[Official] Singapore Grand Prix 2016: Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[Born Racer]

Singapore holds its ninth World Championship Grand Prix this weekend. A symbol of the contemporary tendency towards 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 1 hour 56 minutes.

The safety car is almost a statistical 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 or maybe last year 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.

The race goes back further than 2008, 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.

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

As can be seen by Vettel’s victories from 2011 to 2013 Red Bull has shown strong form at this circuit and a lot of the team will be harbouring strong ambitions for this weekend. Despite championship leader Hamilton’s 2014 win, this is a bit of an anomaly – a circuit on which Mercedes do not look set to dominate easily.

In spite of Marina Bay not always having provided stirring on-track battles, we could at least see an interesting tussle for top honours. Ferrari will be hoping to figure in that mix too after a disappointing season but a win last time out in Singapore. Throw in Räikkönen’s recent form vis-Ã*-vis Vettel, his battles with Verstappen and the 18 year-old’s speed, and the high performance of Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull, we could have something electric this weekend.

Ultrasofts make their second race appearance this weekend and they dominate the tyre selections, although there is an interesting variety in how many softs and supersofts drivers will have at their disposal.

To join in our predictions contest on Ten-Tenths, go here: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...wpost&t=147938

Our Fantasy F1 contest is here: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146625

Constructors’ championship standings: http://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2016/team.html

Drivers’ championship standings: http://www.formula1.com/en/results.h...6/drivers.html

Singapore Grand Prix tyre selections: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/h...singapore.html

Circuit length: 5.065km
Number of laps: 61
Race distance: 308.828km
Dry weather tyre compounds: Ultrasoft, Supersoft 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

Lap Record: 1:50.041 (2015 - Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull-Renault)
First Singapore Grand Prix: 1966
First World Championship Grand Prix: 2008

[S griffin]

Another well researched and written intro there BR

[bjohnsonsmith]

Excellent intro as ever, I hope the race is as good.

[chillibowl]

BE walking into (or pushing?) a camera man.

https://streamable.com/qyok

Bob Fernley in the background having a little laugh about it.

the media scrum around Chase Carey (CC from now on right?) has a bit of a 'hail to the conquering chief' feel to it.

which makes me feel bad for BE. yes he sold his stake so many times over so its not really even his anymore (property of his ex wife's trust), he probably deserves it etc etc but i still feel for the guy.

he just seems so small now.

[Mike Harte]

BCE has always held on to a small personal shareholding, plus the shareholding in the Bambino Trust for the ex and their daughters. He only ever sells other peoples' shares (on their behalf, of course) since he originally sold the majority in 1999.

[grantp]

Seeing some of the interesting bird's eye view night photos of the Singapore Circuit I can't help but feel the organisers have yet to spot an excellent opportunity to attract a younger audience.

I'm pretty sure that a figure of 8 arrangement would offer huge appeal to the Drift generation.

If one was sensible it would be designed with a flyover and the potential for some 'Ring like airborne shots.

If one was not sensible the added strategy calculations required twice a lap in order to avoid a collision would be television gold.

Maybe it could be run with both options but with the fly over having a time penalty associated with it.

That should spice things up.

We will probably have to wait for autonomous electric racing to take off before such ideas become anything like reality.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

BE walking into (or pushing?) a camera man.

https://streamable.com/qyok

Bob Fernley in the background having a little laugh about it.

the media scrum around Chase Carey (CC from now on right?) has a bit of a 'hail to the conquering chief' feel to it.

which makes me feel bad for BE. yes he sold his stake so many times over so its not really even his anymore (property of his ex wife's trust), he probably deserves it etc etc but i still feel for the guy.

he just seems so small now.

I have to admit that brought a bit of a smile to my face. Its hard to tell, but I think the camera man stepped between CC and BE and then BE pushed him out of the way. It had a bit of "I am still important" vibe to me. I really hate to give BE grief about his height as its not something he can control, but he seemed to just get lost in a forest of giants. It is like he is a grey haired child tagging along with the others.

Richard

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

...It is like he is a grey haired child tagging along with the others.

Richard

Lol. This is the first image that came to my head. From Akira. He even has a B on his jacket.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

BE walking into (or pushing?) a camera man.

https://streamable.com/qyok

Bob Fernley in the background having a little laugh about it.

the media scrum around Chase Carey (CC from now on right?) has a bit of a 'hail to the conquering chief' feel to it.

which makes me feel bad for BE. yes he sold his stake so many times over so its not really even his anymore (property of his ex wife's trust), he probably deserves it etc etc but i still feel for the guy.

he just seems so small now.

The link doesn't work.

[wnut]

Bernie looks like a pre-schooler throwing a hissy fit!

[venturi]

Lol at the monitor lizard crossing the track in P3, quote Max Verstappen who passed it, "There was a giant lizard on track, no joke"

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The link doesn't work.

Is fine here

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by alan1302

Is fine here

I switched browsers.

Anyway so Nico's on pole again and Lewis is on the second row. It's still anyone's race but I would like to see Nico win, as it would make the fight for the WDC more interesting.

[djinvicta]

I bet Red Bull tell MV to calm it into the first corner! It will be interesting if the Mercs "fail again" at the start..

[P38 in workshop]

Nobody else has mentioned it yet.Didn't Toro Rosso do well to get both their drivers into the top ten?I think it says a lot about the car and the drivers and hope they get a good haul of points in the race.

[Armco Bender]

Rosberg is over half a second faster than the next car,once the flag drops it will another snorefest as he drives off into the sunset.

[S griffin]

Bad luck for Vettel. Button makes a rare mistake and it costs him dear. And well done to both STRs. Will be interesting to see if the Honey Badger can beat Nico into the first corner

[bjohnsonsmith]

Great start for Rosberg but Hulkenberg got tapped BY Sainz from behind and went into the wall, first FCY

[billy bleach]

So how come McLaren - who we are told produce a great chassis - are so average in Singapore?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

So how come McLaren - who we are told produce a great chassis - are so average in Singapore?

The issue as with last season has been the Honda PU.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a great move by Kimi.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Nico, kept a level head with those brake issues. A shame Kimi couldn't get 3rd, looked like Ferrari didn't quite get their pitstop strategy right. Another good result for Alonso.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The issue as with last season has been the Honda PU.

An off par power unit didn't seem to hold Torro Rosso back and they the Hinda was not so shabby at Spa / Monza...

[spider]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

An off par power unit didn't seem to hold Torro Rosso back and they the Hinda was not so shabby at Spa / Monza...

Agree, but power through the range could be an issue too - rather than pure top-end. If mid-range is ok - but the bottom-end grunt + top-end are the issues, you could imagine that being an issue.

Gotta say, the McLaren season's been a lot better than expected - to now be ahead of Williams on pace is impressive considering how far back they were.

Top drive Vettel - and is has to be said, Rosberg and DR.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

An off par power unit didn't seem to hold Torro Rosso back and they the Hinda was not so shabby at Spa / Monza...

Alonso finished 7th at Spa, with Button retiring. At Monza, Button finished 12th and Alonso 14th and today was the same result as Spa, so a bit of a mixed bag but they are improving and are ahead of Toro Rosso in the Constructors. Iirc, the issue Honda has been having is with the ERS, not with the actual i/c engine.