Singapore GP 2011 - Marina Bay Street Circuit

[anthonyvop]

My Head says Vettel, Alonso, Button.
Vettel has just been in a class by himself all year. No reason to think it will suddenly end. Alonso has stamped his name on this track and Button is the master of tire strategy which will be important. The start at a track like Singapore is even more important than normal so Webber will grid up around 3rd-5th then drop back to 8th or 9th. Hamilton is the wild card if he doesn't have a brain fade again....a big "IF"!
Massa can be the big surprise of the race.
Huge surprise of the race? This is the place where Lotus can garner their first points!

My Heart says Alonso, Massa, Button.

[Ferraripilot]

Unlikely ferraripilot.

The commentators were saying that the final sector was made for the Red Bull.
The W02 suffers on RB7 strengths, and it proved that in all the timing in the final sector.

He was 0.7 down after 2 sectors, then lost 1.4 seconds in the final sector. So while the reality may be that the car isnt 2 seconds of the pace, that final sector is not good for the Merc according to the guys in the box at Singapore. Mediocre but agreed it's not bad positionally speaking.

I'm not sure JET, you could be correct but looking at S3 tells me it is more of a mechanical grip sector as the only medium to high speed turns are 22 and 23 which are taken at 150 and 200kph respectively. That's not uber high speed and those are the quickest turns in the sector. I can't see any way W02 is a full second of pace in that 1 sector unless the car is setup very differently.

[ESPImperium]

From @LeeMcKenzieF1



And latest from Autosport: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94769

Looks like kurb gate is being solved.

Would much rather there was wall there to give the ultimate penalty. But i recon there will be futher improvements to this track next year id recon.

[Richard]

The current plan is for the kerbs at Turn 3 and Turn 7 to be removed and painted – with drivers instructed that they will not be allowed to cross the white line that designates the side of the track.

ps - How does one construct a gate out of kerbs?

[raymondu999]

Championship to be officially decided at Korea.

I'll take you up on that and say it will be decided before that

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Dont know what richard is alluding to. perhaps he could inbox the perpetrators....

But, Mr S and Ferraripilot.

You may have points, this is only FP1 and FP2 after all. What strikes me about the Merc W02 is its lateral movement in high G corners.
Check it out for yourselves during qualy if you can.

Seems stiffness is not a good quality with SWB concepts

[raymondu999]

The current plan is for the kerbs at Turn 3 and Turn 7 to be removed and painted – with drivers instructed that they will not be allowed to cross the white line that designates the side of the track.

ps - How does one construct a gate out of kerbs?

The kerbs are quite aggressively high actually. If you remember back to 2009 as well, Sebastian Vettel ran a bit wide on the exit of a corner, running over a corner and his diffuser lost 2 or 3 strakes

[ringo]

They need to make them higher then.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Championship to be officially decided at Korea.

I'll take you up on that and say it will be decided before that

I meant Japan Let's see what happens this race!

[raymondu999]

Does that mean you forfeit your wager and I can collect?

[Mr Alcatraz]

Does that mean you forfeit your wager and I can collect?

What did we wager?

[bill shoe]

The current plan is for the kerbs at Turn 3 and Turn 7 to be removed and painted – with drivers instructed that they will not be allowed to cross the white line that designates the side of the track.

ps - How does one construct a gate out of kerbs?

I'll disagree with ESPImperium on this one. Curb-gate is beginning, not ending. The FIA/stewards have shown consistent non-interest in enforcing over-the-white-line penalties this year. The Singapore curbs were not perfect, but at least they didn't require interpretation and judgement.

Now the FIA is effectively telling the stewards to micromanage everyone's line everytime they go through 3 and 7. The stewards won't bother to call everything and I really don't blame them.

In the race turns 3 and 7 may become a matter of what drivers can get away with rather than what Charlie Whiting imagines is an enforceable rule.

On a positive note, I'm hoping the tail-end minnows pass 107% muster. I'm still confused why this track seems to be so difficult in that regard.

[komninosm]

I'm beginning to hate Greek TV not showing Qualifying. Only shows best moments of Q, an hour before the race.
Anywhere online I could watch Q?

[Mr.S]

Just checked the Friday Press Conference,Norbert is like Michael's biggest backer. Always supporting MSC ferociously. I would say Ross actually seems to prefer Nico somewhat as he is the one who is going to be Mercedes' future.

[raymondu999]

The Webber Glock incident in FP1:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvStzAIHe4Q[/youtube]