[Official] Singapore Grand Prix - Round 15 of 21 - Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[Born Racer]

Singapore holds its eleventh World Championship Grand Prix this weekend. A symbol of the contemporary tendency of iconic circuit surroundings and modern entertainment razzmatazz, the Marina Bay circuit played host to Formula 1’s first ever night race in 2008.

A 318,000 watt capacity is required to pump the circuit with artificial lighting and the definition of the different elements of the cars is fantastic as they shimmer under the floodlights, with sparks from the underside particularly prominent.

With 23 corners (14 left-handers and 9 right-handers), it has more turns than any other Grand Prix on the calendar and at 61 laps, it generally goes on to become the longest race in the season, running to the 2 hour limit before the laps have been completed. The shortest race here was a little under 1 hour 56 minutes, in 2016.

On past form, the safety car is almost a certainty – it has appeared at least once in every Grand Prix held here, perhaps most memorably in the first ever Formula 1 race, when Renault’s Nelson Piquet agreed to crash in order to assist Fernando Alonso and in 2015, when during a safety car period, a spectator got through a gap and made it onto the track.

The shortest margin of victory here was 0.239 in 2010, with Alonso beating Vettel, although in 2016, Ricciardo ran winner Rosberg home close after a frantic battle near the end, with the margin 0.488 at the end.

The race goes back further than ten years, though, as there was a Grand Prix in Singapore in 1961, named the Orient Year Grand Prix. It formed part of a campaign called ‘Visit Singapore – The Orient Year’ to attract tourists to the region and it took place on a street track named the Thomson Road Circuit. Ian Barnwell in an Aston Martin DB3S won the inaugural race.

The race later became the Singapore Grand Prix in 1966 after the country gained independence and was run to Formula Libre rules. It was known for being a dangerous track with ‘The Hump’ one of the corners, a right-hander through which the cars left the ground and unofficially had a section which became known as ‘Murder Mile and a corner nicknamed Devil’s Bend.

Of the current field, the new incarnation of the race has been won four times by Sebastian Vettel (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015), three times by Lewis Hamilton (2009, 2014 and 2017) and twice by Fernando Alonso (the questionable 2008 win and 2010).

Last year, fast-starting Kimi Räikkönen collided with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel before the first corner in a crash which also wiped out Max Verstappen. The new Sauber signing will be keen to finish his Ferrari career with a flourish, while the Scuderia’s incoming man Charles Leclerc will be looking to a reversal in recent fortunes, as will outgoing Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. Lewis Hamilton leads the drivers’ championship by 30 points, but we know such a comfortable advantage could be almost wiped out with one DNF and a win for his fellow championship contender Vettel, who, like Lewis, is vying for a Juan Manuel Fangio-equalling fifth world title.

Meanwhile, the constructors' battle is yet closer, with Mercedes holding a 25-point advantage over their adversaries.

To join in our predictions contest on Ten-Tenths, go here: https://tentenths.com/forum/showthre...53#post3849953

Our Fantasy F1 contest is here: https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152532

Constructors’ championship standings: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/team.html

Drivers’ championship standings: https://www.formula1.com/en/results....8/drivers.html

Singapore Grand Prix tyre selections: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...re-tyre-choice

Circuit length: 5.063km
Number of laps: 61
Race distance: 308.706km
Dry weather tyre compounds: Hypersoft, Ultrasoft and Soft
DRS Detection Zone 1: Turn 4
DRS Activation Zone 1: between Turns 5 and 7
DRS Detection Zone 2: between Turns 21 and 22
DRS Activation Zone 2: on start-finish straight
Speed trap: on start-finish straight

Race Lap Record: 1:45.008 (2017 – Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes)
First Singapore Grand Prix: 1966
First World Championship Grand Prix: 2008

[S griffin]

Thanks for the intro as ever BR

The big question is which RBR will break down this time?

And how much the track changes will make a difference

[djinvicta]

Cheers BR.. Seems only a couple of us the night before the real action have noticed your fantastic effort on Singapore intro! Great input and history.. cheers again..

[E.B]

Cheers BR for the intro. Much appreciated.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Excellent intro as ever.

Last year, the start of the Singapore GP is where it all started to go wrong for Vettel. This year, is this where it all starts to go right because it needs to?

[S griffin]

Bit of an interesting couple of sessions, Vettel in trouble in FP2, which is not going to help him with the pressure being on him

[bjohnsonsmith]

Vettee heads final practice with 1m38.054s.

[Akrapovic]

He managed not to hit anything this time. That's a step forward.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Lulu's on pole with a blinder, followed by Verstappen with Vettee 3rd; not really where he wanted to be.

[chillibowl]

A serious blunder. Equally surprised by Max's lap as well.

Very excited for this race to start!

[Anyopenroad]

That was an astonishing lap from Hamilton. Absolutely peerless.

[Adam43]

Great lap. Wow

#blessed doped af.

[S griffin]

What a lap by not just Lewis, but Max too. Pressure is really on Seb now, don’t think the poleman’s gonna repeat last poleman at Singapore’s error with Max

[GT6]

Well opening lap looks like it will be interesting, suspect all cars unlikely to complete it.

[Aysedasi]

I somehow don't think the Ferraris expected to be trailing in Hamilton's wake at the end of qualifying. Stunning lap - and good to see Max up there too. So, is Vettel going to play skittles this time? Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't..........

[TrapezeArtist]

An amazing lap, following on from the mega-overtake at Monza. How long can he keep this up? It must end in tears sometime. Starting the race alongside Max Verstoppem seems as likely a place as any. Many drivers would give Max lots of room and settle for a safe second, but I don't think that's Lulu's way.

[Adam43]

He’s driving really well. Even he was taken aback by the performance

[F1Guy]

Going to be interesting to see how Mercedes manage their tyres, as they have selected the wrong tyre strategy. The Hypersoft tyre is the tyre to be on is seems and Mercedes is one set less than the others. Ferrari on the other hand have 3 sets of Hypers more than Mercedes.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Going to be interesting to see how Mercedes manage their tyres, as they have selected the wrong tyre strategy. The Hypersoft tyre is the tyre to be on is seems and Mercedes is one set less than the others. Ferrari on the other hand have 3 sets of Hypers more than Mercedes.

Interestingly if you check Pirelli’s twitter feed they suggest the best strategy is start on ultras for 24 laps then 1 stop onto softs. Problem is the top 10 can’t do ihis, but I suspect that’s what Ferrari were trying to do by running ultras in Q2.

Next best strategy is start on hypers for 13 laps and then softs for the rest of the race, and third best is hypers for 11 laps and 2 stints on the ultras

Be very interesting to see how long people can make their tyres last for

I wonder if ferrari have been forced to do 2 stops since they couldn’t make the ultras work in Q2 where as Mercedes can stop once and have more softs to use?

[F1Guy]

Not really what I was getting at. So... I'll let Lewis Hamilton Explain.


Lewis Hamilton after Q3: "Yesterday looked very good, and then we made some more changes today. Then in Q1 everyone else ran on hypersofts but we started on ultrasofts. We were aware that we came here with the wrong tyre strategy in the sense that others had opted for more hypersofts than we had. That meant we had to get rid of a set of soft tyres in FP3 and then run ultrasofts in Q1 to leave us enough sets of hypersofts for Q2 and Q3.

"The pace in Q1 was definitely greater than we had expected, and as I told my crew, I couldn’t drive any faster than what I did. I was definitely a little bit concerned. And when we did run hypersofts in Q2, everyone else had the advantage that they’d already done more running on them.

"But on my first lap in Q3 I was definitely feeling something special as it unravelled. We were able to pull together everything we had learned in practice, all the bits of the puzzle. 99 percent of the time it doesn’t come together, but I had a great car beneath me and there wasn’t a corner where I thought we could do more. There were no moments when I ran wide, no wheelspin, I was pushing perfectly to the limit… It was one of the best qualifying laps I remember.

“This track is so difficult. It’s the most challenging of the year, Monaco on steroids, longer and with more corners!"

[ascarracinguk]

I think what Lewis was eluding to is they didn’t bring enough hypers for qually....really they needed 3sets, but I think they have a better choice of tyres for the race. Ferrari have done a monza and only bought 1 set of softs, meaning they can risk it again and run with no prior knowledge or be forced into 2 stopping which may be more likely. Mercedes have run the soft in practice so have a bit more flexibility to 1or 2stop

[F1Guy]

A bit more on tyre strategy, Vettel wanted to go through to Q3 on the ultra's. But Ferrari refused as they believed it would be short. Below is some of the team radio between Vettel and Ferrari during Q2, before Vettel's final run in Q2. As a guide, "quali" are the Hypersoft, and "option" is the Ultrasoft.


Adami: OK box, Sebastian, box.

Vettel: What is your thinking?

Adami: We move to quali.

Vettel: I have lap time left.

Adami: How much?

Vettel: With a decent out-lap I would say at least half a second.

Adami: OK, copy.

Vettel: How much do you need? Then I can tell you.

Adami: 38.1. I think it’s not possible. And both Mercs on quali, and Red Bull on quali as well.

Vettel: I can do it, a 38.1.

Adami: Understood. And box. So we believe is too tight so we go for quali.

Vettel: I am happy to go option. That was not a good lap. The out-lap was too slow. Tyres were too cold.

Adami: I’ll come back to you.

Vettel: If you believe there is strong merit to start on the option I can do it.

Adami: No we go on quali. The decision is to go on quali. The decision is too risky.

Vettel: OK I follow you. I tell you I have more than half a second.

Adami: Understood.


As it turned out, a 1:38.4 would have got Vettel into Q3. But Ferrari didn't want to risk it. Would have been very interesting if Vettel was to start the race on Ultra's, with the Merc's and the Bull's on Hyper's.

[ascarracinguk]

Completely agree. This is one of the reasons I think ferrari are a bit compromised going into the race. I don’t think they can 1 stop on the hypers and move onto softs, and I think Vettel knew it. With a short run down to turn 1, the hyper isn’t so much an advantage over the ultras, so if they’d have chanced it and Vettel got pole, he’d be in the box seat....

This could be set up for an intriguing tyre battle in the race with different strategies

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was initially a clean start but the SC is out as Ocon goes into the wall at Turn 3. Looked like contact with Perez. Vettee got ahead of Verstappen.

[Akrapovic]

I guess a SC at Singapore is pretty much a given. Seb needs to make sure he doesn't run into the back of Lewis under it.