2012 Singapore F1 Grand Prix

[CinnamonOD]

They were doing 58s earlier in the session so that may be them when they are light.

So that could mean another DNQ?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

P2 times put them at 105.7% so there's bit of room to give.

 

[m8h3r]

They'll be getting challenged by the GP2 guys soon.

 

[LancerEvo7]

They'll be getting challenged by the GP2 guys soon.

I think in their very first race, their qualifying time would've put them 4th or 5th in the GP2 race that weekend.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Friday's press conference

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES
James Key (Toro Rosso)
Toto WOLFF (Williams)
Bob Fearnley (Force India)
Jean-Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1)
Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren)
Tony FERNANDES (Caterham).

Summary- a normal press conference, then the questions from the floor start. And it goes like this:

The Guardian - Question about Lewis

Daily Mail - Question about Lewis

The Sun - Question about Lewis

[FIRST INTERRUPTION]

Dieter Rencken (The Citizen) asks something to Bob fearnley and Tony Fernandes about F1 governing

[END OF INTERRUPTION]

Daily Mirror - Question about Lewis

Daily Mail - Another question about Lewis


[SECOND INTERRUPTION]

Matt Coch (pitpass.com) asks Tony Fernandes about the new Leafield facility and the long term plans of Caterham F1

oh and Dieter Rencken (what a bore) asks the Renault guy something else not important about engine configurations and the year 2014

[END OF INTERRUPTION]

Press Association - Question about Lewis

Daily Mirror - You guessed it ... question about Lewis.

THE END


You gotta love the british newspapers

 

[The Outlaw]

Why is that? If they start where they ran in fp2 he will be starting from a podium position. If anyone can overcome an ill handling or misbehaving car it's Alonso. There is alway hope for a good finish with Alonso behind the wheel of a Ferrari 👍

Well, the FP2 is just that, a practice session only (not a clear indicator of performance, especially when taking into account Hamilton basically parking his car at the last corner)...so the fastest laps aren't 100% accurate of what each car/drivers is generally capable of. But you are probably aware of that (no pun intended).

I think I chose the wrong words when I said "a podium this weekend might be a longshot." I meant something more along the lines of...it taking a bit of luck (in one form or another) to obtain a podium this weekend in Alonso's case.

I think he can quite possibly do it, but it will most likely depend on how Webber & Button perform (in what are most likely superior machines), as the top 2 places will most likely be taken by Vet & Ham if I had to take a guess. It's a long race so tire wear will be crucial though...maybe this will be one area where Alonso will be a bit stronger, because I don't think the Ferrari's single lap pace will be enough to put him in the top 3 alone.

Of course unforseen factors (DNF's, crashes, rain) could help Alonso's cause to, as we've see so many times this year. And his relentlessness should give him a bit of an edge over some drivers that might be in contention for a podium throughout this gruelling race. So I see a podium as a 50/50 thing.


On another notes, it's too bad the new updates (pariticularly the rear wing) don't seem to be working as exptected though Don't know how many times I've heard that they've sorted out the wind tunnel correlation issues, only to ne left scratching their heads once again when an update doesn't work

 

[That90sGuy]

Just a question. Being a night race, is there a problem if it rains? Or do they have a plan in the event in does?

 

[Peter.]

I'm gonna assume the HRTs were running on heavy fuel loads do to such God awful lap times.

They were doing 58s earlier in the session so that may be them when they are light.

So that could mean another DNQ?

They'll be getting challenged by the GP2 guys soon.

They were simply doing testing of some major upgrades on the car for Signapore. Aero testing, comparison between the old and new, no low fuel running. Not only that, but neither of their drivers have ever raced at this circuit.

 

[ghskilla]

Im not watching the race as the football is on sky at the same time, im a big Man United fan so theres no way im missing the Liverpool-United game!! im taping the GP and watching it sunday night..im looking forward to it! ive always liked Singapore, it should be a good race..as for the winner..i think itll be between Vettel and Alonso..

..also i think that the championship will be between Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton..Button and Webber are out of it and no-one has ever won the world championship by picking up second and thirds like Raikkonen is doing! how many times have we said that Lotus will pick up a win but fail to do so...

Lotus will definitely not win here. It's either Vettel or Hamilton.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

Go ghskilla! Or, umm, Vettel, I mean.

 

[IceMan PJN]

This is the sort of track where Vettel could pull out one of his special qualifying laps but I expect Hamilton to be on pole and I think Button will win.

Button on podium would be very possible, but I'd never predict him to win. If he wins it's because something went wrong with Lewis. Yes, Button has won, but that isn't his usual performance. Usually Lewis is in front of him.

I think Hamilton would be where Button is without that last corner moment....

Absolutely. Hamilton was faster than Button in P1, and he's normally faster in practice sessions and qualifying than Button, so naturally I'd expect him to put up faster lap times than Jenson. I still fear Lewis wouldn't have bested Vettel, but he should've definitely been second.

 

[Centura]

Friday's press conference

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES
James Key (Toro Rosso)
Toto WOLFF (Williams)
Bob Fearnley (Force India)
Jean-Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1)
Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren)
Tony FERNANDES (Caterham).

Summary- a normal press conference, then the questions from the floor start. And it goes like this:

The Guardian - Question about Lewis

Daily Mail - Question about Lewis

The Sun - Question about Lewis

[FIRST INTERRUPTION]

Dieter Rencken (The Citizen) asks something to Bob fearnley and Tony Fernandes about F1 governing

[END OF INTERRUPTION]

Daily Mirror - Question about Lewis

Daily Mail - Another question about Lewis


[SECOND INTERRUPTION]

Matt Coch (pitpass.com) asks Tony Fernandes about the new Leafield facility and the long term plans of Caterham F1

oh and Dieter Rencken (what a bore) asks the Renault guy something else not important about engine configurations and the year 2014

[END OF INTERRUPTION]

Press Association - Question about Lewis

Daily Mirror - You guessed it ... question about Lewis.

THE END


You gotta love the british newspapers

I'm so tired of this now. Just shut the **** up and stop asking questions until they announce the new contracts themselves.

 

[niky]

Quick, no-holds-barred interview with Princess Kate. What do you think the Daily Mail is going to ask about?

As nobody else is planning to change teams or rumored to be changing teams at the moment, and we have no naked beach picks of Button's girl from their vacation last month, there's really not much else on the UK rags' minds.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Quick, no-holds-barred interview with Princess Kate. What do you think the Daily Mail is going to ask about?

As nobody else is planning to change teams or rumored to be changing teams at the moment, and we have no naked beach picks of Button's girl from their vacation last month, there's really not much else on the UK rags' minds.

Meanwhile I checked pitpass.com and found it Tó be a very interesting and informative site in F1. I particularly liked this article on the 'silly season'

http://www.pitpass.com/47310-Sillier-and-Sillier

And, specifically on what happened at the press conf today:

http://www.pitpass.com/47351-Hamilton-The-media-gets-desperate

Both worth a read IMO

 

[Centura]

I really enjoyed the second article. It was very refreshing compared to the ******** that's published every day.

 

[Nessy]

Indeed refreshing. Come to think of it, i need to find out the exact time the qualy and actual race starts... i'll be damned if i'm going to watch or listen to the "will he/they?, wont he/they?" BS that most coverage will be over-analysing pre race/qualy.

 

[F1 fan]

Go to the official website. You can convert the start times to your time zone. Word of warning, qualifying is one hour later than the race start.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Just a question. Being a night race, is there a problem if it rains? Or do they have a plan in the event in does?

Yes, there is a plan, but it's never been implemented before because it's never been needed. When the event was first held, organisers said that in the event of rain, they would make a decision several hours before and more the race start forwards. However, given that the lighting around the circuit means that the race often has better visibility than most races hel durng daylight hours, I don't think it's really a problem.

 

[That90sGuy]

Go to the official website. You can convert the start times to your time zone. Word of warning, qualifying is one hour later than the race start.

Yes, there is a plan, but it's never been implemented before because it's never been needed. When the event was first held, organisers said that in the event of rain, they would make a decision several hours before and more the race start forwards. However, given that the lighting around the circuit means that the race often has better visibility than most races held during daylight hours, I don't think it's really a problem.

Ahh, I see, thanks. I knew about qualifying, I just usually record Singapore qualifying because it's an hour later and watch it in the morning. I'm not one for multiple late nights considering this is one of the only races I'm able to watch live.

 

[Peasantslayer]

I think in their very first race, their qualifying time would've put them 4th or 5th in the GP2 race that weekend.

They just don't seem to have made any progress at all since they first came into F1, at least Marussia and Caterham have shown that they have the potential of catching up to some of the slower midfield teams. All they do is hold everyone up.

 

[Centura]

Haha. Vettel bullied the photographers out of the way at his pit entry.

EDIT: His race engineer warned him of them, so he definitely did it on purpose.

However, I feel like he will get a slap on his wrist for that. He cut the inner white line/kerbs on pit entry.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Slap on the wrist?

Going by some of the descriptions I've heard, Vettel took a swing at them with a Formula 1 car. If that's in any way accurate, he deserves more than a slap on the wrist.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Top Ten
VET-HAM-ALO-HULK-KR-MAS-PDR-ROS-SENNA-MSC

That's two Mercs, two Ferraris and two Force Indias, plus the usual suspects at RB, McLaren and Lotus, and an unusual suspect at Williams.

 

[Centura]

Slap on the wrist?

Going by some of the descriptions I've heard, Vettel took a swing at them with a Formula 1 car. If that's in any way accurate, he deserves more than a slap on the wrist.

He drove to the right of where they stood, so I wouldn't really call it that.

 

[SilverArrow]

Slap on the wrist?

Going by some of the descriptions I've heard, Vettel took a swing at them with a Formula 1 car. If that's in any way accurate, he deserves more than a slap on the wrist.

You can't really say that if you didn't even see what happened, he drove into the pits and there were photographers sitting in a stupid position, he didn't turn his car into towards them because he took the exact same line even when they weren't there.

 

[m8h3r]

I won't get a chance to watch my recording of the FP3 so does anyone have a video of that Vettel incident. Sounds quite funny.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

You can't really say that if you didn't even see what happened, he drove into the pits and there were photographers sitting in a stupid position, he didn't turn his car into towards them because he took the exact same line even when they weren't there.

Is he blind, then?

If those photographers were sitting on or near his usual line, then why did Vettel follow that line at all?

 

[Rossell2]

I think he just took it not expecting to see anyone. And then got a surprise.

Edit: Well, both parties got a surprise.

 

[Peasantslayer]

Slap on the wrist?

Going by some of the descriptions I've heard, Vettel took a swing at them with a Formula 1 car. If that's in any way accurate, he deserves more than a slap on the wrist.

He intentionally drove straight over the inside kerb which was very odd, he didn't even drive down the designated pit lane he drove to the left along the concrete.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I think he just took it not expecting to see anyone. And then got a surprise.

Then why didn't Red Bull warn Vettel that they were there? Why didn't the team approach marshalls to have the photographers moved along?

He intentionally drove straight over the inside kerb which was very odd.

Very odd, indeed - he got done for speeding in the pit lane a few years ago when the cut that kerb. As he had technically shortened the pit lane, the timing system registered it as speeding in the lane. Red Bull have been very careful to avoid that kerb ever since, even though the timing beam was altered.