2019 Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay, 20-22 September

[El Scorchio]

Are Mercedes so far ahead already this season in the championships that they’ve just turned attention to 2020, or have they hit the wall in terms of developing this car and engine?

Have Ferrari found a magic bullet?

Too late for a huge difference this year in terms of altering the course of the championships, but potentially very exciting for next season.

Tomorrow will be very intriguing. Can Ferrari last the distance, but if not can anyone overtake in this circuit?

[Zynerji]

Are Mercedes so far ahead already this season in the championships that they’ve just turned attention to 2020, or have they hit the wall in terms of developing this car and engine?

Have Ferrari found a magic bullet?

Too late for a huge difference this year in terms of altering the course of the championships, but potentially very exciting for next season.

Tomorrow will be very intriguing. Can Ferrari last the difference, but if not can anyone overtake in this circuit?

One of my all time favorites here was watching Alonso hold Vettel off for the entire race to win.

Tomorrow may be a repeat of such a nail biter. I may actually watch the race!

[MakkieT]

And 2019 pole not beating 2018 was just as confusing.

No. The c5 tyres are not as soft as the hypersofts from last year.

[atanatizante]

After the qualy one could say there are some interesting scenarios:

1. Ferrari did setup their cars entirely for the qualy, knowing that here the driver on the pole has almost 95% chance of a victory;

2. Ferrari genuinely is now faster than Merc due to their upgrade they bring it here, for being almost equal in S2 and S3 and having the upper hand in S1 running at least 6km/h faster then them in the speed trap;

3. Merc didn`t think they could lose the pole&front row even with the lastest Ferrari upgrade and went to the trend they starting in the last 3-4 races for being focused only/almost for the race.
This could be backed by the 7 tenths delta between Merc drivers, knowing that Lewis is some 5 tenths faster than BOT at this track.
And another argument is that I don`t think that in a couple of months Ferrari have found almost 1,7 sec/lap on a high downforce circuit: in Hungary, LEC was 7 tenths behind BOT in qualy and now he is was almost 1 sec. ahead of him!

So, I think here we faced the 3rd scenario...

[Bill_Kar]

After the qualy one could say there are some interesting scenarios:

1. Ferrari did setup their cars entirely for the qualy, knowing that here the driver on the pole has almost 95% chance of a victory;

2. Ferrari genuinely is now faster than Merc due to their upgrade they bring it here, for being almost equal in S2 and S3 and having the upper hand in S1 running at least 6km/h faster then them in the speed trap;

3. Merc didn`t think they could lose the pole&front row even with the lastest Ferrari upgrade and went to the trend they starting in the last 3-4 races for being focused only/almost for the race.
This could be backed by the 7 tenths delta between Merc drivers, knowing that Lewis is some 5 tenths faster than BOT at this track.
And another argument is that I don`t think that in a couple of months Ferrari have found almost 1,7 sec/lap on a high downforce circuit: in Hungary, LEC was 7 tenths behind BOT in qualy and now he is was almost 1 sec. ahead of him!

So, I think here we faced the 3rd scenario...

1,7 sec is delusional, you are not approaching it in a proper manner. You should compare fastest driver to fastest driver of each team.

But the fact is that Ferrari was 3rd fastest in Hungary but the fastest here so it is more than obvious that their update worked. You shouldn't look elsewhere TBH.

I don't think that set-up thing works that way as well, it's not like exchanging points between Q/R performance.

[MtthsMlw]

[NathanOlder]

Ferrari has made a major turn around and with that caped new nose, that car is a monster now and will beat all others into submission. This is the car they had in winter testing. The domination starts now.

Quali Prediction:
1. LEC
2. HAM
3. VET

Race Prediction:
1. LEC
2. HAM
3. BOT

Fatal attraction between Verstappen and Vettel again in the race and they come together.

All hail me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am the only person on the planet to get my quali prediction right!

Very true yes, but it also makes you the only mad man on earth

[nacho]

Was Hamilton supposed to go before or after Bottas?

[NathanOlder]

Mercedes so called "major upgrade" since Hockekheim doesn't seem to be very solid right now. Both RB and Ferrari are catching up with them rather quickly.

Lucky for Hamilton that he made hay early in the season when the opportunities came. He can afford to come third at every race so long as the wins are shared around the by the others. That's a nice buffer to have but with Ferrari apparently finding some much needed pace, I still think Hamilton needs some luck to win the title. A DNF or two and all bets are off. I'm guessing the season won't be over with 3 or 4 races to go this year.

He can finish 3rd and Charles or Max wins every race with fastest lap. Lewis still wins the title. Lewis is 99pts in front of Max and 102pts in front of Charles. Only 7 races to go.

[GPR-A]

Anyone has any idea, who is running which spec PU in this race? Based on previous seasons' knowledge, Mercedes runs their Spec 2 in here.

From Barcelona, where Mercedes was over half a second faster than the next best car in 3rd sector, to Singapore sector 3, they have lost all that advantage! Red Bull was first to catch up and now Ferrari.

[LM10]

After the qualy one could say there are some interesting scenarios:

1. Ferrari did setup their cars entirely for the qualy, knowing that here the driver on the pole has almost 95% chance of a victory;

2. Ferrari genuinely is now faster than Merc due to their upgrade they bring it here, for being almost equal in S2 and S3 and having the upper hand in S1 running at least 6km/h faster then them in the speed trap;

3. Merc didn`t think they could lose the pole&front row even with the lastest Ferrari upgrade and went to the trend they starting in the last 3-4 races for being focused only/almost for the race.
This could be backed by the 7 tenths delta between Merc drivers, knowing that Lewis is some 5 tenths faster than BOT at this track.
And another argument is that I don`t think that in a couple of months Ferrari have found almost 1,7 sec/lap on a high downforce circuit: in Hungary, LEC was 7 tenths behind BOT in qualy and now he is was almost 1 sec. ahead of him!

So, I think here we faced the 3rd scenario...

Option 3 is the least possible one. It would be more than dumb to go for a conservative setup minding the race in Singapore. It’s a street track to begin with, track position is absolute king there. In 8 of 11 races the pole setter won. The teams know that better than us.

Option 1 is obvious and it’s obvious that all the other teams went for the best possible quali setup as well, not just Ferrari.

[Just_a_fan]

Was Hamilton supposed to go before or after Bottas?

I thought it was Bottas's turn to go first. Seem to remember him first on the road in all Q sessions.

[falonso81]

Mercedes so called "major upgrade" since Hockekheim doesn't seem to be very solid right now. Both RB and Ferrari are catching up with them rather quickly.

Lucky for Hamilton that he made hay early in the season when the opportunities came. He can afford to come third at every race so long as the wins are shared around the by the others. That's a nice buffer to have but with Ferrari apparently finding some much needed pace, I still think Hamilton needs some luck to win the title. A DNF or two and all bets are off. I'm guessing the season won't be over with 3 or 4 races to go this year.

Indeed. Ferrari lost some very valuable points and wins (Bahrain, Baku, Canada, Austria) We would be seeing a very different championship right now. If this Ferrari pace stays like this, they are in for more wins. Ending the season on a high will be a very good consolation for the dreadful start of the season.

[GPR-A]

I hope this is not another false dawn for Ferrari. Softest range of compounds (C5, C4, C3), on a track with high ambient temperatures could potentially have helped Ferrari look more competitive by removing their tyre struggles. Considering their tyre woes, C5 was the most ideal tyre which could keep itself alive on that tyre for a whole lap. They had struggles in bringing the front tyres up to temperature on other circuits and tyre performance is the single biggest parameter on this track (remember 2015 Mercedes woes?). Whether the performance improvement is because of their upgrades, is a question that gets answered in Suzuka, where much harder tyres come in with lower ambient temperatures.

For Mercedes, C5 should have been the least preferred tyre due to their car being so good on mid to harder range of compounds. Both Mercedes and RBR wouldn't have kept the C5 alive for the entire lap, due to the energy their cars would put.

[Just_a_fan]

Indeed. Ferrari lost some very valuable points and wins (Bahrain, Baku, Canada, Austria) We would be seeing a very different championship right now. If this Ferrari pace stays like this, they are in for more wins. Ending the season on a high will be a very good consolation for the dreadful start of the season.

Exactly. A Ferrari driver should be leading the championship by now, or be in a close second place, were it not for some mistakes / bad luck. No matter what some might say, the Mercedes is not a dominant car this year, although one could argue they are the dominant team as a whole because their total performance has been better so far. This is one of those seasons that reminds us that it's not just about having the fastest car - the team and driver have to be able to use it to its maximum too.