Round 14: Singapore Review

Greetings Internet,

Normally I'd open as night descends over the circuit, but that naturally occurred before the start of the race and traditionally the darkness and floodlights can unleash some craziness. We see in the NASCAR series over in America that for their night races - also with walls in close proximity, the drivers tend to be a little more wild, but things are generally quite unpredictable to start off with. Back here - or more accurately there on the nocturnal streets - things were a little more calm and serene, at least for the first half of the race anyway. Starting off very conserved and cautious, the possible conflict between the front row drivers never quite materialised. In the few races that have been held in Singapore some constants have been build, things that are almost certain - and this time out those elements didn't change, the SLS was on the track and the race ran up and over the two hour time limit as a result of the Mercedes taking to the circuit. We were also only a few metres away from a third consecutive Schumacher/Sauber confrontation.

It has been an afternoon of deep contrasts and to painfully apply a footballing analogy it was a race of two halves - which does make me feel a little ill just muttering it through my keyboard. But although it took a while to build, after the mid-race reset things did start to change with some of the most innovative overtaking efforts of the season and technical issues starting to effect many of the contenders across the field. We also had a small sprinkling of contact to round off the event, and one driver had a problem with a loose nut, which as D.C. pointed out is never something to recommend in the humid conditions...

credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

The Race

There is always an air of anticipation before a street race, some of the craziest races in the world have happened when the walls threaten to punish the slightest mistakes with race ending damage - even more so now in this era of health and safety run-offs. Valencia this season serves as a great example, not as a track, but the race this year over there was surprisingly impressive considering the lap is rather naff. It's the same as the grid in Monaco on the tighter, twisting European roads in contrast to the wider faster street configurations that exist in other locations round the globe.

All that anticipation was realised when the lights were extinguished and the front two cars left the line virtually in unison. Alonso made an uncharacteristically poor start and ended up with cars running four wide behind him avoiding running over each other while all drifting towards the pit-wall, as the cars reached turn one Webber and Rosberg ran out of room and went across the run-off. Right at the front, Maldonado went in a little too deep and lost position to Vettel which in turn opened the door for Button to claim third position from the Williams. In the middle of the pack, where any contact is likely to happen the long angle shots seemed to see that Kamui brushed his endplate on the back of Massa's Ferrari in a late dive into turn one, and somewhere in the group Vitaly Petrov perhaps on the back of the slowing Ferrari with it's rear puncture.

After half a lap of running two wide the field settled down as this is the longest race of the season, no-one wanted to make any crazy early moves on the car in front. While Hamilton was building a reasonably safe gap from Vettel in second - the two main challengers from qualifying heading the field. Button was dropping Maldonado and Alonso behind him. These opening laps were bordering in on the processional and Webber decided that he'd had enough of being in the queue and opted to pit in for a newer set of tyres, pitting first out of the main contenders. This being a street circuit there was a lack of overtaking with the first pass outside of the first lap falling to Bruno Senna making up for an technical grid penalty using the DRS system to out-drag Heikki into turn 7 at the end of the DRS straight.

Webber's switch onto newer rubber acted as a signal for the other drivers to consider making their stops, Vettel came in next and dropped in behind a long train of cars - with Perez immediately in front. On fresh tyres Sebastien was easily able to pass the Sauber on his out-lap. The McLaren cars were holding out longer on the tyres at this stage of the race, even though Hamilton claimed he had a funny feeling in the tyres - something he probably should be keeping to himself. Of the two it was Lewis who pitted first as Button was closing the gap as a result of not having any 'funny feelings'  rejoining safely ahead of Vettel. In the Ferrari garage Alonso also rejoined behind Perez who as per normal is still not pitting in the Sauber, after spending several laps in the wake of the Mexican, Fernando used a decent helping of KERs drive past on the way down to turn 14.

What was impressive was that no-one had made contact with the ominous walls as we approached one third race distance, but that stat was about to be altered as Timo Glock tried to enter the tunnel sideways, which didn't work out too well. But as with Grosjean in Q2 yesterday the plastic barriers didn't do too much damage to the Marussia and Timo was able to drive away without any major loss in pace. A little further up the two cars running longer - Hulkenberg and Perez pitted releasing Webber and Di Resta. Then we encountered the biggest development of the race, when Hamilton entered turn one the car emitted all kinds of terminal sounding noises, Lewis' funny feeling just became slightly less amusing as his gearbox managed to grind itself into oblivion. And sending Hamilton and his questionable feelings into an early retirement, gifting Vettel the lead.

Elsewhere in the middle of the points there was a train forming behind a Mercedes driver, although this time it wasn't Oh Schu....macher, instead Rosberg was becoming more popular with the immediate attentions of Grosjean in the Lotus. But the second silver car was also joining the battle pursued the other Lotus of Raikkonen, but no-one was able to make any impression on the car in front. As it was time for some more pit stops once more lead by Webber in the Red Bull, but a little further forward Maldonado and Alonso pitted - and left in formation. The pair dueled round the out-lap Fernando looking to the outside through turn 14 which became the inside to turn 15, and then the outside for 16, all the way through the drivers leaving enough room. Which is slightly unusual for Pastor who has spent a season hitting people and pushing them off the road so that was nice.

Just as we had finished being impressed with that battle the wall had gained another visitor this time on a more permanent basis. The car of Narain Karthikeyan had also found the barrier in the tunnel and removed the front wheel from the HRT and bringing out the inevitable safety car intervention. Several laps later of removing the damaged car and filtering the lapped cars out of the way, it was time for the restart, which Button seemed to think started a little earlier than it did, almost wiping out the back of Vettel's car when the field was in the German Bloke's control.

When the race did get underway everyone was once more well behaved and controlled, the only car encountering difficulties was the Sauber of One-Stop Perez as he lost a couple of positions half way round the lap. On the back straight past the theatres he had to go defensive to prevent Vergne taking the position - which in the end proved to be a very lucky escape, because behind the pair was Schumacher who does like to assault Saubers at this race. The Mercedes driver applied the brakes for turn 14, but not enough decelleration and in another Oh Sch...umacher moment ploughed into the car ahead, which for a defensive line was not Perez this year. The Torro Rosso of Vergne was not to lucky being wiped out by the sliding German car, and the safety car came back out again.

The second caution period forced everyone to the pits as they could make it to the end from here, it also helped out some of the drivers who had difficulties early on bringing both Massa and Senna into the points. Life was not going to plan on the other side of the Williams garage as he had to pull the car into retirement with hydraulic difficulties as we hear the radio message to Schumacher asking "What happened there?" and Michael cites confusing technical issues with the brakes not being able to avoid ramming Jean-Eric. More difficulties in the pit-lane as Vitaly Petrov's Caterham was allowed to leave with a loose nut but was recalled before entering the track.

It was another controlled restart, this time without anyone running over the back of each other or coming close but thing were going to get interesting. Felipe Mass and Senna were battling over the final two points positions where the Ferrari clearly had a significant advantage over the Williams - instead of using the standard overtaking zones Felipe decided to do something a little different. Cutting underneath Bruno out of turn 12 and running two wide across the Andersson Bridge, Senna pushed Massa into the barrier brushing bodywork with the Ferrari. Massa stayed in position and got all kinds of sideways down the other side of the crest claiming the position into the hairpin in easily the greatest pass of the day. Williams protested the incident citing that Massa took too much of the inside curb before the bridge, but the move stuck without action.

Massa was not done yet, quickly catching up to the back of Ricciardo's Torro Rosso, and this time the Brazilian got a better run through turn nine and was able to pass the Australian before the dodgy chicane at turn 10. His next target was the two Lotus drivers who were encouraged to swap positions to aid Kimi's Championship challenge meaning Grosjean was the next car in line for Felipe's charge. A second battle was brewing a little further back as Kamui Kobayashi who frankly was not having a good day was out of sequence running off the pace ahead of Webber, Hulkenberg and One-Stop Perez. It was towards the back of the train where impatience first started to shine through as Perez had a go at Nico coming off the bridge. Unlike Massa's pass this one was a little later on in the corner and therefore was not contact free. Sergio lost a wing element and Nico lost a turning vane from the sidepod but no major damage to either car. Two cars further forward Webber used the DRS to pass Kamui's Sauber, braking round the outside of turn 7. Nico Hulkenberg followed the Red Bull through the opening, but somehow there was contact between Kamui's front wing and Nico's rear tyre. Kobayashi's front wing was badly damaged and the Force India suffered a puncture taking both back to the pit lane.

Back in the Williams camp, Bruno Senna paid his fourth visit to the wall this weekend, on the exit of turn 9, only bumping a rear wheel on the plastic barriers, but the car had other problems, terminal problems causing another retirement for the team. At this point the race organisers had given up on completing the full race distance of 61 laps and started the timed countdown to the conclusion of the race, with Vettel and Button tracing a comfortable pace out front with Alonso completing the podium enhancing his championship position. A couple of battles had broken off through the field - Massa stuck behind Grosjean and Webber had found the back of his countryman Ricciardo in the remaining Torro Rosso to be a little too wide. Mechanical attrition and Schumacher had thinned the field diluting the race towards the end as the timer counted down.

Vettel crossed the line with one minute remaining to signify the final lap, a lap just to bring the car home for his second win of the season and helping him close slightly in on Alonso. Button finished the race on the podium, after the other McLaren fell out of the race earlier on in the first half, while the Ferrari of Fernando completed the podium scoring yet more points to limit Vettel's gain. In fourth position finished Paul Di Resta for his best ever finish for Force India. Rosberg managed to finish fifth without seemingly doing anything, probably swept up the grid due to attrition and the safety cars. The two Lotus cars came home in 6th and 7th headed by Raikkonen retaining 3rd place in the championship, Massa's manic final charge brought him up into 8th ahead of the pair of Australians Ricciardo ahead of Webber. One thing that is worth noticing two spots further back was Timo Glock - after bouncing off the wall defeated all of the newer teams to record the highest finish for any of the three lower division squads.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Today was the longest race of the season, in terms of green-flag running time - discounting the extended red flag break in Malaysia for the rain storm, failing to complete all of the 61 laps allocated, falling 2 short of the total. In a race of this length drivers have periods of greatness before fading through tyre degradation or having runs and strategies hampered by the safety car interventions. But nonetheless points need to be awarded and they are as follows.

• 25pts - Timo Glock - For defeating all of the newer cars after bouncing off the walls in the tunnel, knocking the toe out and to take 10th in the constructors for the team, all in all good day
• 18pts - Felipe Massa - That was a brilliant pass and recovery from an early race puncture
• 15pts - Paul Di Resta - Another fourth place for Force India - one per driver now very strong race
• 12pts - Jenson Button - Firstly for missing the Red Bull on the restart but also for a strong race
• 10pts - Sebastien Vettel - After Lewis retired it was a fairly dominant performance
• 8pts - Lewis Hamilton - Should have been another win, and until things went wrong a strong drive
• 6pts - Pastor Maldonado - Another unlucky retirment, but didn't anyone and raced well with Fernando and at the start 
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - For completing the race and scoring decent point mainly under the radar, except when holding up Grosjean
• 2pts - Fernando Alonso - Forever managing to score points and finish well, looking good for his championship
• 1pt - David Coulthard - For the joke regarding Petrov and the loose nut problem

The Penalties Championship

In a street race there generally is a high chance of earning penalties from the stewards and several investigations were carried out during the race including cars running wide on the opening lap, and Massa's awesome pass on Senna but only two official penalties were delivered.

• Michael Schumacher - 10 place grid drop - For assaulting Vergne in the braking area for turn 14, missing a third year of consecutive Sauber contact by a couple of metres. As the team counldn't prove there was a technical reason for his crash.
• Mark Webber - 20s time penalty  - For passing Kamui Kobayashi round the outside of turn seven off the circuit on the other side of the white line.

The Penalty Points Championship

Today the officials didn't have too much to officiate on with only four investigations and for the most part the drivers were well behaved, probably still under supervision from the officials since the start-line crash in Spa all those weeks ago now. But this week there is one thing that does need handing a penalty point, and those are the stewards themselves, at times being unnecessarily pedantic especially this weekend with the proliferation of white lines offering racing surfaces on both side. At times I can agree that cutting down on drivers abusing the limits of the track is a good idea, but in a racing situation there are more factors to consider. When a driver is forced off the track then some form of common sense should be introduced, but I guess that if that kettle of worms is open all sorts of weird and crazy decisions will be made. But on this day I feel like giving them a point and because I make the rules here on a very arbitrary basis the point will stick.

Looking Ahead to Japan

Just like Spa or a pre-arena Silverstone, Suzuka is a fantastic drivers circuit and running the laps in the simulator when composing the video is much more of a pleasure than it is at some of the other layouts - yes Valencia I am pointing a finger at you as you are booted in to exile provisionally for next year. The fantastic sweeping curves of the opening sector leading into the excellent pair of degner corners underneath the cross-over. Suzuka is one of the most exciting laps of the season situated in one of the most exciting nations which is always a great combination. The southern region of Japan is not immune to a bit of rain, in fact it can rain quite a lot - drowning out the 2010 qualifying session completely resulting for a very long night at blog HQ - not that blog HQ existed back then. 

There is only one problem with a track like Suzuka, its immense flow and rhythm can restrict quality of the racing as there aero dependence hampers overtaking in the same way that the tight restrictive confines of a street track do. All of the long straights lead into fast corners with minimal braking zones, especially the full speed 130R corner at the end of the cross-over on the figure of eight lap. There have been some fantastic races at Suzuka and is a dramatic improvement over Fuji which hosted the race for two races in 08/09 - back in 05 Raikkonen made some epic passes including round the outside of Fisichella in a Renault (before Squadron status) for the lead in turn one. So with the championship battle intensifying with three main contenders remaining: Alonso from Vettel and Kimi a little further behind, with an outside chance for Hamilton in 4th to claim it. This season is building to something impressive, and the next stop is one of the most impressive laps of them all, so until then this is farewell from the blog. 

Round 14 - Singapore Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

Here we are in the middle of the first weekend of the series of flyaway races and all sorts of developments have come to the fore even before the first wheel started to turn in qualifying. Before we get to the more relevant goings on there is more of a local announcement here in the solitary world, at this time last season upon the weekend of the Singaporean GP of 2011, life here got more populated. There was a festival, well wouldn't quite go that far, but more of a summer fair... after summer had finished but after all this is Britain and summers don't really exist anyway. But at this event there was a small game involving throwing ping pong balls into jars from a distance, with the aim of winning prizes - and oddly enough the blog did win a prize, and that prize was a small goldfish. This fish was adopted as the official blog mascot, because nobody wanted to be the personal secretary here at HQ, and now as we reach Singapore once more blog fish reaches and approximate birthday - longer than any fish in this house. Even though it is showing it's age through missing most of it's tail at the moment, but an entire year none the less.

Back to the action closer to the track, and all sorts of thoughts are emerging looking towards next season already, starting off with the provisional release of the 2013 calendar. For the most part it closely matches what we have season this season, but with one major change in the sense that the track in Valencia - that so called street track on the harbour - has been booted from the schedule. Drafted into it's place however is another street track across the Atlantic in New Jersey, seeing the layout doesn't inspire too much excitement and two races in the states after years of not having any is a little odd, but we shall see. The other developments focus on the driver market which is balanced to spiral into complete disarray hinged completely on the actions of a Mr Schumacher and what happens to Massa. When those decisions are made, it will turn into musical chairs in a hurry. Because the likes of Perez, Hulkenberg and Hamilton all have questions about which car they'll be in on the grid in Australia. But for now these things are still up in the air, so dialling things back to the present lets look at qualifying.

Image credits to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying

The bright lights and streets of Singapore were waiting for the power and flamboyance of F1, and as always the visual spectacle of this event remains unparalleled in the sport, yes Abu Dhabi has all it's fancy buildings and glowing hotels but there is always something special about this race. Even watching the GP2 race which was run under the daylight the track was still looking impressive and a class above the other modern additions to the calendar. Through the free practice sessions the track hasn't seen many changes, just modification of the odd curb here and there, including reducing the violence of the curbs in the frankly crap chicane. Some cars were still being launched, the record being held by HRT, but the most amusing piece of information is that Jaime Alguersuari - practice co-commentator claims those 'corners' are among his favourites... that is reason enough for him not to be in a car this season really.

At the start of the session, it was the Sauber of One-Stop Perez running the initial laps because  he lost time in FP3 after hitting the wall in the tunnel section. He was soon joined by other GP2 graduates Grosjean, Maldonado and Kobayashi, from this first batch of competitors it was the Venezuelan that came out on top ahead of the returning Frenchman on his come back from the race ban. At this point none of the main competitors had taken to the track, waiting in the garage for a couple of minutes. As more and more drivers did leave the pit lane, it was no surprise that drivers were having difficulties with the chicane, Perez on his first lap ignored the thing completely, if only the FIA had the same idea. Both Mercedes cars took varying degrees of avoidance along with Hamilton's McLaren.Getting a little closer to disaster was the Williams of Senna, who clipped the wall in FP2, as the Brazilian found the barriers again this time in turn 9, just enough to brush the advertising banners.

The lead position changed hands several times during the session, Maldonado's time was washed away by the likes Alonso and Rosberg before Hamilton annihilated the field to go considerably faster. Only to be joined to within 0.002s by that German Bloke who for this weekend has sparkling lights on his helmet... the ever changing designs were mad to start off with but this was taking things to a barmy level of silliness. This sorted out the battle for the drivers on the prime compound tyre. This meant the battle was on for those having to switch to the softer compound to secure promotion, which generally involves finding out which driver will join the newer teams in relegation, As normal it was the Torro Rosso drivers hogging the position but strong times at the end of the session saw Kobayashi fall into the drop zone, and for some reason the Sauber was in the pit lane and not on the track, sealing Kamui's fate. As the car had issues with oversteer, not particularly ideal with the walls being so close.

Slipping into the next session and it was the Lotus team who took to the track first lead by Kimi Raikkonen, but on the other side of the garage, things were not going quite to plan, as Grosjean got a little sideways under braking for turn 14. Frankly a little too sideways, normally when the back of the car is ahead there is usually a problem, a problem that involved colliding into the barrier. However in a car which has seemed a little fragile to impacts this year, the Lotus was able to drive away without any major damage or consequences. As Alonso took the lead the barriers gained another visitor - this time a little more significantly  - almost making a habit of it as it was Bruno Senna once more in turn 21 ruining the rear suspension, knocking the Williams out of the session.

Then something odd happened, nothing was going on - normally there is a mid session break in Q3 but not in Q2 as everyone came in to change tyres for the final charge to making it into the final section, Hamilton and Vettel were safe but the others were less so. The battle for relegation was mainly surrounding Force India and Mercedes as the time started to run out, and as the track started to evolve strong times were being put in shuffling the order. Grosjean started the process moving the Lotus up to third displaced only by Webber, Di Resta also moved up the order into 5th while their team-mates were not fairing too well, being knocked out at the end of the session by the two Mercedes cars. Joining Kimi and Hulkenberg in relegation was the Torro Rosso Team, Perez and Felipe Massa, not entirely helping his hopes of hanging onto his drive while Alonso is out leading the championship.

We only had one session remaining and 10 drivers remaining, five of which took to the track at the start of the session lead by the pair of Mercedes', driving round on the prime compound which did seem rather odd. On these opening laps it was Hamilton that set another dominant time to go fastest by a comfortable margin from Button in second - one second behind. Vettel split the two McLarens to go second, as for the Mercedes team - well they just pottered round and pitted without setting a lap or intending to. A problem that has not surfaced for quite a while but the sanction still applies - one penalty point each for the two silver cars.

It was time for the final runs of the day, and Hamilton really didn't need to bother going back out again but with the speed Vettel has been showing through practice, even beating Lewis in Q1, they couldn't take the risk. The commentary team considered it to be a two horse race for pole, so it became much of a surprise when a third car got involved in the process, street circuit specialist Pastor Maldonado brought the Williams up into second place. Waves of drivers tried to challenge for the front row, but the likes of Alonso, Button and Webber all failed to make any impression. After pulling the car out of the barrier Romain Grosjean almost put it back in again more firmly, after surviving an epic slide through turn 9, staying on the power all the way through. The attention turned to the final charge from Vettel, and even he couldn't beat the Williams never mind the McLaren out front, just to add insult to injury Hamilton completed his final lap which although wasn't an improvement was still good enough for pole in it's own right.

The Bonus Points Championship points winners

At the end of the first night session of the final phase of the season there were some entertaining moments and exciting performances across the grid so here are the bonus points winners from the Singapore Qualifying session.

• 10pts - Pastor Maldonado - For breaking the Lewis/Seb battle out front to make the front row
• 8pts - Petrov/Kartthikeyan - For beating their team-mates in after traditionally being dominated 
• 6pts - Romain Grosjean - Escaping putting it in the wall and a fantastic slide in the final phase
• 5pts - Lewis Hamilton - That was a dominant performance so here are some points
• 4pts -  Paul Di Resta - A strong qualifying result for the Force India team
• 3pts - Bruno Senna - Three points for a hat-trick of visits to the barrier this weekend so far
• 2pts - Marussia - For making major improvements to the car, to fight on pace with Caterham
• 1pt - Blog Fish - There you go, one point for one year of service as being the blog mascot

The Penalty Points Championship

As there were no driver penalties handed out this weekend so therefore we skip ahead to the penalty points division and here we have two offerings handed out for not taking part in the final phase of qualifying and those were to the Mercedes team. Both Schumacher and Rosberg have been handed a penalty point. Elsewhere there is going to be one point for Alguersuari for his praise of the appalling chicane down in turn 10.

Looking to tomorrow

This weekend is all about the race, seeing all 24 cars glistening in the lights unleashing cascades of sparks from the skid-plates underneath the cars. Also the Mercedes front wing endplates tend provide their own sparks when bouncing across the curbs in the chicanes. All in all the spectacle of this event is unbeatable on so many levels, and tomorrow's event can often be more about luck and surviving any mayhem that is likely to occur. In all of the races here on the streets there has been at least one appearance from the safety car, even in the shortened GP2 race earlier there were two interventions, one at the start and one at the very end of the race. 

Looking at the grid we have been dealt following the session several hours ago now, we have the two best friends of Maldonado and Hamilton on the front front row, which could be interesting. Additionally as with a lot of the races this season there are cars out of position, with Raikkonen and Massa outside the top ten and the potentially slower Mercedes ahead of them in 9th and 10th. To make matters even more interesting there is the other matter of Kobayashi down in 19th, here we have a fast car, with a driver who is certainly not afraid of making some risky overtaking manoeuvres. One thing that plays in favour of the Sauber team is that, they are away from the threat of Schumacher who has a record of hitting Saubers in Singapore. 

The 2012 Singaporean GP is looking like being a highlight of the season, if Valencia managed to be rather good on a dodgy track soon to be booted off the face of the calendar for ever, then the far more interesting lap under the lights should be much more entertaining. With a small threat of rain in the area, the concept of rain on the streets at night is a whole new problem the series has never encountered before, and it would be very interesting to find out how it would work. So until then this is farewell from my darkened corner here in Blog HQ. 

Round 14: Singapore 2012 Preview

Greetings Internet,

Here we are, the start of the final fly-away races crossing Asia and the Americas to conclude the season, which is always a shame and casts darkened shadows of empty finality, as the bleak void of the off-season looms ominously on the Horizon. Seeing the silhouettes of the European races descending into the distance, the events of the early rounds in Spain and Monaco fading slowly into the annuls of history, of a time when Maldonado didn't hit as many people - well a little less having collided with Grosjean in Australia and China. So now we have to look forward to what lies ahead before the final chequered flag falls in Sao Paulo and the route there is an interesting one. We cover two great historic and challenging venues in Suzuka and the finale in Brazil, there are thee of those modern efforts flung into the calender in recent seasons in Korea, India and Abu Dhabi. To cap the last section off, there is one complete unknown as the season returns to the US in Texas, with a track which in contrast to other newer venues might be worth racing on, and one manic night street race.

As things do seem a little bleak at this stage of a championship when one milestone has been passed and left behind we need something to pick us up a little. Monza was not the ideal grand finale for the European season that we hoped it would be, but showcased the strategic approach that has returned to the sport with the introduction of softer degrading tyres. So looking at the list of tracks and races to come, something from the Tilke design table might not be the ideal place to look to re-invigorate the season at any stage never mind at a point like this. Likewise the traditional grandeur of Japan or Brazil may be vastly superior tracks but the racing can be hampered, so what we do have this weekend is perfect, an excuse for some madness and a crazy race to kick-off this final phase. Just like having Albert Park to announce the season back in March, a street circuit bathed in floodlighting in the middle of the night, sounds wonderful to me. The Singaporean GP is another recent addition to the calendar since 2008, but in it's brief time it has surpassed the likes of Abu Dhabi, and Korea by an immense amount.

The Track

credit to the FIA for the circuit graphic

Since the venue was inducted into the calendar the track and event was branded as being a little gimmicky and artificial, claiming that the sport was being defeated by money and the need for a spectacle out-weighing competition. It was also in the midst of Bernie declaring he wanted all kinds of street races, in Rome, Paris and London most of which too would be night races - even wanted to turn Australia into a night race. Singapore was the only track that made it through the net, despite the criticism when Spa and Silverstone were under threat financially. But Singapore is here to stay and yes it is a deviation from the traditional roots of the sport, but I'm not going to lie, it is bloody brilliant as an event. Even the track is good fun to drive on in the simulator. 

Looking at the lap, street circuits are always limited to the existing road networks, finding avenues that are wide enough to accommodate a grid of racing cars, with room for all the barriers and safety zones. Some of the route has been introduced as a permanent facility, the start straight and it's connected corners are not part of the public infrastructure. From the exit of turn 5, the track joins the city streets down the fastest of the straights, which are not absent from this street track as they are in Monaco (Valencia still doesn't count). The circuit has more in common with city races in Australia and North America, with concrete barriers and lots of 90 degree corners, tracing the format of junctions and intersections that make up the road network. 

The main problem with this genre of street circuits are the artificial chicanes, used to cut speeds in certain areas because the amount of run-off and space is limited by buildings and other immovable objects. Here we have turn 10, which is all kinds of wrong frankly, forcing three corners into the space where only one should go. Made worse by the massive curbs that mark out the chicane launching cars into the wall on the outside. As a single corner is would be a challenge with no room for error, yes it would loose points on the safety front but it would be better than the current solution. The following chicane isn't much better, cutting speeds before the Andersson bridge which is a narrow part of the track and leads into a very slow hairpin.

Across the remainder of the lap there is perhaps an overuse of corners, with three almost identical chicanes in a row, but once more this is a product of two things, the road layout and integration with the purpose built final couple of corners. In the middle of this section is a innovative feature that almost disguises the fact that it is in essence another pair of 90 degree bends forming a basic chicane; what makes it interesting is that the road passes underneath the grandstands. Which must be a great place to see a grand prix car, the view isn't going to be that good but the sound and reverberation of the engine in the tunnel must be amazing. The lap is concluded by an impressive double apexed high speed corner, not a term that is synonymous with street racing but this is the permanent part of the track which explains it but it is fantastic way to end the lap.

Now I shall present the video for this impressive facility, and this year I do have the updated version with the new pit lane entry and exit points as well as the re-profiled awful chicanes down near the bridge. One minor flaw is that no-one has updated the AI file for the track so the cars drive all over the curbs and cut corners everywhere. This week I am still using the champcar blogmobile from last season because my new pad only arrived yesterday and it is a brilliant car to drive, so we'll see what car takes to the track next race, but back to the streets and this is the introductory video to Singapore.

What to expect

As already pointed out this is a street circuit, so the old cliché of expecting the unexpected fits the layout perfectly combined with the fact that this is the longest race of the season, encroaching on the two hour time limit. Which means drivers can get tired wrestling the car through the streets, and therefore mistakes and accidents become more likely - leading to the deployment of the safety car, an event which is far from uncommon. Singapore also poses problems for the Sauber team, because on these streets their cars tend to be assaulted by Schumacher - first it was Kobayashi in 2010, then Michael used One-Stop Perez as a take off ramp last season, so best for them to avoid the German this time round.

For those at the front of the field, the competition should be more crowded than it was in Monza as this is a completely different style of track, which brings Red Bull and Lotus back into the equation as the power deficit from the Renault engines won't be a problem. Also street racing passed some of the responsibility onto the drivers for generating pace, therefore the likes of Hamilton, Alonso and Webber could be more prominent contenders. Transversely it could expose weaknesses in the styles of Vettel and Massa - which is more of a problem for Felipe who's position is slightly under threat at Ferrari and Singapore has not been the most successful of races for the Brazilian.

Casting an eye back to the mid-field and it is race like this where safety cars and uncertainty are more the rule than the exception the smaller teams could be on for a good day. Penalties and attrition in Italy brought Perez right up onto the podium on his better tyre strategy and Force India scored well at this race last time. Made even more important this season as the pace is so close throughout the pack, so the top teams don't have the breathing space to make a mistake or have a penalty and rejoin in front of the next division. The track could be a strong venue on pace for a lot of the mid-field teams, the likes of Williams and Sauber threatening to take points from Mercedes and Lotus before any hint of carnage takes place. 

There is generally very little to report when it comes to the back end of the grid because their running order is the same from race to race independent of the type of track, the only thing that fluctuates are the margins. Caterham will be the leading team in the category and might not too far from the back of the mid-grid, well specifically Torro Rosso. As for the other two teams, things have been a little closer than they were at the start of the season, with HRT and Marussia competing for the final two rows, but the majority of the time Karthikeyan has dibs on last place. 

Blog Predictions

Well at the end of the post it is time to reveal this blogs failed effort at guessing which drivers will finish where at the end of the 60 laps on Sunday afternoon.

1. Vettel
2. Alonso
3. Hamilton
4. Button
5. Webber
6. Raikkonen
7. Massa
8. Perez
9. Rosberg
10. Grosjean 

Qualifying 

• Red Bull: Vettel
• Ferrari: Alonso
• McLaren: McLaren
• Mercedes: Rosberg
• Lotus: Raikkonen
• Sauber: Perez
• Force India: Hulkenberg
• Williams: Maldonado
• Torro Rosso: Ricciardo
• Caterham: Kovalainen
• Marussia: Glock
• HRT: De La Rosa

Well there we have it then, this post declares the start of the final series of races across the world, having left Europe behind and Singapore is one of the newest highlights to be incorporated into the season, an unrivalled spectacle underneath the floodlights. The cars always look even more fantastic in the artificial lighting, the same lighting that now seems to be installed in the street outside of Blog HQ, but the combination of street racing at night is a recipe for destruction and mayhem. Agreed this isn't the same sort of excitement that the likes of Spa and Suzuka generate for the skill and challenge that those tracks offer, but Singapore provides a different class of entertainment through the uncertainty and tendency for things to go crazy. It is the perfect way to introduce this stage of a competitive and intriguing season, so for now this is farewell from me here at blog HQ; and as this is the day after talk like a pirate day, both you and I have been spared the very dodgy pirate translation of this post.

Round 13: Italy Review

Greetings Internet,

The European season has now elapsed as preparations begin the travel into the far east for the first of the fly-away races on the awesome streets of Singapore. It can be said that everyone was rather well behaved today, no mad multi-car pileups and insanity, instead there was a lot of passing, mainly through the two DRS sections and the low downforce nature of the track reducing the amount of aero turbulence. Also the particular stresses and strains of the power of Monza had a detrimental effect to some of the key runners in the championship before leaving the continent behind.

The Italian GP, was at times a little diluted in terms of action, but it made up through strategy and precision. This season has seen a lot of overtaking efforts that have gone a little awry, from Maldonado on Grosjean back at the beginning of the season in Australia - and a whole bunch of other incidents involving the the crazed Venezuelan. But this time, the altered regulations on defending your position have actually taken effect, meaning that people have to leave room even if the tiniest portion of the chasing car is alongside. Trying to judge something like that has lead in most cases to a lot more caution when both making and defending passes. It would go a long way to explain the amount of passes that are being made round the outside of chicanes, like the bus-stop in Spa last week, because as the track shifts in the opposite direction the drivers are forced to give way. That and the high apex mounds funnel drivers towards each other and opens the door for contact. So how did these regulations and unique challenges shape the Italian GP.

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

The Race

We had a wider range of race snacks in position this weekend in preparation for the start of the event, and everything seemed orderly - almost too orderly, even the beverages were equidistant from the edge of the table. A long way from pinning the toastie machine in place with a bottle of flammable liquid before the less friendly run down to the first corner there. The amount of order was almost compromised when the Mercedes team forgot which fans went in which sidepod before pushing the car down to the grid spot. But in the OCD world of formula one that was the highlight of the pre-race build-up, not even Brundle's gridwalk went without barging international journalists out of the way.

It was time for the start, where for the second time this season the blog was joined by esteemed guest John, purveyor of the famous outside broadcasts last season, and for the Chinese GP this season - and the rationale behind why bagels currently have four bonus points. There was some chatter on the radios before the formation lap regarding the space on the other side of the white line on the grid, declaring it out of bounds except for emergencies to prevent people rejoining into the pack and causing an accident. Like we had this time last year. But off the line the grid seem to leave in unison, with the exception of Rosberg who was operating on a slightly different time scale to everyone else and started rather slowly. It was the Ferraris that on the whole made the best start, Massa passing Button and Alonso passing Di Resta.

Throughout the weekend it has been surprising how many people have managed to fit through the chicane at the start, but these are bigger cars, yet they all avoided each other, without even using the run off. Demonstrating potentially dangerous amounts of co-operating and friendliness - Kobayashi took a small knock to the rear corner and an HRT chipped an end plate, but that was the sum total off all the conflict and contact in the Retifilo. It got more confusing because throughout the rest of the lap no-one as much as brushed wheels - Di Resta got a couple of wheels on the grass on the run into Curva Grande trying to re-pass Alonso. The order settled into a single file formation after the grid passed through the Della Roggia chicane sorting themselves out before entering the first of the two Lesmos.

In the early stages it was the second of the Ferrari drivers that was making a charge forwards, driving past Kamui Kobayashi on the exit of Parabolica, Fernando caught straight onto the back of the next car in the train. The Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen - who running the Renault engine before the DRS system was activated was powerless to resist the straight line speed of the local favourite. Making the pass on Kimi before the cars reached the first chicane. Out front however Hamilton was easing away from Massa who in turn was dropping Button in 3rd, with explicit instructions to break free from the DRS region amidst the threats of the powerful McLaren system. On the following lap, the wing system was activated and one of the first take advantage was the Red Bull of Vettel, what was rather odd was that the he was able to make a straight line power pass on a Mercedes - considering the trouble they had in Spa passing the same car of Michael Schumacher.

We had completed a few laps without any wheel banging and that was about to change, as Rosberg came across the Williams of Bruno Senna in the Retifilo with a slightly forceful pass, bumping the Brazilian across the speed bumps. Things didn't get any better for Bruno as he then found himself battling with the Force India of Paul Di Resta, on the entrance to the Della Roggia chicane - Senna looked to the outside under braking before being eased off the track by Di Resta. A couple of gesticulations later Bruno coasted through the run-off and rejoined from a second excursion. Meanwhile on the front straight the camera caught a Torro Rosso losing control braking for the first corner and collecting the apex curb, the front of the car was launched into the air clattering back down on the grass in the middle of the corner. Jean Eric Vergne suffered broken rear suspension under braking and slid, and flew in to retirement, While the yellows were out to take the car away the DRS system was deactivated after the problems it caused in Valencia.

Towards the end of the first stint some of the cars were beginning to fade, Di Resta and Schumacher were struggling with wear rates on the rear tyres, which became a problem for Raikkonen who was unable to pass the Mercedes. Paul however was not able to maintain his position, losing ground to the Red Bull of Webber on the run down the Ascari chicane, defeated by Mark's DRS advantage. This lead to a flurry of pitstops initiated by Maldonado who miraculously had not hit anyone, followed by Nico Rosberg in the other fading Mercedes. There was one car that wasn't even considering heading into the pit lane - and there are no points for guessing who was on a single stop strategy and making progress. Indeed it was the Sauber driver One-Stop Perez who was now running behind Kimi Raikkonen, and the Mexican found a way past on the outside of the Roggia chicane. Taking advantage of the new regulations completing the pass on the inside of the second apex.

Over on the Ferrari pit wall there was a lot of nothing going on, as all telemetry from Massa's car was not being transmitted back to the team, just as Button was closing rapidly on the Red machine, the lack of data had no effect on the pace of Felipe but had more strategic implications. Jenson stayed in the draft of the Ferrari through Curva Grande making the pass cleanly round the outside before turning into the chicane. The Ferrari took the pits, one lap before Vettel and Alonso pitted at the same time - and exited at the same time two wide down the lane. Rejoining behind a train of one-stopping mid field cars, containing the remaining Torro Rosso of Ricciardo and Senna's Williams. This closed up the battle, and brought Alonso back into contention while the two McLaren were making a break out front. On the One-Stopping Perez update, he still wasn't coming in and running in third, but as the two silver cars out front cycled through their stops Sergio went through into the lead.

After filtering through the cars on the alternate strategy and nearly running over each other in the process Alonso was left duelling with that German bloke, and the Ferrari had the top speed advantage Coming through Curva Grande Alonso got a significant run on his rival, switching to the outside mid corner. Vettel covered the line, and then kept covering the line until there was no more line to follow - which meant there was no space for Fernando... who was now on the grass and gravel at close to 190mph. New pants there perhaps, but instead he called the team to complain about the German bloke, after pulling a diluted version of  the same move 12 months ago. After a brief investigation by the stewards it was decided that Vettel's conduct was not acceptable and he was handed a drive through penalty. Meanwhile in the calmer Sauber garage One-Stop Perez was instructed to hang onto the tyres and his target pit lap was extended by four laps.

Time for some overtaking and it was Kimi Raikkonen, who was about to deliver after catching Hulkenberg who was also on a one stop strategy in the Force India - on the fresher rubber Kimi was able to complete the pass at the end of the DRS straight under braking for turn one. Hamilton had also caught up to the interim leader in his McLaren as Sergio's tyres were starting to go away towards the end of his opening stint. Knowing he was not in contention to race Lewis he didn't defend the position into the Retifilo chicane - after all Hamilton had set a string of fastest laps to get there. Round two between Vettel and Alonso was less likely to result in one driver being planted in the barriers, as the Ferrari sailed safely past before the Roggia chicane, as at this point Vettel was unaware of the penalty that was heading his way.

The race entered the almost inevitable stage of stagnation where nothing too much took place, generally in the middle of the stints where all tyre performances have equalised and no-one is gaining or losing. However this mid-race break was punctuated by a rather key development, Jenson Button's McLaren had stopped working, on account of a fuel pressure problem on the back straight. Severely denting his championship position and deleting his shot at a podium and a McLaren 1-2. After that moment the race started to enter the more interesting final stint - where a certain Mexican on fresh softer tyres was going rather quickly indeed, encountering a feisty battle with Raikkonen - Sergio passed the Finn in the Roggia but was re-passed on the exit before finishing the duel two-wide through the Retafilo chicane, which apparently is possible with the new rules. Without Button in the race any more both Ferraris were now on the podium - in the wrong order. Several sneakily coded messages went out to Massa, telling him to conserve tyres, and that Fernando was in the DRS window. Within laps of the two cars appearing within range the positions were reversed on the main straight.

Another set of fastest laps were being posted as Schumacher pulled his car into the pits for the second time and releasing the Sauber into 4th position - Perez was flying reeling in the two Ferraris at close to two seconds a lap and running faster than Hamilton by over a second. This prompted Smedley to get back on the radio to Massa asking him to pick up the pace a little - there is a car closing in rather quickly indeed.  Raikkonen however was going backwards losing a place to Rosberg, while the second Mercedes threw the car down the inside of Kamui into Della Roggia, both cars with a box full of oversteer on the exit.

Massa no longer needed the instructions from the team as to where the car of One-Stop Perez was, as the Sauber was right behind the Ferrari, and Felipe had no defence against the Sergio. One the run down towards the Parabolica Perez drafted right up to the back of the Ferrari before ducking out at the last moment passing Massa before turning into the corner. Allowing Sergio to set his sights on the next car a few seconds further down the road, at this point a radio call went out to Hamilton in the lead car warning him to pick up the pace a little just to make sure he'd stay clear of the charging Sauber. Another radio call was sent to Webber who was running line astern with his team-mate telling him that Vettel's car could stop suddenly at any moment with a potential alternator failure again. In the time all those radio calls had taken place, Perez was now right behind Alonso and coming through the second of the two DRS zones swept past the Ferrari before Ascari - and set off after the lead McLaren.

It turned out that the prophecies on the Red Bull pit wall were all too accurate as Vettel's car lost all power and crawled to a halt before the first chicane - bombarded by his engineer shouting at him to stop the car as soon as possible to preserve the engine and avoid a grid penalty. Life was falling apart on the other side of the garage too as Webber's car got loose after clipping the final part of the Ascari chicane, luckily he managed to keep the car out of the inside wall but flatspotted all four tyres in the process. Mark didn't risk driving the car to the end of the race on the damaged tyres, Raikkonen knows how well that situation can end after a flatspot took his entire front suspension off at the Nurburgring some years ago. Within two laps he pulled the car into retirement.

Perez tried to cut the gap down to Hamilton but the were not enough laps left to get the job done, meaning the only McLaren left in the race crossed the line to take victory 5s clear of the Sauber he passed mid-race on an alternate strategy. Alonso gave the sea of red fans something to be pleased about as he put the Ferrari on the podium, followed home by his team-mate, both Ferraris scoring well on home turf. Raikkonen held off a late charge by Schumacher in a reversal of fortunes for most of the race where the German was in front. The second Mercedes clocked the fastest lap as it crossed the line with Rosberg at the wheel ahead of Di Resta and Kobayashi. For the final point somewhere on the final lap Ricciardo was defeated by both Williams handing 10th place to Bruno Senna after he had an eventful afternoon battling with various people.

The Bonus Points Championship

Looking back, today was not the most eventful of all weekends, although the final day of support races were great fun to watch. Seeing the GP3 title decided by the slimmest of margins in by one position on the penultimate lap of the race. But in the main game, the entertainment was in a restrained fashion today so finding points for exuberance may be a little complex. But nevertheless here are the winners from the Italian GP.

• 25pts: One-Stop Perez - Another well raced and managed strategic race, with strong pace and overtaking
• 18pts: Fernando Alonso - From rally crossing through the gravel to charging through from 10th a good job
• 15pts: Felipe Massa - Despite being defeated by his team-mate had a decent showing for once
• 12pts: Heikki/Petrov - Crossing the line two wide after 53 laps is rather cool.
• 10pts Hamilton - Probably should have some points for winning
• 8pts: Bruno Senna - From being pushed off twice to sneak a point on the final lap
• 6pts: Webber - For keeping the car off the wall on the exit of Ascari
• 4pts: Vergne - Points for the impromptu flight in the first chicane
• 2pts: John: - For race snacks, which are always a good idea 
• 1pt: Daniel Abt: For almost doing the seemingly impossible in the GP3 event in the morning

The Penalties Championship

Only one penalty has been handed today and oddly enough it wasn't handed to Maldonado which is a first, but instead heading to Sebastien Vettel for his overly defensive manoeuvre on Fernando on the way through Curva Grande.

The Penalty Points Championship

Even though the grid was painfully well behaved across the weekend that doesn't mean I can't offer up some penalty points for the other things going on this weekend, and even they were being so well behaved. Even they were controlled, including two drivers battling two wide through Ascari without making contact, but there was one moment that does deserve a penalty and that goes to the GP3 champion. Mitch Evans started the race last and drove up into the points - a good thing - but took damage avoiding a spinner in turn one over the curbs. As a result he ran off at Roggia and when rejoining proceeded to weave across the track to try and keep drivers behind him - lunacy and deserves a penalty point.

Looking ahead to Singapore

Monza was on balance a controlled strategic race, on a high speed traditional circuit which has been part of every season bar one since 1950 - so it can be said that the next race is one of the greatest of contrasts. As the series takes to the bumpy, narrow streets under the radiant artificial lights of Singapore. Out of all the newer tracks that have found their way onto the calendar, the Marina Bay Circuit has made one of the greatest impacts on the sport in terms of spectacle and entertainment. And it is a track where Schumacher has a tendency to crash into Saubers, Kamui in 2010 and going over the top of Perez last season. After visiting some of the greatest traditional venues on the calendar the street track is something completely different and the longest race of the season, where the event will close in on the two hour maximum limit. Even without the likely visit from the Safety car.

In a championship which is close and unpredictable as it has been this season, the injection of a complex race such as Singapore can prove to be crucial in deciding the title, as it was for Hamilton in contact with Webber in a previous visit to the track. This time we may have been starved of some out and out mad racing action but throw in a street track into a challenging and competitive end of the season could make up for Monza and every other uneventful race this year. Singapore is a fantastic way to welcome in the final phase of this season and until then this is farewell from me here in the isolated world of blog HQ.. 

Round 13: Italy Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

We are rapidly running out of sessions this season, as more than half of the Italian GP weekend has now elapsed leaving only the race tomorrow afternoon to bid farewell to the European season. Things have been a little more orderly away from the rained out practice sessions of Belgium and the fun that caused come race day. Even the GP2 race that has just finished was abnormal levels of sane and orderly, a reflection on the fact the the series has come in for some stick from the folk in the top division. Complaining that the drivers were being a little too crazed, and keeping that craziness into F1. We can assume that the penalty that was thrown at Grosjean was aimed as an overall warning to all drivers that all this lunacy from the likes of him and season villain Maldonado with more personal penalties than brain cells. Here's hoping GP3 does too.... and miraculously they too have got through the Retifilo without crashing,  I don't think I can cope with all this sanity - but as they are running on most straights 3-4 wide it won't last.

Anyway as hilarious as the support races are, well traditionally are, today less so - this corner of the internet on a Saturday afternoon is directed more towards the session to decide the grid. Where some interesting performance developments throughout the session, as straight line speed issues are hurting the Renault powered cars, because there are not enough corners to make up the speed elsewhere, like there was at Spa allowing Vettal and Raikkonen to get onto the podium with the weaker engines. This means that Mercedes powered cars have a greater advantage this weekend, in some cases with a 10mph advantage on the main straight. So if you have a Mercedes engine and a decent car you are in for a decent chance, Then there are the Ferrari powered teams, not quite the same power as the Germans but also beating the Renaults in the extreme speed that is Monza, so how did the battle shape out this afternoon.

credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying

Across the practice sessions reliability was starting to become a problem with technical difficulties for Alonso on Friday in his Ferrari - not something that will please the armies of supporters at the track. But further difficulties were faced by Maldonado and that German bloke who suffered another of those alternator failures that took away has race win in Valencia. Additionally gearbox problems for Paul Di Resta have landed him a 5 place grid penalty from this final positioning at the end of the session.

On to Q1, having managed to time the toastie production correctly, where the first car to leave the pit lane was Torro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo pursued by Grosjean 2.0 and Paul Di Resta having the circuit to themselves. Out of that opening three contenders is was the Mercedes power of the Force India that took the initial lead, and the team could do with a goo session on that side of the garage, as it wasn't working out on the other side. Nico Hulkenberg was pottering around on his warm-up lap as is the general idea, everything going to plan, but as he reached the first chicane on the car stopped functioning. Slowing to a very gentle and civilised, but clearly terminal stop in the middle of the Retifilo and ending his session rather earlier than he had planned. You know things have gone wrong it my toastie has lasted longer than your qualifying, and I was feeling rather hungry.

This turned the session into more of a formality, because with Nico out and the inevitable relegation of the bottom three teams everyone else was safe. However Grosjean 2.0 came quite close to losing his position in the next round, under pressure from the Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen leading the battle of the lower division teams. But the Caterham is a Renault powered car and therefore at a disadvantage to the Ferrari power of the Torro Rosso. Despite the session being already decided there was an interesting development in the bottom zone, a development that David Croft got perhaps a little too excited about... Narain Karthekeyan out-qualified Pedro De La Rosa. On the surface that merely seems like a shift in form, within the team, but according to the commentary team it is the first time Narain has out-qualified a team-mate in 7 years, which is rather remarkable.

Moving swiftly on to the second session and once again it was the Force India of Paul Di Resta taking to the track and setting the initial pace, but his time was rapidly erased by the local team and it's lead driver Alonso.  Very closely followed by Spa winner Button crossing the line 0.013s behind the championship leader, demonstrating that this central phase of qualifying was going to get rather close, and a couple of tenths would put someone close to relegation. A problem that was starting to effect the Red Bull team, a car with intrinsic downforce and a lower power engine was starting to hurt them more than anticipated, as both cars were on the edge of the relegation zone. Another team having difficulties were Sauber, a long way off the form they showed in Spa struggling to make it through as well.

On the other side of the scale were the factory Mercedes team who were demonstrating a high speed setup, but both drivers were also spending a lot of time sliding through the run-off in the first chicane, trimming some of the polystyrene blocks in the process. On overall balance the McLarens and Ferraris were performing better overall, with Ferrari using their cars to draft each other down the main straight giving them a further speed advantage. As the session the cluster of drivers from 9th place down to 14th were all within a tenth intensifying the fight for progression. Strong laps from Raikkonen and Kobayashi moved them through, knocking Webber and Vettel out. Several position shuffling moments later and it was Vettel through and Maldonado out, and almost into the barrier visiting the grass on the exit of Ascari. One-Stop Perez also had a moment in Parabolica using some of the grass on the exit throwing a lot of dust, but wasn't able to qualify, along with Webber, Williams, Torro Rosso and Grosjean 2.0.

So, ten drivers remained with impressively Di Resta running as the second fastest car following the previous session, behind Alonso in the Ferrari, and it was the red team that headed out first in formation. Looking to use one car to offer a slipstream to the one behind, however the cars left the garage in the wrong order. It is well known that Ferrari have a favoured driver policy, and Alonso is their favourite, but he was sent out to help Massa on the opening lap. Fernando offered a token gesture of a tow to Felipe on the run down to Ascari sending him on his way to setting the fastest time. Massa's time was then surrounded by the McLarens, Hamilton first and Button in third - with Vettel in 4th.

The rest of the field headed out only opting to perform one run at the end of the session, headed by the Mercedes team who could only manage to be within 0.4s of the lead with Schumacher. But we were in for the first surprise of Q3, as Paul Di Resta set the second fastest time with a very impressive lap, only to be beaten by Massa's Ferrari. All was not well in the other red machine, as a broken anti-roll bar in Alonso's car was crippling his lap times, putting him 10th and last throughout the session. As the final flag fell on the afternoon, a couple of drivers were still on a flying lap, including Jenson Button, who was going rather quickly, not quite purple sectors, ending up in second. Resulting in a lockout for McLaren. Felipe Massa lines up third in his best qualifying of the season, Di Resta set the fourth fastest time but will be dumped back to 9th due to the gearbox penalty. Schumacher and Vettel made it an all German 3rd row with Rosberg in 6th. Raikkonen and Kobayashi lined up 8th and 9th with a damaged Alonso limping round to complete the top ten.

The Bonus Points Championship points winners

After what was a relatively close session on the high speed track, everyone was rather well behaved once more, likely after the telling off that was doled out in Spa, it is time to hand out the first points of the weekend to the following winners.

• 10pts - Narain Karthikeyan: For outqualifying someone in the same team for the first time since 2005
• 8pts - Paul Di Resta - An impressive job and the mid-field contender running up at the front
• 6pts - Felipe Massa - For being competitive in the Ferrari for once
• 5pts - Grosjean 2.0 - For not being last of the established cars on his temporary drive
• 4pts - Heikki Kovalainen - For coming within half a second of making it into Q2
• 2pts - Luca Filippi - For turning up for his first race in an entire season and dominating the GP2 field
• 1pt - Felix Da Costa - For bump drafting in an open wheel car, you mad, mad person

Because everyone has been well behaved so far across the board, even the support races haven't been a mad festival of destruction and mayhem as they have been in the past, especially on a track that encourages crashing and silliness. Although their championships saw some interesting developments with some key retirements and race winners. But on the whole there have been no driving penalties, or things that need shouting at or worth penalty points.

Looking to tomorrow

Well the grid we have been served with after this session does make for a potentially very interesting race, as there is some cars out of position further down the grid with the likes of Webber and Alonso on the edge of the top ten. Also we have a very fast car in the hands of Nico Hulkenberg sitting at the very back of the grid along with the season villain Maldonado. At least the mad Venezuelan has claimed he is going to be a little calmer from this point onwards - which should be a little more reassuring for all the drivers lining up in front of the Williams, and there is a few cars there at the moment. 

One thing that does help the cars further back is that Monza is a place where drivers can overtake, or hit each other in the chicanes. But almost by magic both of the support races managed to fit a larger amount of cars through the Retifilo without contact and major damage. However they managed to get through La Source too and look how the F1 grid managed, and last year an errant HRT wiped out three cars in the first corner so nothing is assured. Here's hoping that the Italian GP gives the European season the send-off it deserves, so until tomorrow evening this is farewell from the blog.

Round 13: Italy Preview 2012

Greetings Internet,

Less than a week ago the flag was falling on a slightly crazy Belgian GP weekend, where both support races on the Saturday were red flagged and then the F1 on Sunday had all sorts of fun down into the first corner. As a result that debate about cockpit safety has been stirred back into motion, with ideas of fighter plane canopies and cage systems to be introduced as early as 2014. But open cockpit competition defines Formula one and all of the single seater categories in lower and parallel formulae, taking it away would convert the category into something else. Although the idea of fighter pilot canopies probably will look awesome, but does pose a significant access problem if a car ends up upside down. A situation that the GT3 Mercedes SLS has with the gullwing doors, the car has to be flipped before the driver can be accessed, which in itself is a safety hazard. In the US, the Indycar series has placed crash structures behind the rear wheels to stop cars taking off and becoming airborne on impacts. But in the end of the accident at La Source the only immediate consequence is that we won't be seeing Grosjean on the grid, as he is suspended from the race and will be replaced by test driver and former Virgin Racing competitor Jerome D'Ambrosio.

All this taken place before the first wheel spins into motion on another of the immensely historic venues on the calendar, and the maker point for the end of the European season and favourable time zones. The next stop is the famous Italian GP, one of the circuits that has been part of F1 since the very beginning along with Spa, Silverstone and Monaco as the only four original venues. Monza is a stadium of raw power, the fastest track of the season and home of the very vocal Tifosi. Who should be in high spirits considering that Alonso is leading the points in one of those Red machines, which are openly worshipped in Monza. Like Monaco the track has undergone relatively few changes to the layout, with the exception that the insane banking is no longer used round the outside. But over the years the corners have remained, separated now by chicanes due to the speed of modern cars, and retaining immense sense of speed without hedges and trees to catch you when you spin off.

The Track

credit to the FIA for the track map

So lets examine what we have here as the milestone signifying the end of the European season and the voyage off to more exotic locations with those modern over designed Tilke tracks, but at least there is the likes of Suzuka and Sau Paulo in the mix too. Monza is what would happen if you asked Jeremy Clarkson to design a race track, it is based on one factor alone and that is power, and lots of it, so much it almost deserves capital letters. Enough power to strike fear into the calculators of engine engineers and developers, it is one of the tracks where under the current regulations the teams set aside fresh engines for the event to handle to loads.

But there is more to Monza than power, not too much more, but some - the track also has some corners to negotiate, 11 of the things seven of which are part of chicanes put in to counter the speeds. The lap starts off on one of the widest front straights, originally designed to accommodate two streams of cars in parallel for the Florio layout. Where the road course and the oval were part of the same circuit, crossing over on the straight before Ascari. At the end of the straight is the first of the chicanes, the Variante Retifilo the scene of continuous change to the curbing, and a fair few accidents - like Liuzzi's bowling episode. One thing the chicane does offer is plenty of overtaking, and of course hours of slow motion footage of cars shaking with the force of clattering the concrete mountains on the apex.

After the first corner the track curves right through Curva Grande, completely flat out now even with the DRS open in some sessions feeding the cars into the next chicane - Variante Della Roggia. This is another strong overtaking opportunity, as cars can follow in the slipstream through Curva Grande and into the braking zone. There have also been some significant accidents down here too - as is always the case with high speed sections funnelling down into a tight corner. Claiming the life of a track side marshal in 2000 after the two Jordans came together and everyone else piled in, including De La Rosa being launched over the back of a Jaguar and rolling over the cars already in the gravel.

Next are two of the original corners from the layout, the Lesmos each one temping drivers to carry a little more speed than necessary through the apex, catching out Hamilton on year. Following the Lesmos the track descends to cut through the parkland and underneath the banking for the Ascari chicane. Formerly a single sweeping corner the chicane has three components and brings the cars out behind the pits on the run down to the final corner Curva Parabolica. Where the track opens up brilliantly on the exit allowing the driver to carry more speed into the apex as there is room to manage it on the way out. Before unleashing the power on the drive to the line.

There was a little glitch in the filming the video this week, because the controller I use to pilot the blogmobile and other cars ceased to function - just after filming the Spa edition. The temporary replacement - a wired PS3 version has a lot less granularity in the control making driving the current blogmobile rather challenging. I could have given up and put on the traction control or allowed the AI to drive - but no, that's not how things work here at blog HQ, so I have used a different car with a more progressive throttle response instead, from the same year. Driving the champcar blogmobile from last season which didn't do as many races as it deserved anyway, because it is a much nicer virtual car to drive. So here is the track video for the Italian GP.

What to Expect

Well there is something to be said about holding two races with a very compact first corner in quick succession after the drivers have had time to relax over the summer break, it is a recipe for disaster and I can see Monza fulfilling that prophecy. Especially in the support races... But for those who escape any devastation the race could prove to be very interesting because of the characteristic of the circuit, and because the Friday sessions will likely be dry this time the gear ratios can be judged more accurately. This could be one of the tracks where the front runners and the mid-field are not separated by much, like last week in Spa - where Sauber had two cars in the top four on the grid before the crash. Meaning the top teams will not be having their own way this weekend, the likes of Ferrari, Mclaren and Red Bull will be under pressure from Lotus, Williams and Sauber.

There is one notable omission from that list is the Mercedes team, who might be a force early on in the race, and perhaps in qualifying but their tyre management tends to draw them further back towards the end of the race. Forcing an extra stop then planned for both drivers in Spa, so they could be more in contention to fight with the mid-grid teams at the bottom end of the points with Force India and Torro Rosso. This pack will also likely gain a visit from season villain Pastor Maldonado who earned three grid penalties in a single weekend at Spa will be moved so far back on race day he'll be starting in Switzerland. But I do expect him to come through the field - if the car stays intact to challenge for the bottom end of the points. The other unknown is D'Ambrosio, Grosjeans replacement at Lotus, who hasn't raced all season and could be a liability on the run down to turn one.

Then there are those three teams languishing at the back, hopefully the nature of the track will cut the deficit the teams have to those in front, because Monza requires less downforce and the bottom teams have cars with a lower level of downforce on the cars to start off with. The problem they are faced with at the moment is that the team they were catching and occasionally passing have improved their car. Torro Rosso have driven back into the centre of the mid-field leaving Caterham behind in recent races, although they still have a comfortable margin over HRT and Marissia. It is the bottom two teams that have closed in on each other, setting comparable times in qualifying, and this weekend for FP1 only HRT are trying something a little different. Handing Narain's car over to an unknown Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua - possibly hinting at a new line up for 2013 on the back of Chinese investment... who knows.

Blog prediction time.

Of all the mad things that go on here at blog HQ, involving making improperly timed morning toasties, on a faulty machine. I have come to realise that pinning the lid shut with a heavy bottle of flammable cleaning fluid was perhaps not the most intelligent of ideas that have floated across HQ. But these predictions are up there with the strangest additions to this corner of the Internet where I constantly demonstrate I have no idea what I am talking about, but the world needs something to laugh at from time to time.

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Raikkonen
4. Button
5. Vettel
6. Perez
7. Webber
8. Rosberg
9. Senna
10. Di Resta

Qualfying

• McLaren - Hamilton
• Red Bull - Vettel
• Ferrari - Alonso
• Lotus - Raikkonen
• Mercedes - Schumacher
• Sauber - Perez
• Williams - Maldonado (before penalties)
• Force India - Di Resta
• Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
• Caterham - Kovalainen
• Marussia - Glock
• HRT - De La Rosa

Well there we go then, I've posted a nice map borrowed from the FIA, cheers Bernie and Jean for that, and released another dodgy video of me driving around and occasionally running into things. All wrapped up in an inordinate amount of words, but that is the general way of doing things here at blog HQ. In preparation to bid farewell to the European phase of the season before the fly-away events to round off the year. But this weekend can provide some astonishing racing, for example the GP3 support events at Monza are some of the most dynamic races of the entire year, with duelling across all parts of the track and the run-off areas. The Italian GP can almost be envisaged as the closing ceremony of the European season, and it promises to be eventful, so until Saturday this is farewell from blog HQ.

Round 12: Belgium Review

Greetings Internet,

Just as soon as the race weekend started up on Friday morning as the rain descended, the race has come to a conclusion and as per normal Spa threw up a little bit of madness through the opening corner of the 44 lap journey. Now the teams are packing and in some cases sweeping up the remains of their cars before heading off from one hight speed track to another and another historic venue. It has been a day of vastly contrasting fortunes, not just this afternoon but from qualifying yesterday and today - Sauber being significantly on the the receiving end of the negativity all in the opening corner of the race.

It is always a shame to see the season move away from Spa, leaving one of the greatest tracks behind us and only eight more events left on the calendar to decide the championship and of course the even more important bonus points championship. It also days like today where the championship can be sculpted, where some rivals have dropped scores and failed to finish. But the rest of the race generated some interesting points, illustrating the impact of losing the running on Friday, as picking the gearing and down force levels became the downfall to several strategies up and down the field. Allowing some surprise contenders climb up the running order to finish a long way from where they started. Even at this point the final result is still up for speculation as some stewards decisions are yet to be decided but the podium positions should remain secure.

image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

The Race

Spa looked just as resplendent in the Belgian sunshine the cascade stretch of tarmac through the forest inviting waiting to greet the drivers on the 4.4 miles of spectacular corners and powerful straights. The sky remained a bright as it was following qualifying yesterday and the rains of Friday afternoon were a thing of the past as we prepared for the start of the Belgian GP. Although season villain Pastor Maldonado had already started the race ahead of everyone else, clearly a little aggrieved by the penalty drove up into his original spot before the lights changed. Meanwhile in the part of the race where all the other drivers were competing Kamui lined up with a lot of smoke pouring from the overheating front brakes and left the start line with a little too much wheelspin losing places.

After Maldonado's race, had started the rest of the field were released and in such a short run down to the first corner it didn't seem like there was enough space for things to go dramatically wrong, and the drivers have been mostly well behaved. Well turns out that was quite the opposite as Romain Grosjean eased his Lotus over to the inside of the track, unfortuneatly there was a McLaren in the way. The two made contact and then things went from bad to a lot worse, as both cars ploughed into the field on the apex of La Source. One-Stop Perez took the brunt of the first impact as Romain climbed up the rear of his car, flying over the Sauber and landing on top of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. The Frenchman slid right across the nose cone rotating through the air in the process. If that wasn't enough devastation there was the other matter of an errant McLaren heading for the stricken Ferrari - Fernando took another hit and gained a fair bit of air in the process from Lewis' car. Was the carnage over - not quite yet as the damaged McLaren then itself took flight over the side of Kamui's Sauber who was trying to avoid the melee but took a lot of aero damage after being run over by Hamilton. So with a lot of debris and ruined cars in the first turn the safety car was deployed.

As to the survivors of the mayhem in the opening corner Force India were the major winners getting both cars up into 3rd and 4th from only having one car in the top ten at the start. Mercedes had also made strong gains avoiding the flying cars, Nico Rosberg had gained 10 places in one corner and Schumacher was into 5th place behind the SLS. A couple of drivers had to pit for repairs after running through the debris namely Maldonado and Kobayashi - but the Sauber had the excuse of having a McLaren drive over the sidepod, and both cars fell down the order to the back of the train. The safety car was out for a while as there was quite a bit of damage and debris littering the track from the pile up.

On the restart Button cleared off to a sizeable lead from Raikkonen in second as the Lotus was struggling for top speed on the end of the Kemmel straight allowing him to fall victim to the Force India of Hulkenberg into Les Combes. The other Force India came under attack from the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher exhibiting the speed advantage that car had, a little further back there was some more contact as Maldonado appeared down the escape road missing a front wing, no idea who he hit but more damage on that side of the Willams garage. With a depleted field the opening few racing laps were much more conservative than the opening corner, additionally the longer time behind the safety car stretched out the strategies edging some into single stop strategy. Normally at this point I would direct attention to a Sauber but both of them had been compromised by the accident and Perez was out of the race.

Small groups of drivers were starting to pair themselves off in small mini-battles all of which started to catch up to the back of Bruno Senna in the Williams. It was Webber in the Red Bull who was first to catch the back of the Brazilian's car, and Mark was blatently faster than Bruno, but the straight line speed deficit of the Red Bull prevented any overtaking chances. Each time Webber closed in the DRS zone, the Williams was able to pull away as the Australian hit the rev limiter, which allowed the cars behind to close in lead by the second Red Bull of Vettel. We've seen internal battles in the team go quite a lot wrong in the past, namely in Turkey 2010 when the pair drove into each other, so when the German bloke caught Mark there was a little sense of nervousness. But when Vettel made the attack into the bus-stop chicane everything was fair - mostly, Mark defended naturally but Sebastien went round the outside which seemed to be a running theme later on. The outside became the inside for the second part of the corner and the German bloke just eased the other Red Bull car off on the exit of the chicane.

It was then Vettel's turn to fight with the Williams, and as demonstrated earlier it was far too quick in the straight out of Eau Rouge to be caught, considering Senna also had DRS from the Torro Rosso in front of him. While this battle was going on several of the drivers had taken to the pits, opting to stay on the original two stop plan, with Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Webber changing tyres. It didn't work out too well for Kimi as he rejoined trapped behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg who was closing in the end of his tyre life. Turning into a less than enjoyable phase of the race for Nico as lots of different cars were cruising up to the back of his car and getting trapped in the building queue. Everyone in the queue was having exactly the same problem the Red Bull team had with Senna - the Mercedes was mammothly fast in a straight line and the Lotus really wasn't. However the DRS didn't come into effect in the bus stop and it was there Kimi managed to pass the Mercedes.Once one car had made the pass the remainder of the train followed suit, with Massa and Hulkenberg both taking the position.

Meanwhile back in the pit lane there were more problems, as if the race didn't need enough madness, the Catherham team decided that they weren't getting enough TV coverage and released Heikki Kovalainen into the back of an HRT. Both cars only appeared to sustain minor damage, and both Heikki and Narain were delayed but able to rejoin the race. If you were wondering if life was getting any better for Nico Rosberg, well it wasn't as now Ricciardo and Webber had caught and passed the slowing German while Felipe Massa and Di Resta were closing in too. Making Rosberg perhaps the most passed driver of the afternoon. Looking back at the front of the race Button was leading, lapping at metronomic precision each lap 0.7s with each other. But Schumacher was gaining some attention from a certain German bloke who was still going rather quickly on his opening set of tyres, and after a brief dual the elder German decided to pit. Normally this is not too much of a problem but he was racing two wide with Vettel in the final chicane almost resulting in a collision as the Mercedes jinked right into the pit lane entry road.

The middle section of the race was fairly stable, the cars that were causing queues of traffic had pitted and released those who were trapped, and the one stop runners completed their only visit to the pits they would be making. After such a chaotic start things were finally beginning to settle down a fair bit - Button was so far ahead he could stop for tea and continue. Even the two stoppers were beginning to filter down the lane and it seemed as if the strategy had played into the hands of Michael Schumacher who was running in third ahead of the remaining Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. But in Kimi's cockpit things were not so settled, as his KERs power was starting to fail with suspected heating problems, meaning on 90% of the charge was available. An interesting call on the team radio to the Finn asked him to go a little quicker, only to be responded to by Raikkonen: "well give me some more power then". But the Lotus was closing in on the Mercedes ahead of him for the final podium position.

A little further back, well alot further back at the tail of the field a battle was erupting between Kovalainen and Kathekeyan because the two drivers were on similar parts of the track once more after the Caterham had a lead over the HRT. As the replay made the screen it was shown that Heikki went on a powersliding moment of his own through Pouhon, handing the place to Narain as he recovered. Life at this end of the grid was going to get a lot busier as a train of cars containing Di Resta, Rosberg and a couple of Torro Rossos closed in on the lapped drivers. Heikki managed to move his car out of the way through Fagnes but things went less so well for the HRT, putting a wheel on the grass on the entry to Stavelot and spinning into the gravel. A seemingly innocuous accident but the wheel that hit the tyre wall came off, which in itself is a little disturbing, as the crash was fairly light large structural elements should not be parting company. In this case the car was well off the track and was easy to clear without a safety car but if the same problem occurred on track then the consequences could be very problematic.

On track action was starting to die out, except for one key battle between Schumacher and Raikkonen for the final podium place, it was another fight where the chasing car had more lap pace but not top speed. Kimi was constantly in the DRS zone but the Mercedes was completely immune to any attack on the Kemmel straight. Therefore Raikkonen needed to be a little more inventive, and he turned to the outside of the bus-stop where so many passes have been made before today. The Lotus driver made the pass stick but was virtually immediately repassed on the exit of Eau Rouge once the Mercedes had the additional advantage of the DRS system. Which poised an interesting problem - Kimi needed to be behind at the DRS detection line and ahead at the activation line to have any hope of out dragging the faster car. The only way to do this was to pass Michael in the middle of Eau Rouge - challenge accepted. Raikkonen got as close as possible to Schumacher out of La Source and jettisoned all of the accessible KERs before Eau Rouge to get alongside by the turn in point. And in a copy of the move Webber made on Alonso last year Raikkonen took the position in arguably the move of the race.

The tyres on the Mercedes were clearly running out quite a lot now and after being passed by Hulkenberg in the Force India decided the one stop strategy was not working out for him, and a similar situation was affecting his team-mate. Rosberg had both of the Torro Rosso's swarming over the rear of his car, and this time he didn't have the speed advantage to hold them off into Les Combes  - the STR cars were just as quick allowing Ricciardo up the inside. Nico tried to squeeze Daniel in the second part of the chicane but left the door open the door to Vergne in the process as he fell further back forcing a second stop on that side of the garage too.

Just when we were all out of battles towards the end of the race the two Marussia cars started duelling for second place in the bottom division as Petrov was leading the group of newer cars by a sufficient margin. Pic was leading the pair but Glock launched the car down the inside of La Source after the leaders had made their way through. However Pic cut back to the inside on the exit of the corner to retake the place only for Glock to use the DRS on the exit of Eau Rouge to take the position once more into Les Combes.

The laps had finally ran out and called an end to an impeccable race by Button, flawless start to finish race staying out of all the opening lap carnage, behind him Vettel managed to finish second benefiting from a strong tyre strategy despite not having a particularly fast car. The podium was rounded off by Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus surviving with a lower top speed and a weakened KERs system. A brilliant fourth for Nico Hulkenberg ahead of Felipe Massa doing a decent job in the remaining Ferrari, Webber brought his car home in 6th from the recovering Schumacher in 7th. The two Torro Rossos lined up in 8th and 9th while the points were completed by Paul Di Resta in the second Force India

Bonus Points Championship points winners

From a chaotic start the race did settle down and allow some strong performances to come to the fore once the grid was shuffled by the pile-up. But here are the points winners from the Belgian GP.

• 25pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Held the fourth position throughout the race despite qualifying out of the top 10
• 18pts - Jenson Button - for being completely unstoppable
• 15pts - Sebastien Vettel  - for getting a under-powered car up onto the podium
• 12pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Passing Michael in Eau Rouge, awesome
• 10pts - Felipe Massa - for picking up the torch when Alonso was taken out
• 8pts - Heikki Kovalainen - for his powerslide through Pouhon
• 6pts - Ricciardo/Vergne - the two were inseparable all day and both managed to score points
• 4pts - Sauber - how Kobayashi's car still functioned after the two cars went over the front suspension
• 2pts - Bruno Senna - put up a brilliant fight against the entire Red Bull team mid race
• 1pt - Nico Rosberg - gained the most positions over the course of the race

The penalties Series

As the race contained many post race decisions these are the penalties that have been awarded.

• Romain Grosjean - A one race ban from the series for causing the main accident.
• Roman Grosjean - 50,000 EUR fine for the same accident
• Pastor Maldonado - 5 place grid drop - jump start
• Pastor Maldonado - 5 place grid drop - crashing into Timo Glock on the restart
• Caterham - 10,000 EUR fine for unsafe release 

Incidents involving Schumacher and Webber received no sanctions

Looking ahead to Monza

We a still within the middle of the traditional season, swapping one immense high speed track for another the epic curves of Spa are replaced by the long straights of Monza right in the middle of Ferrari territory a brilliant venue to conclude the European season. The Italian GP is another formidable venue on an increasingly maddening calendar, where slipstream and DRS are the primary weapons of attack. The many chicanes were the scene of another opening lap multi-car accident, but if we were to apply this season's amount of lunacy to the compression into the first corner opens the door for carnage. 

After spending so long away from the sport the races start to come quickly as Monza is in only a few days with first practice on Friday this week, but there is one small problem. The blog had a bit of a technical failure over the course of the weekend as the controller used to operate the blogmobile has failed, after several years of service the device has packed up, making filming the Monza race could be rather difficult without a controller - but a visit to argos could correct that in the coming days to catch up. So while I solve that this is farewell from the blog.