Poll Out of Ten: 2015 Singapore Grand Prix

[sushifiesta]

Friday and Saturday offered much intrigue as Mercedes struggled, being slower than both Ferrari and Red Bull all weekend. This offered a hint of maybe getting a good race as Vettel stuck it on pole with the Mercedes drivers back on the 3rd row. Unfortunately, all we got is replacing 2014-15 spec Hamilton with 2010-2013 spec Vettel, dominant at the front. Mercedes and Hamilton were coming in to contention for the podium if not more by going on to Soft tyres after the first stop rather than Super-Soft like the top 3, only for us to be denied that by engine troubles, which hit so many drivers today. Any strategic games amongst the top 3 were then prevented completely by some lunatic taking a stroll down the track.

A bit of action way back from the likes of Verstappen but I really wish I'd watched one of the other sports that were live in parallel with the race (Rugby/Tennis/Football etc.)... I've given the last two races a 5, this one I really struggled to stick with until the end so I'm giving it a 3.

Only 6 days to get your votes in for this one since the Japanese grand prix is next weekend!

 

[Brogan]

An ironing factor of 10 from me.

I finished it all and wasn't distracted in the slightest.

 

[Greenlantern101]

If it wasn't for the battles in the midfield it would of scored a 1. It was just really dull.

How Eddie Jordan can come on to the podium and say thanks for an enthralling race is beyond me. I'm also pretty sure Jordan called Kimi, Kevin. Edit: just checked. He did.

A generous 3.

 

[Titch]

4 there was a lot going on tactics, tyres, stops and starts but not much of it related to RACING.

 

[Dash Racing]

Maybe I'm a sucker for watching the new kids battle in the midfield, or maybe it's because it was an exciting enough race to keep me awake and cheer me up despite being sick as a dog, but I actually liked this race. I think I have a soft spot for Vettel, because I was very emotional about his victory - 3rd for Ferrari, first pole to flag 1st place for Vettel in a Ferrari, beating Senna's all-time wins...

And that race from Max Verstappen! Sure, he stalled it on the grid, but he unlapped himself and worked his way through the pack for hard-earned points. And having the guts to tell Toro Rosso no when they tried to order him to give his place to Sainz - good boy, Max, don't let them trample all over you like that, if they want to mess with your championship points, they should pay you a considerable bonus for every point they steal from you to give to your team mate!

Sainz, Nasr and Ericsson were all absolutely storming along too, very impressive. And Kyvat... holy cow, I'm impressed with him this weekend. And Rossi trounced his team-mate despite less time in the car, very very impressive debut!

I think I was strongly influenced by this being my first Singapore GP too.

Now the race is over, I'm going back to bed though.

 

[marksawatsky]

The only reason I didn't give this dull race a 3 was because Max was battling his way through the field, so it gets a 4. I'm glad the next race is only 7 days away so it can wash the taste of this one out of my mind.

 

[FB]

Just 2 from me. All of the interest came from off the track rather than on it which is not what motor racing should be about.

 

[Road of Bones]

Promised much, delivered little. A splenetic 3

 

[Hamberg]

It was a 1 until the STR's gave me a bit of entertainment. The other one was for a Mercedes not winning. Utter disappointment of a race.

 

[Dario Resta]

A 4 for me. I do agree with Martin Brundle about some of the young drivers though. Watching Sainz, Verstappen etc. is like watching a whole lot of Lewis Hamiltons. No fear, real racers. I sometimes wonder, can you not overtake in modern F1, or is it you can't be arsed to try? Good for the championship (in as much as it might be slightly prolonged) that Lewis failed to finish, although if he could have picked a DNF, based on Merc's form, it would probably have been this one. At least Nico didn't win.

Well done to the Manor Marussia boys. That car is a hell of a handful. I reckon they were working twice as hard as the others just to finish.

 

[cider_and_toast]

From the sounds of it, how glad am I that I missed this one. Therefore I don't have to vote.

 

[RasputinLives]

What can I say about that one? Better than Monza but not by much. Was interesting to see Vettel turn the form on and off but would rather see a fight for the front.

A few scraps in the middle. But still yawn

3 for the race. Plus 1 for how good the cars look under the lights and another plus 1 for Buttons one liners on the radio.

5.

 

[racecub]

Well. The promised excitement of that mixed front of the grid never materialised.
I was actually pleased to see Ferrari do well and Vettel ( never a favourite of mine) was faultless.
If Lewis had to chose a race to have a DNF, he chose a good one. He wasn't leading and Rosberg wasn't going to score highly. I would like to see what he could have done about the front runners had his car held out and the loony not get on the track, then he would have been on the faster tyre like Verstappen and Sainz and I reckon he'd have at least had third place from Kimi, who was decidedly lacklustre.
As has been mentioned previously, there were some stunning performances from the 'kids'. Really pleased for ROSSI and hope he gets a drive next season. Verstappen is a big favourite of mine, and whilst he disobeyed a team order, which isn't a good thing. The guy is only 17yrs old. The fact that he has such confidence, even if possibly misguided can only bode well for him for the future.

What was Button playing at driving into the back of Maldo? You can bet if the roles were reversed in that accident Maldo would have had a penalty. Even brundle said it was clumsy of Button, then changed his tune. And Button apologised, then changed his tune.

I thought the Williams went better here than I excpected them to. I thought they'd really struggle, but no.
Anyway ive rambled enough.
I've given it a 5.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Following Vettels's flying start Ricciardo was pulling him back at the rate of 0.3 secs per lap from lap 8 onwards. Just as it began to look as though he had a chance of catching Vettel the race was destroyed by a safety car. This was due to Massa not being warned that he should give way to Hulkenberg, in the past blue flags have been used to overcome this problem of cars coming out of the pits. So in just one moment the race was ruined. Do not the FIA realise that this problem exists and there is a simple way of avoiding it, especially on a circuit with an average of over one safety car in every race.

An even better way of avoiding what is effectively a lottery would be to remove any circuit with four or more right angle turns in succession.

2, which is more than the circuit deserves.

 

[snowy]

Formula One has always been like this! I can't believe that some peckhead hasn't been making an obscene fortune selling rose tinted spectacles! This was actually a very exciting race by F1 standards!

 

[ramilas1]

Much as sushifiesta said to start with, this should have been a race to look forward to, with the mixed-up grid and this season's 'usual suspects' back as far as row three. My weekend base figure score of 7 overnight Saturday got a +2.

Unfortunately, that proved to be as good as they were capable of, trundling around in much the same places for the whole race .... or most of it for one of them.

So, just when you want to see Hammy & Nico show how good they are, they don't. (-1)
Just when you want to see if Vettel & Ricciardo have what it takes to fight them off, they don't have to. (-1)
Just when you want to see a lights to flag race, the Hulk chooses to ignore Massa coming out of the pits. (-1)
Just when you reckon the rest could still be moderately interesting, Mr Knobhead is allowed to go walk-about on the track. (-2)

The fact that a Marussia seemed to be stuck in the middle of all the F1 cars at the 2nd re-start (surely lapped and should have been allowed to overtake?) causing chaos at every dithering attempt to get the fuck out of the way,
and one half of Mercedes getting increasingly irritated as he got over-taken, more in 15 minutes than he has in 12 races,
and the whole thing being the predictable procession (at the front, certainly, where it actually matters) that now is F1,
and, even as a life-long Ferrari fan, being unable to muster a cheer at the chequered flag and turned over to rugby instead (-1)
........ which, for those with only a 21st century GCSE A** grade in Maths, that makes 3

Still not bad enough to get me into this ironing fetish though, so beloved of far too many on here.
Her indoors even offered on Sunday evening to get me an instruction manual off t'internet to 'turn' me.

Ah, the good old days, when F1 in the wrong time zone meant a couple of hours on your own before dawn watching RACING.

PS, I know I put 4, but that was before I remembered all the extras that pissed me off.

 

[teabagyokel]

I did watch the BBC highlights, so that probably knocked off about 30 laps of utter tedium...

...but it was much better than the similarly truncated Monza. There was plenty of midfield battling, the Max Verstappen School of Overtaking re-opened, a moron on the track, and no scent of a one-two .

I say 6.

 

[Sakari]

Was not that exciting, but the race still looks bloody gorgeous to me so I'll give it a seven.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Was not that exciting, but the race still looks bloody gorgeous to me so I'll give it a seven.

Better move it to the Chelsea Flower Show then.

 

[Olivier]

From Ferrari's point of view, it would have been a 10, but Raikkonen was only 3rd, so a 9 would be sensible ... however Hamilton retirement makes things a little dull. 8 it is.