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
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| credit to the FIA for the circuit graphic |
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.
- Vettel
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Button
- Webber
- Raikkonen
- Massa
- Perez
- Rosberg
- 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.
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