't. He braked roughly at the same time as Hamilton did. You can see from the replay, that the gap between Webber and Hamilton is pretty stable during the braking.
Lewis came at the corner from a completely different angle so was able to brake later and carry more speed through it.

Mark had to brake earlier or harder, or both, otherwise he would have gone wide on the exit.

Even though Webber had a tighter line to the corner, I still think that he would have been able to go through it even if he hadn't collided with Hamilton.

But I'm not going to argue anymore about this topic. You have made your point clear and so have I, and I don't think that either one of us is going to change his opinion.
 
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