2014 Singapore GP - Marina Bay, September 19-21

[Waywardism]

WCC battle.

Mercedes needs 24 more points and they will have locked up the championship.
So basically it will happen in Suzuka given a normal race weekend.

That's not quite true. The gap is currently 174 points. Right now there are 215 points to play for. They could score 25 points in Suzuka with a 3rd and a 5th with Red Bull scoring the full 43 and the championship would still be open. Assuming Red Bull gets 1-2 every race from now, Merc needs 41 points to win the championship by virtue of winning more races.

After Suzuka there will be 172 points available to constructors. So as long as Merc avoid dropping 3 points or more to Red Bull they will wrap up the championship there.

I'm forgetting about stupid double points in Abu Dhabi. 258 points to play for now, 215 after Suzuka.

The only way for Merc to win the championship in Suzuka is with a 1-2 and Red Bull scoring no more than 2 points.

[SteveRacer]

After the race Lewis was told "strat 12 and keep the revs up". Anyone else hear this? Were they trying to burn fuel off for some reason?

[djos]

Apparently Dan had ERS power issues throughout most of the race:

http://www.speedcafe.com/2014/09/22/ric ... ry-glitch/

[strad]

once again the FIA prove feckless... or is that inpotent?
Either way, like the four off which they choose to punish selectively ..they didn't do what they said they would.
Heard a lot of driver coaching today.
Quickly concluding the FIA/FOM can't do anything correctly.

[djos]

Quickly concluding the FIA/FOM can't do anything correctly.

Many of us reached that conclusion a long time ago!

[prince]

Safety car screwed up both Ferrari and RBR strategy.

Actually, the SC was the only thing which gave them half a chance to beat Mercedes.

Chance to beat?? It was actually a reality check for RBR, who were very optimistic that they can get win here. After the race Horner admitted that the Merc pace was eye opener after Safety Car. You can argue about the tyre compounds, but cannot deny the pace difference. Somehow it all felt so close in qualifying, but reality prevailed in race.

[Kingshark]

That I have to agree with, it was clear that this weekend Mercedes set up their car for the race, as the gap on Sunday was much larger than th 0.173 s on Saturday.

[Hail22]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3bh0jsCi-0[/youtube]

Romain an unhappy fellow.

[Yurasyk]

the gap on Sunday was much larger than th 0.173 s on Saturday.

I disagree. On the first few laps Vet and Ham show almost the same pace until Vet's tyres went off. Singapore is tyre/traction limited track so many teams were close by lap time.

[SectorOne]

I'm forgetting about stupid double points in Abu Dhabi. 258 points to play for now, 215 after Suzuka.

So did i.....i woke up today and my first thought of the day was, "something is not right with what i wrote yesterday"
Then the light came on and i realized my idiotic mistake

Yes absolutely right, a Mercedes 1-2 and Red Bull less then 2 points and they will lock it up.
But more realistic is a Mercedes 1-2 in Japan, then a 3-4 in Russia and it´s over by 2 points through their own performances.

[turbof1]

It probably could have been in the bag for Japan, if they didn't messed it up so often. The technical glitches are just piling up.

It isn't a structural problem they are facing; the issues were all around the car. They fix it, and it doesn't show anymore. That's all good and well, but by that logic something has to happen first.

Somehow I think they aren't checking the cars thoroughly enough. This year they have enough a gap over the competition, while the competition are stealing points from eachother, but next year they probably can't get away with that.

[gray41]

So Russia is the likely destination of the WCC.

[Just_a_fan]

After the race Lewis was told "strat 12 and keep the revs up". Anyone else hear this? Were they trying to burn fuel off for some reason?

I think it's likely a way of discharging or otherwise making the battery system safe.

[ChrisM40]

the gap on Sunday was much larger than th 0.173 s on Saturday.

I disagree. On the first few laps Vet and Ham show almost the same pace until Vet's tyres went off. Singapore is tyre/traction limited track so many teams were close by lap time.

Sandbagging, Lewis didnt need to race the car hard in the opening laps, doing so wastes fuel, wears tyres and is unnecessary when you know you are way faster, indeed he opened a 2 second gap almost immediately and then paced himself.

After the safety car you could make a case for a second a lap faster due to tyres, but some of those laps were over 3 seconds a lap faster and the average was 2 seconds. Thats not tyres, its pure pace.

[lebesset]

I think when Nico has another back of the grid start and another DNF they are even on the luck.

don't think so !