2008 Singapore GP.

kjb
Maybe this has been mentioned before but I think if you have to serve a stop go penalty you should have to serve it right away instead getting time to build up your position. ANyway looking forward to Fuji.
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The penalty must be served within 3 laps of the team being notified of it. On this occasion, it just took the stewards ages to tell the teams.
 
daan
Have some ownage back.
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Damn, I didn't paste the ID correctly.

But I'm still waiting to watch Hamilton do this. Only then I won't laugh at anyone calling him rainmaster.



PD: In before the "Michelin was the best tyre" excuse. There were more Michelin drivers, hell, there was another Renault in that race. And what were they doing?

Nothing.
 
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I hadn't thought of the Michelin tyre thing; the first thoughts I had was the horrible amounts of traction control being used, and that you could see the track ahead.

Singapore was the 800th F1 GP, and the very first time the winner has started from 15th. A well deserved win for Alonso. Rosberg put in the best drive of the day, putting an at-best midfield car on the podium despite a 10 second stop-go. More points for Vettel 👍
 
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Not bad, darkfinal :sly: I didn't know this and the only comparable "rain ownage" I can think of is Senna's first lap in Donnington (1993, I think).
 
I was about to slate him saying why wasn't he starting on pole then until I found out he took a penalty :lol:
 
Wasn't as good as Barichello's first lap at Donington though. Started 12th, by the Melbourne hairpin - where Senna took the lead - he was 4th. Look out for the red, blue and green Jordan slicing through the field in the background.

When Hamilton starts well down the grid in light rain, we'll be able to make a comparison, bearing in mind the current lack of traction control. Until then we can't.
 
Scaff
Oh in the rain, anyone else on the grid > Massa > Piquet.
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Fixed it for you.

I was really impressed with Rosberg this race. I thought he would do better this year and kept wondering if it was the car, or him. I don't know if this was a fluke or if there has been some improvement. Hopefully this will give him and the team some confidence and we can see more of him near the front.
Although I think Alonso acts like a spoiled brat at times, I cannot deny his talent. Great drive by him.
I didn't see any problem with Hamilton's pass on DC. Maybe its because I watched on Speed so I didn't have a knee-jerk reaction to the commentators. I wasn't going to comment on his actions at Monza here, but just in case someone thinks I am biased, I really think he was too aggressive and dangerous there.
Ferrari really needs to rethink this whole light system for releasing from the pits. When it works it seems to work great and gives them a slight advantage, but all of that doesn't matter one bit when you have such dangerous accidents. I feel bad for Massa because the light was green when he left. The accident was not his fault and the team let him down and cost him the race.

Overall this race was better than what I was expecting, which was a Valencia at night. I don't know about changing existing races to night races, but I don't have a problem with new races being night races... getting up 4am kinda sucks though.
 
Roo
When Hamilton starts well down the grid in light rain, we'll be able to make a comparison, bearing in mind the current lack of traction control. Until then we can't.
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Well, I wasn't focusing on his start, but on how Alonso overlapped the entire field (I don't remember if he got to catch the 2nd and 3rd drivers twice) by the time his team screwed up the whole race.

Now, sadly, there's no way to make a comparison. No Michelin, no TC, no Schumacher in the track anymore. But Hamilton is gonna have to drive from 16th to 1st in five laps, go at least two seconds per lap faster than the rest in an average car (as average as the Renault was compared to MSC's Ferrari) and really own it in rain to make me stand corrected. He's got three more years to do it. :)
 
Altogether a beautiful show. So long I've waited for the Master to put his house in order... too bad Lewis didn't have a go at Fernando Alonso... it would have been an instruction in 'ownage'. Life is wonderful again!
 
darkfinal
But Hamilton is gonna have to drive from 16th to 1st in five laps, go at least two seconds per lap faster than the rest in an average car (as average as the Renault was compared to MSC's Ferrari) and really own it in rain to make me stand corrected. He's got three more years to do it. :)
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Given McLaren's record of stringing more than 2 competitive seasons on the bounce, that's not an entirely unforseeable set of circumstances within 3 years. However, going into Hungray, Alonso had an 11 point lead in the championship, and Renault were 10 points clear - that's hardly the mark of an average car. (For reference, at the start of this year's British GP, Hamilton was 10 points away from the championship leader, and McLaren 33.) Secondly, I think Hamilton's drives in Fuji and Silverstone more than qualify him for the 'really own it in the rain' bit. He's yet to achieve a win from way down the grid, and I doubt he's ever going to manage that one.

Still a cracking video to watch though. Have you got (links to) any more of those Alonso onboards? Prehaps start a thread in the YouTube Gallery?

Back to Singapore, it was mentioned the reason for the Turn 10 chicane was to prevent cars going side by side over the Anderson bridge. But turns 12 and 13 saw to that, so I'm not sure quite what they were thinking...

mustang245
too bad Lewis didn't have a go at Fernando Alonso...
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Had Hamilton been behind Alonso, he wouldn't have been able to pass. Had Alonso been behind Hamilton, he wouldn't have been able to pass. Trulli flattered the track by being in a very heavy car that wasn't good on the bumps - after passing Jarno, Rosberg dropped him at 4 seconds a lap. Being tenths of a second quicker isn't enough around there.
 
I was unable to see the race that I've longed to see. I did see the highlights, so congratulations to Mr. Fernando Alonso on this win. All the differenet specifics I haven't yet seen. I still want to see as much of the real race as I can.


John's Commentary: Singapore at Night
This was a very interesting concept from the start. On this final weekend of September 2008, I always questioned variables such as a chance of rain, getting adjusted to this new challenge, and things of that nature. The race seemed to go pretty well from highlights I've seen with some of the usual F1 drama. I've already seen what the magic of intensely lighting a track can be like when the Losail Circuit was all aglow for MotoGP's historic first night race took place. The tradeoff was primetime racing for the European audience. While I didn't get to see any of the race, this is really that different kind of experience that's different and fun. It is a night race in a lively city like Singapore. Sad I didn't get to see this even if everyone thought this wasn't really that good of a race.

John's Debate! ~ Light Up the Night
Singapore was the first-ever night race in F1 history. The SPEED Report was talking about how night racing could be the future of F1. What other races would you like to see raced at night, even if you wished ALL tracks on the schedule at night? What considerations do you think F1 should take in making F1 night racing interesting? How would you evaluate this new experience for Formula 1?



Up next is the Grand Prix from my favorite country... on not one of my real favorite tracks for an F1 race- the Grand Prix of Japan at Fuji. Duke called Suzuka boring. Well, this new Fuji track is boring to me. Yet still, the Japanese fans will get their F1 fix as this championship winds towards a conclusion. This race will be in two weeks time. Then after that, the Asian tour ends in China. And of course, the season ends in Johnny country- Interlagos for the Grand Prix of Brazil. This will be a lovely finish unless any scrutiny takes place.
 
As Nico Rosberg was celebrating his 2nd place finish, the press discovered that Sir Frank Williams was no longer wearing the pants on the at&t Williams F1 Team, so to speak.

Full Story from UpdateF1.com
 
Hamilton might have had a go at Nico, actually, if DC hadn't held him up that long... but Alonso... nope... Alonso had more than enough pace to keep the McLaren behind him, but Lewis might've gotten close.

I'm surprised at all the controversy over LH's rather mild overtake on DC. It was textbook racing from both drivers... DC decided to cover the inside... faltered... became indecisive, pulled back to the outside just enough to give Lewis an opening. Lewis shot for the inside line... judged his braking perfectly and outbraked DC through the corner. Aggressive, yes, but one of the cleaner overtakes I've seen. DC knew he was there, and LH didn't squeeze him against the wall on the exit.

This is in stark contrast to Monza, where LH was literally pushing people onto the rumble strips. You can hate him for that, but there's nothing besides that in the past season that explains the pure spite people seem to have for the boy, except for the overly rabid British fans in the media.

As for rain-master... Lewis's balletic qualifying in the rain last year still stands out as one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen done with a modern Formula One car. Actual, intentional drifting in Formula One? Wonderful. And while he wasn't starting from the back, the fact that he lapped everyone up to Kimi (in 4th place) at Silverstone this year has to count for something.

Still... it's Alonso's day, and rightfully so. I'm still miffed about his behavior at McLaren last year, but the man still has talent... you could probably put him in a Torro Rosso and get a win out of him... hmmm... Alonso and Vettel for 09 in STR? :lol:
 
V1P3R
God... that guy has got to go.
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I don't think he will though ... rumours within the paddock suggst he's a part of Williams' engine deal with Toyota: in return for the Toyota powerplant, Team Wily would have to run a Japanese driver.
 
niky
Hamilton might have had a go at Nico, actually, if DC hadn't held him up that long...
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I’m almost pretty sure he still could or at least give it a try, but decided to capitalize a third place. Quite an encouraging sign of growing maturity, in my opinion.
 
I found this kind of amusing... (from Luca di Montezemolo)

"When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen including the spectacle of the Safety Car.

"All this is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams in the next few weeks."

Singapore saw two safety car interventions, the first of which turned the race upside down and contributed to Spaniard Fernando Alonso's unexpected victory for Renault.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa had his race ruined by a bungled pit stop while team-mate Kimi Raikkonen crashed near the end to mean the team failed to score any points.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was third behind winner Alonso to extend his championship lead over Massa to seven points with three races left, while Raikkonen is out of contention.

But Montezemolo believes his team can still get something from the season, saying: "We have the best Ferrari, Massa is the best. I expect... Raikkonen to show he is world champion in the remaining races, to help Massa, to race for the good of the team and to finish in front of the McLarens."

The team president also backed the mechanics after their pit stop blunder, adding: "We have extraordinary mechanics who in other occasions have swung results our way.

"We must stay close to each other because Ferrari are always world champions and are still in the running to win."
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[SkySports]

Ah Luca...would you have slated the track more and the safety car if you got a 1-2? I doubt it...

(The last line made me laugh too, no Mr Montezemolo...you have to EARN that title every year.)
 
Odd that he complains about the safety car, neither of Ferrari's issues were directly safety car related. Infact, Hamilton probably would have won and extended his lead further had the safety car not come into play but Massa probably would still have dragged half Ferrari's pit equipment down the pit lane and Raikkonen still would have probably crashed out.
 
Yeah, Massa's race was completely screwed by the incident during his first pit. Otherwise he would've probably won.
 

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