Grand Prix 2015 Singapore Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Next stop Singapore for a race you either love or hate. Its F1’s premier night race and whilst the racing has not always been amazing its always looked magnificent. Unlike the Monza horse powerfest this place is not all about the grunt of your engine, which could possibly be good name for us. As much as I admire Lewis Hamilton’s skill and I think he’s on amazing form this year I don’t want to just be watching time trials. I want to see him pushed to go even better and its quite possible we might get that this time out. Nico Rosberg’s engine in flames in Italy pretty much spells the end of any sort of title race so now its all about pride and one upmanship from here on out.

Why? Well the temperature will play a part. The Ferrari has always looked better in warmer weather and they are certainly better on their tyres. We all know when Vettel gets a sniff of it like in Malaysia he suddenly comes alive and Singapore has always been a track he’s been good on. The other part is the fact that the Red Bull’s will certainly come into play here as well. The Renault engine won’t hinder them as much as it has done and we all know how good that chassie is. Ricciardo and Kvyat have both been chomping at the bit to show what they can do and I expect them to jump in the mix like they did at Hungary and Monaco. The great news as well is that they’ve altered the track layout slightly in order to give more overtaking opportunities. If that works and, like I predict Ferrari and Red Bull will be closer, we might maybe possibly have a fight for a race win.

Another team looking forward to Singapore will be Mclaren whose Honda engine will be less of a millstone round their neck. Alonso has been talking about how good they will be at Singapore and after yet another DNF in Italy you have to wonder how much pressure the team feel to give their superstar something to get excited about. I saw Alonso talking to Flavio on the gird last time out. Button into the pitwall anyone?

Williams won’t be looking forward to this one as much as they will probably sink back into the pack. Even if they don’t I’m sure tactically they’ll find a way to put themselves back there. Force India’s B car will be fully up and running but I don’t expect them to be up where they’ve been for the last couple of races due to the circuit. Will the Enstone team even managed to make it there? I can see them taking the option of skipping the flyaway to save money and keep the team afloat.

This race is always going to look beautiful given the setting and the cars under the lights but I think what F1 needs and we all want is and actual race. I’m strangely optimistic we might get one.
 
its just they are not able to extract what they could out of the engine

Maybe it was the Honda engine that had the clever arrangement to store fuel not used in a location past the meter, not Ferrari like everyone thought.
 
I know I said e every week but at this point of season I prefer grand prixs towards end of the season to the start as there great tracks spa monza Singapore suzuka austin interlagos & I think we will get a race because if kimi & vettel can outqualify nico also gey within a few tenths of Lewis on the circuit that suits Mercedes the most in the season. Then what can they do around Singapore especially as vettel likes this place at 1 point he was 2secs a lap faster in 2013
 
I remember some good action in Singapore so I've always thought we've had some goid races.

Kimi just driving straight off into the barrier. Schumie and Perez bashing into each other. Rosberg not understanding about white lines.

Maybe its just me.
 
I've always felt Singapore is more of a test of concentration than Monaco is - there's been a few incidents down the years of heads being lost. It might be the 8pm start, the lights and the glare or whatever, but there's been a history of daft crashes from Schumacher, Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Karthikeyan, Piquet, Perez, Sutil and most likely Maldonado.
 
Singapore is very demanding because of the humidity and the no of corners on the track makes it testing as you're going it for 105 seconds a lap and there is no real place to take a breather

The one thing I would change is the first corner because it is a mickey mouse chicane and its a bit like Monaco there is nowhere to go even if the guy in front makes a bad start
 
Of particular interest this year, and with the potential to have a major effect on how the race unfolds, will be how brakes cope. Singapore is just as tough on brakes as Montreal but ambient temperatures are higher and with engine power gains made by Mercedes and Ferrari the strain on brake temperatures will be higher than last year's.
 
Which should be Lewis.....if he's not put off his game by the media ramming this Senna thing down his throat constantly.

That amount of wins in that amount of races would be a great acheivement. But then the amount of wins he has now in the amount of races is also a great achievement, so I'm not sure what difference it would make. It won't break any record (both Vettel and Schumacher got to that many wins quicker) and it won't make the slightest bit of difference to the fact that Hamilton has already proved he is one of the greats of our time.

Popping Senna's name on an article linked with Hamilton gets people to read it though. You can see theres not much to talk about in F1 this season.

Sorry.

Media rant.
 
I read another comment somewhere else. Others counted how many finishes Senna-Schumacher-Vettel-Hamilton needed to achieve 37-41 wins. I think it's a better comparison, though it is still far from ideal.

Senna: 88-89-91-96-97
Schumacher: 91-92-95-96-99
Vettel: 96-97-98-116-124
Hamilton: 132-134-136-137-?
 
The comparison is utterly blunted by the fact that Senna was in the 1993 McLaren-Ford (Underpowered Customer), Schumacher was in the competitive 2000 Ferrari, Hamilton was in a dominant Mercedes and Vettel wasn't.

Also, where is Alain Prost?
 
Prost: 101-102-106-109-112

Also, there was maybe 16 races then, 19 races now. It's no comparison really. But I think it is still better than looking at the number of starts.
 
All the stats are irrelevent really. It just an excuse to go on about Senna.

Its a warm up for going on about Senna when Hamilton becomes 3 times world champion. They've had those articles written since before the season started.
 
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It's not even true in any case. Senna won his 41st race with his 158th start, and Hamilton will have his 161st start in Singapore. Even if he were to win his 41st, it wouldn't be the same thing just because Senna partook in 3 other races before he died.
 
Of course we might end up with Smog stops play.

IMG_20150914_174814.jpg


Not looking healthy is it.
 
I'm sure it's not that much worse than driving around behind an F1 car for 90 minutes getting lungfuls of burnt fuel and oil, rubber particles, etc.
 
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