Singapore GP 2011 - Marina Bay Street Circuit

[jamsbong]

I agree with Anthony Hamilton. Lewis should hire a manager to clean up sh!t like this one. That way he can focus on driving and winning. By being focus, he will make less mistakes/collisions.

[andartop]

Another race, another Vettel victory, another good drive by Button and Alonso, another fair recovery for Webber (given what he is driving), another cock-up for Massa and another "trophy" for Hamilton's collection of penalties.

I just can't see why some people (like the BBC team) keep saying how exciting this season is, especially after what we saw last year. At least last year the Red Bullshit cars would fail or crash out (or between them!) every now and then, and their drivers were both challenging for race wins.

Really, what happened with Ferrari's supposed advantage of being easy on the tires and working better in hot conditions??? Poor Alonso seemed hopeless, sliding all around and almost touching the wall on every corner exit.

Button, I keep admiring more and more this year, he seems to be doing even more than he ever had to do when he won the championship with Brawn. I really wish he ends the year as McLaren's Number one in points, he thoroughly deserves it.

Massa should really try hard to up his game, he never seems to be able to recover positions and Ferrari might not be great this year but is certainly capable of finishing a race in front of Saubers and Force Indias.

As for his off track antics, I think it was completely unnecessary and provocative, but his frustration understandable (not justifiable). Monza last year, Monaco this year and now Singapore, were all recorded as Hamilton's errors by the race stewards and he has been penalized. In quali, they almost crashed by Hamilton's diving in, in a corner where you really can't reasonably expect anyone to attempt an overtake, especially when everyone is on an out lap and trying to space themselves to get some clean air. Surely, Massa could have just let him through (if he had seen him), and surely Lewis could have overtaken Massa much earlier if he was in such a hurry.

The point is, Massa is certainly not the hardest of drivers to overtake (just ask Webber), and Lewis is supposed to be the overtaker of the century, so why do there have to be so many incidents? And of course, once you've been rammed by a particular driver so often, it's a natural reaction that you're going to be even more harsh next time around, these racers are real people you know, they have some pride too!

[raymondu999]

On Ferrari and tyre management, the announcers on track interviewed Pat Fry he said something interesting. He says that in terms of tyre degradation, the Ferrari isn't super special. It's more heat management, and blistering, that they're good at. Also, the McLarens have said all weekend that if they pushed from sector 1, they'd lose their tyres due to overheating in sector 3. If they wanted their tyres still alright in sector 3, then sector 1 would be about tyre and heat management

[Mandrake]

I found this race rather boring....Vettel cruising away at the front, Button and Alonso driving on their own, Mark Webber once again unable to stand out from the field....

While enjoying to see Vettel on top, I hoped that the SC would spice up things, but other than making Massa and Hamilton and DiResta profit from it, it did nothing to make the race more interesting.

I don't understand Schumacher...why did he have to push that hard there? He's driving very very well, but sometimes he suffers from the Hamilton syndrome. At least he admits his faults straightaway

During my times in Online Racing I had a team mate I constantly crashed with, or let's say I was regularly crashed by him. He was very quick, most of the times a tiny bit quicker than me, but impatient as hell. He also has a very bad rage control. I see a lot of similarities between Hamilton and him. Sadly such things are very hard to control....no matter how hard you try, it still lives inside you. Maybe we'll see a more relaxed Hamilton in the future, but before that the lead driver at McLaren is Button to me!

[Donuts]

I am surprised no one has taken up the "Why Hamilton is so good at overtaking" thread! This race was a classic example why Hamilton is making so may overtakings, end of story.

Webber is being humiliated by Vettel, if he could at least get his starts right, then we could see if he could match Vettel's speed. I really hope keeping Webber will cost Red Bull the constructors championship if not this year, then next. The same goes for Ferrari and Masa.

Poor Alonso, did'nt do anything wrong, but had to settle with watching Webber "fly by" on two occasions, in a much faster car.

Boooring... zzz...

[mx_tifoso]

+1 Donuts. I've hardly been able to keep my attention focused on the races. This morning I preferred to do homework while watching instead of having my eyes glued to the tv set! And now I couldn't care less about who wins as long as it's not Vettel, in all honesty.

The only entertaining part left is how second place is so closely fought! Webber, Alonso, and Button all within a few points of each other and the order is different after each race.

[beelsebob]

Slight clubbing of the rear wheel resulting in a puncture. No action from the stewards. Admittedly this is from the inside and Hamilton is never quite far enough ahead.

Huh? He was as far ahead as Massa was – otherwise it wouldn't have been front wing to rear wheel... The reason (I believe) that wasn't penalised, but Hamilton was is because Hamilton could simply not turn in to avoid the accident – it would have meant losing a second or two, but he could have... In the mean time, Webber could do arguably very little (in my opinion he actually could have taken the corner tighter, but that's another discussion).

Did Massa hit the apex going through the corner? It's remarkable to hear how late he gets back on the power...

Yes, the contact happens while Massa is on the apex.

[Traction]

+1 Donuts. I've hardly been able to keep my attention focused on the races. This morning I preferred to do homework while watching instead of having my eyes glued to the tv set! And now I couldn't care less about who wins as long as it's not Vettel, in all honesty.

The only entertaining part left is how second place is so closely fought! Webber, Alonso, and Button all within a few points of each other and the order is different after each race.

So if someone else was dominating and owning the season would you feel the same way?

[mx_tifoso]

Yes. Perhaps I shouldn't have specified using Vettel, but rather domination by any single team or driver.

[mx_tifoso]

I didn't even know F1 existed before 2005.

[Mandrake]

Lucky you then

[mx_tifoso]

Personally, I would like a sparks and wall-clipping compilation!

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

How much of Vettels domination is due to the EBD?

Webber was matching Vettel for 80% of last season, and this year he has been trounced into submission. With the onset of the EBD ban, I would expect Webber to be closer in 2012.
Wasn't it at Silverstone where Webber was banging in faster times , only for Vettel to usurp him once the ban was lifted?

Lets hope we dont see this kind of Domination next year. As good as it is for Vettel and Red Bull, its not doing F1's image as a competitive formula any good.
Its not even October and vettel is for all intents and purposes World Champion.

[CHT]

+1 Donuts. I've hardly been able to keep my attention focused on the races. This morning I preferred to do homework while watching instead of having my eyes glued to the tv set! And now I couldn't care less about who wins as long as it's not Vettel, in all honesty.

The only entertaining part left is how second place is so closely fought! Webber, Alonso, and Button all within a few points of each other and the order is different after each race.

I was pretty disappointed by Webber actually. After seeing how quickly Vettel is pulling way with his RB7, I was really expecting him will fight it way up to challenge Button for 2nd. But it didnt happen.

[raymondu999]

How much of Vettels domination is due to the EBD?

Webber was matching Vettel for 80% of last season, and this year he has been trounced into submission. With the onset of the EBD ban, I would expect Webber to be closer in 2012.
Wasn't it at Silverstone where Webber was banging in faster times , only for Vettel to usurp him once the ban was lifted?

Lets hope we dont see this kind of Domination next year. As good as it is for Vettel and Red Bull, its not doing F1's image as a competitive formula any good.
Its not even October and vettel is for all intents and purposes World Champion.

I have the complete opposite view of yours JET. I think the EBD is helping Webber. the Off-throttle blowing of it however is helping Vettel more.

Say you had no EBD. Your car would NOT be sensitive to throttle position in terms of downforce. Then say you added an EBD. Now it's SENSITIVE to throttle position; and you would need to drive in a certain way to eliminate this sensitivity. Then say you did hot blowing. Or cold. That would now mean that the car is not sensitive to throttle position in terms of downforce production.

Webber's super-late apexing technique was very good in minimizing the sensitivity of the throttle position. He figured out that you should probably spend more time on the throttle if you had an EBD; allowing it to generate more downforce, more of the time. But when the blowing started, then this eliminated the need for a special driving style to suit the throttle sensitivity of downforce production; and so Webber returned to his position above Webber. With no EBD; we'd just see aero which is, once again, not sensitive to throttle position. Back to where Vettel is good.