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/
 
McLaren requested a new tyre for Hamilton, after it was punctured due to debris from Kobayashi's crash (suspected).

The FIA refused saying there was no justifiable reason.

Meanwhile Ross Brawn said the decision ultimately lies with the FIA, after responding to questions as to why Mercedes were given a spare tyre for Rosberg earlier in the season, who punctured his after running over some debris.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94819

Let the conspiracy theories begin!
Sounds like there's a precident been set then. So why not a new one for lewis:rolleyes:
 
Rosberg damaged his on his out lap, Hamilton at the end of his run.

So if he had received a new tyre it would have been 1 lap newer then the one Rosberg had replaced and therefore an unfair advantage.

Of course, the 3 existing tyres would have had the same wear as the other drivers, so any advantage would have been negated.
 
well lewis did find a solution and get past massa.he didnt break any rules,so you and him moaning about it is ridiculous.
unless you think lewis should have just let massa hold him up?but why should he have?

I'm pretty sure that was more a case of Massa not wanting to risk a collision after Lewis' impatient dive up the inside which nearly resulted in a collision.

I never said he should have just let Massa hold him up, I said Lewis should have dropped back and/or McLaren should have managed not to get Lewis behind a Ferrari in the first place. Dropping back would have been the most sensible thing to do after he couldn't get past for pretty much the entire lap!

And the reason why Massa (and I, apparently) moaned about it is because it Lewis screwed up Massa's warm up lap with his antics resulting in Massa having to pit and only being able to do one run.
Or do you think Massa was always going to pit after his outlap?
 
#F1 rain radar 19:00 SGT: Nothing to report. Radar is clear across the whole of #Singapore with T-1hr to go. Dry race expected

Radar guru on Twitter

storms quickly waning anyway as forecast; dry race expected. Best of luck! Yes, dry upstream of Marina & t-storm trajectories to N are into peninsular Malaysia. A few hints of light showers to SE.

fergieweather (2 diff tweets)
 
Lewis was unlucky to get a puncture and end up behind Webber on the grid. Webber held him up with his bad start, and he showed great race craft to come through the field several times on a circuit like this
A bit unlucky with the contact with Massa but contact on street circuits happens, MS had a worse one and he is a 7x WC

I think Lewis drive well all considered and it's a shame he didn't have a chance once again to take on Seb at the front

If this is his worse season, there are mitigating reasons, it's not like he had his best season and couldn't challenge

It will make him stronger and more prepared for the next season and his inevitable second WC
 
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