[Official] Round 14: Singapore Grand Prix

[frostie]

The Singapore Grand Prix has quickly established itself as a favourite amongst the F1 paddock with many drivers calling it the race they look forward to most.
Racing during the night offered plenty of challenges to the teams in the inaugural race in the city state but since then their practices have been honed and adapting to the challenges has been perfected. Even so the prospect of racing under the lights is still one that offers fans a tremendous prospect to see how a Formula 1 car works.
The flames spitting from exhausts are visible, the sparks shower from the underbody of the car as it bounces from one bump to another and the challenging street layout offers drivers little margin for error.

The Marina Bay Circuit

Singapore may be the smallest country in South East Asia but its organisers had big ideas when they were confirmed as a host to Formula 1 five years ago. The first race, in 2008, was to be a historic occasion for Formula 1 with Marina Bay hosting the first night race in the history of the sport and since then the race has been a key feature of the F1 season.
The Singapore circuit echoes more towards the Indy Car style street circuits rather than the challenges of Monaco but its unique characteristics offer a tremendous challenge for drivers.
Reigning champion, Sebastian Vettel, has struggled for consistency at times in 2012 with the dominant Red Bull of recent years now being relegated to merely a front running car. The German however has always been strong in Singapore and a repeat of last year’s is crucial for him championship hopes.
Even during his Toro Rosso tenure Vettel has had strong races in Singapore and the double world champion clearly enjoys driving at Marina Bay:
"Singapore is one of the highlights on the calendar, because the atmosphere of a night race is amazing,” said Vettel. “I also like it because the track is really great to race on - which is partly to do with the fact that we race anticlockwise there. Singapore is a fascinating city to visit and everything seems to be extremely clean and tidy. We all stay on European time for the weekend and because the race doesn't start until 8pm, most of the drivers tend to get up around 2pm – it's pretty unusual."
The track surface is low grip as a result of being public roads and having to deal with the everyday dust and grime from everyday road users and as a result the grip level changes immensely as the weekend progresses. The track consistently improves and gets faster as more rubber is laid down.

Strategy and fortune will play a key role

This weekend’s race in Singapore promises to be one of the most difficult of the season from a strategic perspective. The simple reason for this is that team’s have to think on their feet.
At every race on the calendar teams have a clearly thought strategy that they know will put them in the best position to win the race. Team strategists look to play the same role of a card shark. They count the cards by studying the form throughout the weekend and take into account past patterns….at Singapore however the deck of cards is stacked against them.
The City State legalised gambling only within the last three years and have moved to be the world’s second largest gaming hotspot in the world. The house always wins on the blackjack tables, the roulette wheel and on the slot machines but no deck is more loaded than the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Marina Bay Circuit offers a combination of challenges to teams with the track surface gradually cleaned throughout the weekend offering vastly different characteristics at the start of the weekend to the end of the race.
The nature of the track layout also offers challenges to teams and drivers with the rear tyres receiving the brunt of wear due to the constant accelerating and braking throughout the lap. As a result it is very easy to overheat the rear tyres while conversely with all corners seeing relatively low apex speeds it is quite difficult for drivers to “load” the front tyres and generate sufficient heat to get the front tyres into their optimum operating window.
With the Singapore Grand Prix set to last for just under two hours, the longest race of the year, drivers set off from the grid with the heaviest car they will use all year; approximately 170kg. This places a tremendous strain on the tyres and with the nature of the track already causing extreme wear on the rear tyres it is clear that the opening stint of this Grand Prix could be exceptionally short as drivers are forced to deal with a severe lack of rear grip.

Last year Sebastian Vettel stopped three times en route to his victory. The German enjoyed the advantages of a dominant car last year but with Formula 1 incredibly competitive this year the chances of one driver enjoying a significant advantage are lessoned.
With Pirelli bringing their softest two compounds of tyres to this weekend’s race the difficultly facing the drivers is quite high. The heavy fuel, close field and challenging tyres will make it very easy to push too hard too soon and suffer excessive tyre wear. These factors will give the cars that are gentle on their rear tyres a significant advantage.
Teams such as Sauber, who have shown a great turn of speed at late, be able to take advantage of making one stop less than their opposition and also give themselves an additional strategic fillip will limit the potential of a safety car hampering their pace in the race.
The possibility of the safety car being deployed is quite high in Singapore with each of the previous races having seen accidents cause the deployment. As a result teams will do their utmost to ensure that they are in a position to make a “free” pitstop under a neutral track. This plays into the hands of the likes of Sauber and Toro Rosso who will do their utmost to make just a single pitstop as they try to move through the order from rows five, six of seven on the gird.
One of the most surprising elements of races in Singapore has been that once a car gets falls into the midfield it is all but impossible for them to get back to the front of the field, regardless of the speed of their car.
This was illustrated perfectly by Felipe Massa in 2008. The Ferrari driver set the pace throughout the weekend and he came into the pits for a scheduled stop in the lead but after a disastrous stop that saw him leave the pits with the fuel hose still connected the Brazilian found himself in the midfield and unable to finish better than eighth.
Due to this difficultly, and the 24s pit time, teams will do their best to limit the amount of time spent in pitlane and will do their best to be as flexible in case the safety car is deployed.

Balance the key for Singapore setups

Qualifying is key in Singapore. In the previous five races only Felipe Massa was unable to convert his pole position into a win. The Brazilian dominated the 2008 weekend until his first pitstop when the fuel nozzle jammed in to his car and the championship contender dragged it down the pitlane.
The incident cost him dearly and he spent the rest of race mired in the midfield. In dirty air he was unable to take advantage of his speed advantage and with the layout of the track not favouring overtaking it was to be race that played a key role in how Massa lost on the world title by the slimmest of margins to Lewis Hamilton.
Sauber’s head of track engineering, Giampauli Dall’Ara discussed the difficulty facing teams in finding the perfect setup for qualifying so that they can avoid the midfield fight:
"Singapore is a street circuit with lots of corners and short straights,” said the Italian. “Therefore overtaking is difficult, which makes qualifying particularly important. Good traction is crucial on this stop-and-go track with mainly low speed and just a couple of medium speed corners.
“In some places the surface is very bumpy - something to bear in mind when setting up the car. You have to keep an eye on the brakes, because they have very little time to cool down between corners. The track surface is not very rough. Pirelli will allocate the supersoft and the soft compounds, which should work well in qualifying, but I don't expect any chance of a one-stop strategy in the race.”
Mark Gillan, Williams’ head of trackside engineering, made a point of talking about the difficulties that the track places on the car throughout the race:
“It's a long and physically demanding race for both driver and car,” said Gillan. “The circuit is extremely severe on brakes and due to the hot ambient temperatures we will be required to open the bodywork for engine cooling. Aero wise we run near the maximum down-force level and from a set-up perspective you have to be mindful of the harsh kerbs. Finally the weather is difficult to track in Singapore and heavy rain is always a possibility.”

Formula 1 revolves around Pirelli tyres

Pirelli will take their super-soft and soft compound tyres to this weekend’s race and they will, once again, challenge the field to find the best balance between speed and tyre wear.
The Italian company’s motorsport boss, Paul Hembery, knows the challenge facing his customers this weekend but the Englishman clearly is looking forward to another exciting race:
"Personally speaking I love the Singapore Grand Prix: it makes for an amazing spectacle at night with a great atmosphere and a fantastic challenge for our tyres,” commented Hembery in the leadup to the Grand Prix.
“Due to the unusual circumstances in which the race is run, under more than a thousand spotlights, the teams and drivers have to think very hard about strategy - as track conditions and evolution are somewhat different than you would find in a normal daytime race.
"One factor that could certainly come into play is safety cars: during every single Singapore Grand Prix that has been held so far since 2008 the safety car has come out at some point. This means that strategies have to be flexible as well as effective in order to quickly take advantage of any potential neutralisation. While the humidity is constantly high, it hasn't yet rained in any Singapore Grand Prix so this should be the same again this year and we are likely to see the ultimate performance offered by the two softest slick compounds in our Formula 1 range.
"Last year's race was won with a three-stop strategy by Sebastian Vettel, but Lewis Hamilton finished fifth after stopping four times and taking a drive-through penalty as well. As average speeds are not very high, degradation should not be an issue if wheelspin is controlled out of the slower corners, which can lead to overheating."

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by frostie

The flames spitting from exhausts are visible, the sparks shower from the underbody of the car as it bounces from one bump to another and the challenging street layout offers drivers little margin for error.

nice!

7 flyaway races in a row, 175 points up for grabs, and 10 weeks in which to do it in...what could be better?

only an intro by frostie thats what!

[djinvicta]

Nice intro as always Frostie..

[Bononi]

Thanks frostie !

[Marbot]

Nice one, frostie.

This has to be one of my favourite races. A very unique atmosphere, and it's a 2 hour race. It's going to rain 'cats and dogs' during the day, but little chance of that happening during the race. Enjoy!

[Bononi]

Some races F1 had there...

[JeremySmith]

What a great intro frostie, reading that puts me right at the race..

Thank you...

[frostie]

Thanks, I always appreciate the comments!
I'm flying out to Singapore on Friday morning for the weekend and as usual when Im at a race I'll do my best to chase up a few rumours and post anything of interest here.
I also have an interview with Caterham's technical director, Mark Smith, lined up for some point over the weekend so post here or PM me if you have any specific questions that you'd like answered

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by frostie

Thanks, I always appreciate the comments!
I'm flying out to Singapore on Friday morning for the weekend and as usual when Im at a race I'll do my best to chase up a few rumours and post anything of interest here.
I also have an interview with Caterham's technical director, Mark Smith, lined up for some point over the weekend so post here or PM me if you have any specific questions that you'd like answered

Great ! looking foward to read what you have to tell us !

[Marbot]

A possibility of rain? http://www.pitpass.com/47328-Wet-weekend-predicted

[stripedcat]

Originally Posted by Marbot

A possibility of rain? http://www.pitpass.com/47328-Wet-weekend-predicted

Great! It will be a nice safety car test then! I can see it now with the radio messages :-

Jenson : "I can't see a thing. Too much spray. We can't race in this."

Lewis : "Yeah. Everything is fine. The safety car can come in."

[FAS33]

top stuff, I actually thought that you copied and pasted all these threads you've made up Lol!
I don't know how you do it but that is up their with Autosport, Speedcafe etc reviews they come up with.

Can you ask Mark if he can give me a race seat for the 2013-14 , cheers.

[Razzzor]

Re Mark Smith interview... Get as much out of him about Kovi has you can. Have other teams being approaching him (mcLaren or Ferrari in particular)? Where he rates Kovi in the current field. Why Petrov has struggled to match him.
And if Kovi was to leave, who would be the likely replacement? Van Der Garde I imagine?

[Greem]

Helmet cam is back with Hamilton for FP1. I *love* the views from that.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Greem

Helmet cam is back with Hamilton for FP1. I *love* the views from that.

Wonderful stuff...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Great intro as ever.

7 races to go.

[TF110]

Hamilton isn't wearing his typical yellow helmet. I almost thought he was Button.

[CTD]

10-Tenths Chatroom

Online Right Now!
(Link in the red text and here: http://tiny.cc/tenthschat)

[frostie]

No major stories doing the rounds here, mostly stuff relating to Hamilton's contract and the new provisional schedule so nothing too concrete at the minute!, but a few notes from out on track from FP3...

The Ferrari is mega over the kerbs and both Massa and Alonso can put it wherever they want to. At turns 10,11,12-the chicane with the high kerbs-both drivers were monstoring the kerbs and able to flick the car through the much better than everyone else.

Button wasnt able to do it at the chicane, might have been fuel loads for him at that point, but he was very good from turn 11 all the way to turn 17 and was very aggressive with his steering and throttle inputs. Hamilton was ultra smooth at most of the corners I was standing at....bit of a role reversal for the Macca drivers but Lewis was the same at the other races I was at this weekend.

Vettel was smooth and quick everywhere but I was actually more impressed by Webber even if he had his off.

The Lotus looks a handful. Kimi had a few oversteer slides exiting the slower corners and Grosjean seemed to struggle under braking when I saw him.

[JeremySmith]

Very cool frostie ! Thanks for the update..

[Razor]

Kinda surprised with McLaren compared to Red Bull in Q3.

[Lancsbreaker]

How close to the wall was Lewis on that last lap? Great qualy performance, though.......

Should we be running a book on how long it'll take before Senna hits a wall?

[frostie]

Gotta say whoever thought a night race was a good idea......
Im sure it's not too bad if you stay on Euro time but I've been away the last couple of weeks and am seriously wilting by the time we get to the end of the action!
Even so the quali was really good. Was out on track so I'd say that you all know far more about everything that went on but I've a couple of quick hits....
Obviously tyre's are gonna be the key for the race but the one thing that impressed me throughout the weekend has been how easy Maldonado is driving. He isnt pushing the car, he's just letting it glide from turn in to apex and exit.
He's one of the few drivers that isnt sawing at the wheel which is obviously going to save his tyres well during the race. It's easy to mock him for his mistakes but he's looked legit all weekend....just like he did in Barcelona. Im not saying he'll win it but I wouldnt be surprised to see him challenge. His front row start wasnt luck; he's been building all weekend towards it.
Vettel was pretty subdued after the session and clearly disappointed with third. It seemed like he was fighting the car more in quali than at other points this weekend. He'll be dangerous tomorrow but it's going to be hard for him to beat Hamilton who has looked very quick all weekend.
I was surprised to see Alonso down in fifth, and even more so Massa in 13th, given how comfortable the Ferrari looked in FP3....it seems that they fooled me! I still think that they can come good in the race.
Great Q3 lap from di Resta. With Maldonado on the front row it's crucial that Force India have a good result otherwise they could fall behind in the Constructors table.

[MJones94]

I am peeved that I found out the quali result early, damn internet news! Yet I am relieved that Hamilton is on pole as Vettel looked quick through the FP's. Also 4 consecutive McLaren poles! Let's hope that Lewis can back this up with his second win at Singapore. I also wish Maldonado to actually finish well in the points!

[frostie]

I was chatting to a few people over the weekend and they all agreed is probably the biggest lottery of the season as far as tyres are concerned.

The gap between the option and prime can be as much as 1.5s-1.8s per lap (with so many slow speed corners having the traction under accelerating gives a huge benefit) so even though the option tyre is lasting only about 10 laps it will be used quite a lot through the race, even if it means having to make an extra stop. Of course the penalty for stopping is quite severe in Singapore-longest pit lane of the year and its at a slower speed.

I would still say however that you'll see a three stop strategy from most of the field with this kind of profile

stop one-lap 9-11 option
stop two-lap20-23 option
stop three-lap 34-37 prime

If you can make the option tyre last 15 laps, the Saubers and maybe the Force Indias, you could make the two stops work otherwise its three stops all the way out front from what I've seen and the McLarens were really consistent in FP2 when they went on longer runs.