Round 14 - Japan 2015 - Race

Greetings Internet

Well from one extreme to another, the Singapore GP was a two-hour epic withe safety cars, overtaking, and a end to the Mercedes domination. Japan had none of that - ok well there was some overtaking most of it happening on the main straight under DRS, and those were on McLarens... much to Alonso's amusement. The weekend started with a slightly chaotic qualifying session yesterday which wasn't covered by Blog HQ due to not being in the house, which I have noticed does seem to be happening with increasing regularity these days... how things change. Anyway back to qualifying and of course even though it wasn't covered on this part of the internet, I suppose that I have to take a little time to examine the minor incident where in everyone's favourite death stare wearing Russian decided to experiment on how that death stare works when wearing it upside down. Daniil destroyed his Red Bull by throwing it at the scenery with great force removing one side of the chassis and as his wheels rained down from the sky, Kvyat performed the piece de resistance. The shredded side of the car dug into the gravel and was launched into the air and into a acrobatic roll. The resulting damage meant that Daniil had to start from the pit-lane.

The race this morning wasn't quite so dramatic, nobody barrel rolled their cars into oblivion - only Alonso came close, but he only succeeded in rolling his friendship with Honda into oblivion instead... which is close enough. Singapore was a temporary blip on the landscape of form across this season, and the visit to the grand curves of Suzuka was very much business as usual. Mercedes went to the front and vanished from the camera feed, but I've hear rumors that they were in fact in the race. But I've also heard complaints that they weren't constantly on the TV, there were edited out because they were boring, running away miles in the lead isn't fun. Seeing a bunch of Saubers, Toro Rossos fight with the McLarens and Force Indias was much better - even if nothing too much was going on there either. Those battles had the potential to become something and therefore should have been on TV rather than rather dull footage of a Mercedes driving around all by itself out front...

The Race

Having not seen much news post-qualifying so returned home to find the grid had been slightly reshuffled following the events of Saturday morning. First of all Kvyat had been moved to the pit-lane because of the amount of damage his car suffered in qualifying, as almost everything had to be replaced - it was virtually a whole new car. So that car wasn't the one that set the time and therefore is relegated to the pit-lane. Another penalty was handed to Mad Max Verstappen for his inexplicable decision to park the car across the track at the opposite side to where the car broke down. So he was demoted by three places from his original qualifying position. 

But the race was poised for a long awaited fight between the two Mercedes drivers, something we haven't really seen since Bahrain 2014 - and one we've been waiting for every time the two silver cars occupy the front row. Off the line those hopes were once again dashed as Hamilton made a better start and approached turn one on the inside. Nico attempted to hold onto the place, but was escorted out wide on the exit of turn two and lost places to Vettel and Bottas. Disorder was the order of the day as several drivers decided to rebel against the new tyre pressure regulations - by letting a lot of air out of the tyres. First off Massa and Ricciardo gently brushed past each other on off the line puncturing one tyre on each car. As Perez avoided the two stricken cars, he ended up on the outside of a three wide tussell in turn one with Sainz in the middle and Hulkenberg on the inside. Those cars didn't quite fit and Sergio was bumped into the gravel - suffering a puncture in the process - all three cars limped back to the pits, Massa taking the longest time and dropped to the back of the pack. Felipe also had to change his front wing as well. 

With Hamilton out front the race had may as well be over - and he was never seen on TV form the majority of the race. For the next few laps the attention turned to Rosberg and his quest to recover the places he lost on the opening lap. His first challenge was the Williams of Valtteri Bottas - the Finn who has weathered the attacks of Vettel and Raikkonen at other races this season without as much as a flinch. So this didn't bode to well for the German, but that attack was even more thwarted when the team in formed Rosberg that he was encountering an overheating problem from staying in the slipstream of the Williams. While Nico was having difficulties, others were making progress - mostly due to the three opening lap punctures. Verstappen, Hulkenberg and the Lotus drivers all making progress. All that progress was without Maldonado crashing into anyone along the way. 

Further back more interesting things were happening, although those interesting things were happening to McLaren - and they were not too pleased about them. Especially Fernando Alonso who after being easily passed by Marcus Ericsson's Sauber. As the blue and yellow machine vanished up the road - Fernando got on the radio and stated that he was embarrassed at the performance of his car, stating his engine was GP2 standard. Complaining very publically about the Honda power unit in front of the Honda personnel at their home race... Some

one was not a very happy Spaniard.  Jenson Button on the other hand was experiencing issues of his own of a performance nature as he too was easily overtaken - he had cars passing him on either side at the end of the main straight. Yes that was the DRS zone but it was looking effortless both Nasr and Verstappen who breezed past the McLaren. Ericsson celebrated his overtake on Fernando with a slide and half spin at Spoon corner, visiting the run-off area and losing a place to his team-mate in the process. 

Rosberg was making no real impact on Bottas, Raikkonen was closing in on the pair of them. So Williams did something odd, and unusual - they started the pitstop ball rolling by making the first call. Which was a problem for Rosberg, as he wanted to use the undercut to make his was past the Williams in the same way he did at Monza and Spa when he lost places on the opening lap. This time he'd have to make the pass on track - which had proved to be an insurmountable task. This time though Nico was instructed by the team to take on the Williams, and on the approach to the final chicane - Rosberg threw the Mercedes down the inside and caught Bottas napping. This promoted the German to 3rd, and started hunting down Vettel in second place... makes you wonder why he couldn't do that in the opening stage of the race but it was nice to see a non DRS overtake. This meant that Raikkonen was the next driver to close in on Bottas in an all Finnish battle royale - or at least that was the idea, but these ideas never go to plan. 

Back with McLaren, and it seemed as if their initial straight line speed problems had lessened slightly, as they were able to resist the attacks of those cars behind them more easily. Marcus Ericsson was stuck behind Jenson Button and Mad Max Verstappen was having the same difficulty with Fernando in his GP2 powered McLaren. Despite being within DRS range the Toro Rosso was unable to make any impact - because the Dutchman was constantly sideways coming out the final chicane and lost ground to the Spaniard. After several laps of attempting to make progress, Max finally got a decent exit from the chicane and

with apparent ease he made the McLaren look quite slow as the DRS carried the Toro Rosso in front of Alonso round the outside of turn one. Cue another rather displeased Alonso rant - once more comparing his Honda power unit to a GP2 car signing off the radio communication with an agonised "ARGHHH" which I've no doubt that will make the folk in the Honda booth very pleased, in a sort of totally displeased sort of way. Ericsson made the same sort of pass on Jenson in what would later prove to be a key move in shaping the rest of Jenson's afternoon in Japan. 

When the race seemed be sagging a little bit, it would have been a good time to introduce some more pit-stops to shake things up a bit. It would have been even more entertaining to have safety car intervention but alas, we can't have everything that we want these days. Carlos Sainz however did try to create the latter with the former as he visited the pitlane and knocked over the pit entry bollard with his front wing. Shattering the endplate and wiping out the bollard, parts of the wing did end up on the track but off the racing line. There was the faint hope that a safety car would be called to clear the debris but no such luck. The Toro Rosso driver arrived in his pit-box minus a significant portion of wing but neglected to inform the team because he was rather embarrassed that he had crashed into a bright orange bollard. That makes two embarrassed spaniards having less than optimal days. Further forward a pair of Germans were swapping places as Sebastian Vettel exited the pits after his final stop to see Rosberg use the undercut and coast effortlessly into second places. The intra-national battling didn't end there as Raikkonen also used pit strategy to make the same move on Bottas to take 4th place. Thus locking in the top positions for the remainder of the race. 

With that sorted we then had to look further back for something interesting, and that something interesting was driving a blue and yellow car with a lot of friends in pursuit. Marcus Ericsson was collecting a train of cars behind his Sauber after his pit strategy jumped him ahead of Sergio Perez's Force India. Despite Ericsson sliding through the corners and generally experiencing a lack of grip the Force India could do nothing about the Sauber - which is something we've seen in the past when Hulkenberg drove for Sauber in 2013, his car was notoriously difficult to overtake in a straight line even with DRS. So while Perez was spending a lot of time staring at the back of the car in front, further drivers

were joining the queue. There was Daniil Kvyat - deciding to be the right way up this time, Mad Max Verstappen, Sainz, and at the tail end of the queue Button and Nasr. A queue that was going to get more interesting when the leaders had to negotiate their way through the melee in a few laps time. But for now the interaction within the train was more interesting. One of the first drivers to try a move was inevitably Mad Max Verstappen... and of course it was going to be mad, rather too optimistic effort. The Dutchman thought for some reason, that it was possible to go round the outside of Daniil Kvyat in 130R of all places - no surprises for guessing it didn't work out. Fortunately for Verstappen, the curbing on the exit of 130R isn't too rough and didn't fire the car at the scenery... or we might be seeing another upside down Red Bull liveried machine. 

130R was also proving to be rather challenging for Will Stevens, who after being lapped found that as the car cut back in front of him, he lost all downforce at the fastest point of the track. Somehow Will only pitched the car into a half spin and slid down the race track sideways. Although the last place you'd want to be is broadside to oncoming traffic on the exit of 130R, the Manor was very narrowly missed by the sister car driven by Alex Rossi. But with the dexterity of a stunt driving team the two Manors avoided contact and continued in their own personal battle over who gets to finish last. Back with the Ericsson train and

after lap upon lap of pressure, Perez finally got past, after Marcus got a little out of shape midway through Spoon curve and surrendered the position. This left Kvyat as the new main challenger to the Sauber. Once again because Ericsson was defending well and had plenty of straight line speed, it was difficult to create an overtaking opportunity without some help. However help was on hand, in the form of Kimi Raikkonen who was lapping his way through the convoy. As the Finn reached Ericsson, the Sauber driver duly left the door open at the final chicane to allow the Ferrari past. However Kvyat spotted an opportunity and followed Raikkonen through and stole place. 

The race concluded with another dominant and unopposed victory for Lewis Hamilton, and another 1-2 for Mercedes, a return to form after the anomalous race in Singapore. The Ferraris were third and fourth with Vettel leading Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas completed the top five. A completely anonymous but impressive day for Hulkenberg saw him undercut both Lotus cars and earn a 6th place finish. He was followed home by Grosjean and Maldonado picking up a double points finish for Lotus as they continue their progress towards selling the team back Renault for 2016. The final point were held by the two Toro Rossos as Verstappen with a late pass on his team-mate lead Sainz at the end of the race. 

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners - Qualifying

In light of the fact that qualifying wasn't covered at Blog HQ, here are the points from Saturday's session

10pts - Daniil Kvyat - Anyone who does a complete barrel roll gets points and here is some for the Russian and his death stare
8pts - Nico Rosberg - Claimed pole on the opening lap of the session.
6pts - Romain Grosjean - Again the star performer for Lotus making it into Q3
5pts - Fernando Alonso - Dragging an embarrassing McLaren out of Q1
4pts - Sergio Perez - Another driver out-qualifying a supposedly highly rated team-mate
3pts - Valtteri Bottas - Again getting involved with the Ferraris by out-qualifying them all 
2pts - Anthony Davidson - Gets points for actually recognising that some corners at Suzuka have names unlike he did at Spa
1pt - 

-1pt - Mad Max Verstappen - Ruined the end of Q1, which could have made life easier for Jenson if he got his lap in
-1pt - Daniil Kvyat - Despite claiming maximum points for his vehicular gymnastics, his accident did ruin the end of Q3 and the ultimate battle for pole position...

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners - Race

Well even though it wasn't the most enthralling race of the season, below what we'd conventionally expect from a Japanese GP - points still have to be awarded and they are as follows.

25pts - Nico Hulkenberg - After a grid penalty from Singapore and a low starting position, Nico still ended up being the first car behind the top three teams 
18pts - Sergio Perez - After ending up with a puncture on the opening lap the Mexican was the highest finisher of those involved in the lap one dramas
15pts - Pastor Maldonado - Scored points, drove well, and didn't hit anyone
12pts - Valtteri Bottas - Flew the flag for Williams and held off Rosberg in the opening stint with ease before losing out later in the race.
10pts - Marcus Ericsson - Provided plenty of entertainment in creating battles around him
8pts - Felipe Nasr/Verstappen - Both get points for going either side of Button's McLaren on the run through turn one.
6pts - Will Stevens - Spinning in 130R and not losing wheels is impressive
4pts - Daniil Kvyat - Suffered brake problems in a completely rebuilt car but still ended up as the lead Red Bull across the line
2pts - Alex Rossi - Good avoidance action to miss his sideways team-mate
1pt - Fernando Alonso - Well you have to laugh don't you

Looking Forward to Russia

According to the internet, the 2014 Russian GP was the least exciting race of the whole season - so our next visit and final trip to Europe has a lot to build on as we approach this season's venture to the Sochi circuit. It's many fast straights and short duration corners should make it another Mercedes walkover, but hopefully it might also offer Ferrari a chance of striking back and making the silver cars have to work a little harder for their inevitable victory. Perhaps Kvyat can return to his homeland the right way up and I imagine the series of stories surrrounding McLaren and that suspected Renault take-over of Lotus will become clear. We are also expecting Haas racing to announce their 2016 driver line up and see what impact that has on the rest of the grid as rumors are circuilating that Grosjean might be moving to the American team alongside Esteban Gutierrez. A Ferrai test driver who's only real claim to fame is that he was on the receiving end of rather dramatic Maldonado moment in Bahrain last season. But only time will tell. 

Round 14 - Japan 2015 - Preview

Greetings Internet, 

From the chaotic streets of Singapore to the wondrous brilliance of Suzuka the championship heads off for the second of the Asian double header races. It has been less than a week since the conclusion of the last race where Mercedes got comprehensively beaten for the first time in the entire turbo-hybrid era. But the paddock newsreel had almost reached terminal velocity in the intervening days as many high profile stories have started floating around the pit-lane. All looking at how the grid might look in 2016.

The first story focuses on Red Bull and the continuous rants of their Austrian overlord. Since they have officially divorced from Renault, they do need to track down an engine supplier for the upcoming season and the options are running a little thin. Mercedes it seems have mentioned that they are not up for handing Red Bull and engine, and Honda haven't made enough progress to warrant Red Bull taking a Honda engine for next season. That leaves Ferrari - and Red Bull have stated they wan't exactly the same package as the factory team, including software, fuel and engine maps... which would include all kinds of proprietary Ferrari technology. That seems a little excessive considering that Ferrari have often been one of the most secretive and internal teams - so the idea that they will hand over their most prized technology does seem a little mad. Bernie has joined in the discussion and said that Ferrari are 'scared' to give Red Bull the top package... At the moment Dietrich has suggested that Red Bull could leave the sport following the race in Abu Dhabi - taking Toro Rosso with them. Other rumours suggest that Audi would take over Red Bull in around 2018... but who knows what is happening. If they do depart the grid will be down to at least 18 cars as Haas join. With the ongoing struggles at Lotus' financial department who knows whether they will be on the grid next season. In all hope all teams will make it next year, but we live in uncertain times.

The other news relates to Jenson Button and his future going into the next season. A recent spate of rumors has suggested that he is on the verge of jumping to WEC to drive for Porsche to join Mark Webber - in the light of Nico Hulkenberg's Le Mans victory. Jenson himself hasn't confirmed that he is on the way out, only saying that whatever he is doing in 2016 - he'll be very happy. Which is where the WEC rumours are based, because his time at a struggling McLaren this season has not been quite so happy. His continually sarcastic radio comments have been an insight into the deep frustrations with the lack of progress and achievement thus far in 2015. So unless Honda and McLaren can prove good things for 2016 - it does look as if his seat might be going to either Magnussen or Vandoorne in partnering Alonso. It will be a shame to see Button go, just as it was when Webber left but I understand his reasons and that a possible drive with Porsche would put him in a race winning car once again. This would be a particularly poignant weekend for Jenson to announce his plans as due to his connection with Japan on Honda's home circuit.

The Venue

Some tracks you don't excited about, some are famed for their racing rather than their layout, some have huge historic value, and some are like Suzuka. Which by that I mean, Suzuka may not quite have the long running tradition of Monza, Spa, Silverstone and Monaco - nor does it have the new artificial glamour of Abu Dhabi and Singapore. It lives in a category all of it's own and is up there with the most challenging, demanding and enthralling venues we visit all season long. The layout is magnificent, the majority of the corners are deliberate and purposeful knitting beautifully together to form an exquisite ribbon of tarmac bounded by grass, gravel and tyre barriers. Not tarmac and miles of run-off. However that challenge and that risk, has had it's consequences and the horrific events of 2014 will never be forgotten. As the this weekend marks one year since the crash that claimed the life of Jules Bianchi. We enjoy tracks like these, because they are difficult, and the margin for error is so small - but it also makes them dangerous and last year was the ultimate example of how dangerous this sport is. It is going to be difficult weekend for all involved, especially for Manor - who are still here because of Bianchi's achievements in Monaco.

The circuit starts off with a slice of double-apexed gold, cambered gently to hold the cars through both parts of the corner. There is tarmac run-off instead of gravel, but there is a sizable grass and astroturf boundary to discourage drivers from running wide. The second corner leads into a brief straight before taking on the challenge of the esses - a fantastic sequence of left-right combinations carving up the side of the hill, each one slightly tighter and more challenging than the last. There is no tarmac here, just grass followed by a short trip to a barrier. At the top of the hill is Dunlop curve a bumpy high speed corner. Since last year and the tragic accident - the Dunlop corner has been modified to add extra drainage to help prevent the rivers that caused both Adrian Sutil and Jules to aquaplane off the circuit. 

After dunlop comes one of Suzuka's true highlights, the Degner corners - Degner one serves as a high speed entry for Degner two. Another sequence of corners where the road camber grips the car and pulls it through the curve. Over the years many cars and drivers have been foiled by the Degner section as the smallest error in the first part is almost guaranteed to throw the car at the scenery in part two. The exit of Degner two crosses under the bridge as the track loops underneath itself on the approach to Kobayashi corner... alas local and general fan favourite Kamui isn't on the grid this season, so we won't be seeing the Japanese driver perform his miracles at the hairpin. But I imagine Mad Max Verstappen would take up that mantle and have a series of ridiculous lunges at unsuspecting rivals. The exit of the hairpin is a long progressive curve along a narrow section of road towards Spoon corner. Spoon is quite similar to turn one in the sense that it is two corners blended into one compound curve where road is constantly falling away. Spoon feeds onto the back straight, one of the few places of rest during a very action packed lap.

At the end of the straight lies potentially Suzuka's most famous corner 130R - but like the other world famous bends - Eau Rouge, Blanchimont and curva grande - this has been rendered less of challenging by ever increasing levels of downforce. It's profile was also modified to reduce the number of large accidents the corner attracted. When Red Bull were able to complete the corner with the DRS open it confirmed that the corner wasn't as scary as it once was. But one wheel out of place and the barrier is waiting for to destroy any suspecting cars. The lap is completed by the Casio Triangle chicane - one of the prime overtaking spots, and another place for Verstappen to take out the opposition, or Maldonado depending on who is feeling more destructive come Sunday afternoon.

The Form Guide

After most people probably threw the form guide out of the window in Singapore it might be an idea to retrieve it for this weekend as normal service should resume in Suzuka. Singapore was a very unique track and therefore what we experienced was a glitch in the system - in fact many drivers experienced race ending technical glitches. This time I imagine that Mercedes should be back at the front on top form, locking out the front row and going on to win the race. Ferrari will still be close but probably not in front. This should be another track where Red Bull should be reasonable competitive and challenge Williams for the third row given how much of the track is dependant on aerodynamic and chassis design properties.

The mid-field will be interesting this time, perhaps Toro Rosso will be at the head of the train followed by Force India and Lotus as they look to capitalise on any errors made by those teams further up the grid. It might not be such a good weekend for Sauber however, as they come to the fore on high speed power tracks not those based upon cornering and downforce. The Sauber chassis has lacked development and tracks like Suzuka will not play into their hands. McLaren might be in a similar position, as they lack the power to move towards the front. A poor result here would be as much a shame as it is an inevitability in front of Honda's home crowd. 

The Japanese GP is one of those season highlights we have to wait quite a long time for - but this season it will inevitably be a race tinged with sadness and remembrance as we look back on the events of 2014. Changes have been made to both the rule book and the track to prevent that accident from happening again. Hopefully 2015 will deliver a race weekend that allows us not to forget, but to remember what Suzuka can do for all the right reasons. 

Round 13 - Singapore 2015 - Review (Delayed)

Greetings Internet, 

After a weekend almost everything defied their traditional conventions, and I attempted relatively poorly to translate the intro to the qualifying post into Pirate. It stands to reason we were handed a race which too refused to comply to the form of the rest of the season. The sudden swap in performance was staggering - yes we saw it happen throughout the practice sessions and then in qualifying. But the race is a wholly different kettle of piranhas, and the Sunday evening in Singapore certainly threw most conventions to the winds, yet amidst the confusion there remained plenty of commonality to cling onto. Things to ground ourselves and remind us that the 2-hour epic voyage through the tropical streets was part of the same championship and the same sport we have been witnessing all season long. Manor were circulating on their own at the back - although at one point they got a little bored and decided to hang out with the rest of the group - because after all it can get a little lonely in last place. We had a McLaren team having another day they would rather not remember and Mad Max Verstappen turned into a stroppy teenager - and now has had his TV privileges revoked and his pocket money allowance reduced. This is what happens when you let the young folk stay up too late for a night race, clearly past his bed time. 

This most recent edition of the Singaporean GP wasn't an instant classic, there wasn't a titanic battle for the win or some mythic recovery of form by Mercedes to continue their domination. But it had all the traditional elements of a Singaporean GP - a 2hr race duration, safety cars, late race charges and lots of pretty lights... We traditionally don't visit Singapore for a simple, lights to flag strategy race, we come for the unusual, the weird and the outright bizarre - and we got a small sample of that on Sunday.

The Race

I suppose at this point I should make the disclosure that I am completing this post based on the BBC Highlights package, rather than the full race - because I was away from both the TV and the internet for the weekend. So I stole a little time to catch the BBC version of events where time allowed. Because as of this point in time I have spent about 15 minutes in the house since the completion of the qualifying update. It also explains why I am writing this on a Monday... or at least starting it on a Monday... and it has now spilled over into Tuesday.

Anyway back to the race itself - which turned into an outside broadcast in the end - and I sat down in preparation for a manic 61 laps of the city where four cars fought for the victory. But off the line it was suprisingly orderly, Vettel vanished off into the distance and the top six held their positions. Further back however there was a spot of bother for Mad Max Verstappen who's Toro Rosso had gotten stuck in anti-stall mode and refused to get off the line. The car was wheeled back into the garage and restarted in the pit-lane. Max would re-enter the race but one lap down. Further round the lap we saw the two Force Indias trying not to crash into each other at the apex of the ingeniously named 'turn 7'. Both cars avoided each other and the concrete barrier before sorting themselves out on the run down to turn 8. 

It was at this point, following a bunch of replays, that the highlights package skipped ahead to lap 10... so I assume that in the missing ten laps absolutely nothing happened. Which I will probably agree with, as this was a multi-stop race so everyone was more focussed on holding station until the first round of pitstops. Vettel had started to build a comfortable lead, but Ricciardo was starting to close the gap slightly. Raikkonen and Kvyat a little further back had the two off-pace Mercedes' for company but neither was a real threat to them. So we just waited for the pitstops to begin, and although it had only been a fortnight since the Italian GP - virtually all of the crews appeared to forget how to perform a suitable pitstop. Wheel guns were not being seated on the wheel nuts properly, tyres wouldn't come off or go on as smoothly as we are used to, it was all a little chaotic. Of the leading group it was Daniil Kvyat who dove for the pit-lane first in the Red Bull, likely hoping to leap-frog Raikkonen with the undercut and make it two Red Bulls in the top three. A valid strategy, in fact it was the same strategy that Ricciardo was counting on to handle being second to Vettel, but all good plans never quite go as expected...

While the pitstop window remained open Felipe Massa in the Williams became the next key volunteer to switch onto a new set of tyres. He too experienced pit-lane difficulties when one of his wheels look a little longer to sort out, but things were to get a little worse. As Felipe trundled out of the pitlane and back onto the circuit there was a Force India barrelling down the outside and fixed with a steely determination not to lose track position to the Williams. 

That Force India was piloted by Nico Hulkenberg, who cut across the front of Massa's car in a desperate attempt to defend the place. However Felipe was far enough alongside for that manoeuvre to be a more than a lost cause - as a result Nico found himself turned around and fired into the barrier. The collision knocked the Force India out of the race and gave Massa a slow puncture. Race control called a virtual safety car to allow the Hulkenberg's car to be dragged away. Under the virtual safety car everyone who hadn't already pitted, stopped for new tyres - which rather ruined Kvyat's strategy of using the undercut as any advantage had been erased by the VSC and to make matters worse he lost ground to the two Mercedes cars. After examining the crash site, the virtual safety car was upgraded to a full conventional safety car, meaning that for the upteenth race in a row - a Mercedes was leading... just not one of the F1 incarnations. This safety car intervention also played into Vettel's hands as it removed the chance for Ricciardo to try the undercut strategy to sneak into the lead of the race. Another beneificary of the real safety car was Mad Max Verstappen who under the rules of allowing lapped cars to move out of the way of the leading cars, ended up putting himself back onto the lead lap... I'm not sure if the system is supposed to work like this but it made the latter stages of the race more interesting so I'd leave it in... for now...

Several laps later, the safety car was recalled and racing got underway once more. Vettel continued to vanish off into the distance pursued by Ricciardo and Raikkonen. But the German bloke's disappearing act was only temporary as he started losing time to those following him. Allowing Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hamilton to close the gaps to the leader. Lewis and the commentary team spotted this as a deliberate decision by Vettel to slow the pace. As it would back Ricciardo into Raikkonen in the hope that the second Ferrari could then overtake the lead Red Bull. While the plan was sound and had the added advantage of increasing the tyre life of Vettel's current set - Raikkonen was unable to capitalise on the opportunity. Likewise Hamilton was unable to do anything about the Finn in front of him and Rosberg was a little too far back for any of this to really matter to him. Meanwhile behind the scenes the powers that be up in the refuge of race control had been spending some time looking over the Massa/Hulkenberg incident and had come to a swift conclusion that the Force India driver would be handed a 3 place grid penalty. Considering we have seen drivers receive 50 place grid penalties this season for a single event, three doesn't seem so significant anymore. However the BBC highlights package didn't even mention that the incident was under investigation... well played BBC... Speaking of those on the receiving end of excessive penalties this season, time for a McLaren update. Jenson Button was running outside the points under pressure from Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso - and according to his team, the car was suffering from a slight overheating issue. Jenson at this point in the year had become quite accustomed to radio messages about mechanical failures he simply responded with "...anything else?".

Meanwhile a second radio call about technical gremlins was aired, at least the BBC decided to pick this one up - probably only because it emanated from Lewis Hamilton's car. If Will Stevens or Marcus Ericsson was having such a troubled time with their cars, I seriously doubt that it would have made it into the highlights program... Anyway Lewis was complaining of a lack of power, and his Mercedes was dropping rapidly off the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari. Over the following laps he started losing places and fell out of the points positions, and his descent through the field was accompanied by a large quantity of increasingly desperate radio messages. Mercedes attempted to rectify the problem with a series of reset codes and button combinations for Lewis to press on the steering wheel. None of the options were working as the championship leader plummeted out of contention, not that the Mercedes driver was ever in contention for victory in this race weekend anyway. So while Hamilton dragged an ailing Mercedes round the circuit, we hear that another car was experiencing technical difficulties. Felipe Massa still running after the contact with Hulkenberg reported that the car kept dropping into neutral, which would be quite problematic - but after nursing the condition for several laps was informed by the team that he'd have to retire the car.

As much as I like this era of increased telemetry and cost saving measures on component usage - it has completely erased the notion of driving the car into the ground. Even if something was a little wrong with it, drivers would drive around the problem and keep going until the car died completely. Instead drivers are told retire because they want to save components for a later date or that they have to limit the potential damage and save component milage. Back in the Hamilton camp, the issue with his car - which was later diagnosed to be a simple metal clamp which had failed - Lewis was on the radio asking the team these very questions. Was it worth retiring to save the engine and other parts for Suzuka - after much deliberation Hamilton was called to the garage. Meaning the championship leader was out of the race for the first time this season. To complete a hat-trick of retirements Fernando Alonso was also seen being wheeled back into his garage with yet another mechanical failure for McLaren... at least Button was in the points...

After a spate of retirements, we were all set for things to start calming down again - before the second round of pit-stops. But in Singapore we've all come to know that doesn't quite happen as planned. We cut to a screen informing us that the real safety car was back out on track - handing more laps lead to Mercedes - because there was a lunatic wandering down the side of the race track... Now I may be madder than a bag of spanners in a tumble drier, but you'd have to be a special kind of moron to enter a live race track with cars that would instantly kill you if they struck at any kind of representative speed. According to the internet this fool was a drunken Englishman - but no official statement that I have tracked down corroborates this statement. Although it does come at no surprise that the mention of drunkenness is affixed to a member of this island while on holiday... After the safety car was deployed the invader slipped through another marshaling post and was then promptly arrested. Vettel apparently saw the prat cross the circuit and take photos of the cars as they passed him... so could he be a Mercedes spy attempting to figure out why Ferrari were beating them this weekend, who knows. In due course the answers may be revealed. Anyway during the safety car period the drivers took the opportunity to visit the pits once more for their next rounds of stops. Again this played into the hands of Ferrari and Vettel because it took away even the remote opportunity for Ricciardo to perform the undercut and take the win.

As the fool had exited the circuit, this was a relatively short safety car intervention and once the stops were completed, lapped cars were instructed to get out of the line an overtake the safety car. A fairly reasonable and standard procedure - but Alex Rossi on his Manor debut wasn't really up for complying with these procedures. The American had probably decided that life was far more fun up amongst the lead cars and wanted to hang out with the bigger and richer teams. At the back of the grid, things get a little lonely. So Rossi took the restart third in line, just in front of Raikkonen - which must have irked the Finn ever so slightly as he couldn't attack Ricciardo as the race got underway once more. The Manor driver was swiftly overtaken on the main straight and drove off the road at turn one to get out of the way of the lead-lap cars. It was revealed later that Rossi had lost radio contact with the team, and therefore was unable to receive radio instructions to overtake under the safety car to get back in line. At least that's what the story is, but I think he just wanted to make friends up at the front of the grid. 

As the race resumed, the first few drivers all continued precisely where they'd left off - holding station once they negotiated their way past Rossi. But further back things were not quite so calm - with less than 20 laps remaining Lotus gambled on staying out under the safety car and gained track position. However there was a pack of cars with fresher tyres right behind them lead by Jenson Button in the McLaren. Jenson's first target was Pastor Maldonado - just the person you'd want to be having a battle with in the final third of a race on worn

tyres. Pastor defended the position if his life depended on it, forcefully crowding Button out at the third chicane from home. This compromised his line through the second part of the chicane and Jenson aimed for the inside on the run up to the passage under grandstand. Pastor saw this coming and slammed the door shut giving Jenson nowhere to go and no time to react - Button clipped the back of the Lotus sending parts of his front wing sailing into the air and into the path of the cars behind. Most of the pursuing pack managed to avoid the debris but Carlos Sainz struck it with the nose of his car and it exploded into thousands of shards of carbon fibre. Jenson had to pit for a new wing, thus ruining his shot at scoring points. 

This didn't mean that Pastor was safe from further attacks, because both Toro Rossos were lining up in attack formation headed by Mad Max Verstappen. Because of quick of the unlapping procedure that Rossi didn't take part in - Verstappen was back on the lead lap and fighting for points. It was clear that Mad Max had considerably more tyre grip than the Lotus he was attacking. He was able to perform the very pass Button was attempting, down the inside as the road turns underneath the stands. While Verstappen moved on to hunt down Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus - Carlos Sainz got to work on Maldonado, and he was followed by both Saubers. it would take a small miracle to for Pastor and his worn tyres to hold them all, or any of them off for the remainder of the race. What followed was a menagerie of cars overtaking Lotus' drivers as the initial track position advantage didn't prove to be enough. Verstappen passed Grosjean on the inside of the same chicane where he set up the pass on Maldonado. Whereas Sainz threw it down the inside of the Frenchman in turn one - easing the Lotus out onto the run off area as the Spaniard breezed past. It was at this point that both Lotus drivers effectively admitted defeat and put up minimal resistance against the pair of Saubers who repeated the overtakes performed by Toro Rosso. 

Having dispatched the Lotus drivers, the Toro Rossos - still running in attack formation descended on Sergio Perez in the one remaining Force India. He too was on much older tyres, but because both Sainz and Mad Max had used a lot of their new set carving through the field - the grip advantage had slightly diminished. Plus of course over the years Perez has been known for extending his tyre life beyond the conventional boundaries. This proved to be a much tougher challenge for Mad Max, allowing Sainz to close right up behind, to a small extent Carlos had used less of his tyres because Max opened the door on both Lotus' first and had to take more out of the rubber. This gave Sainz an idea, and a proposition. One that we have seen the main Red Bull team attempt at Monaco - let the driver who thinks he has more pace through to attack the car ahead... if it doesn't work reverse the places before the end of the race. There must have been more to the exchange over the radio that wasn't aired on the BBC highlights package, because all we were presented with was the instruction from the Toro Rosso pitwall to Verstappen to allow Sainz through. Now the english language is rich and diverse full of words we can use to express precisely how we feel about certain commands. Now despite Mad Max being Dutch and barely out of school, he does know a reasonable percentage of the words within the English language. So with all the possible options in mind the mad teenager simply replied with "No" barked with more than a hint of the disobedience and stroppiness of a child who has been asked to tidy his/her room. Toro Rosso repeated their requests, only for them to fall on deaf ears once again - there were not too many laps left for Mad Max to let Carlos through, and as time dragged on it left Sainz with even fewer chances to do anything with Perez if he was granted passage. Further back with another McLaren update - Jenson Button was also called to the garage to retire the car, so from a promising weekend and a real chance of scoring points, the team head away from Singapore empty handed. 

Things at the very front of the field were easy for Vettel - there was no late charge from Ricciardo, and the Australian had no real pressure from Raikkonen either. So the top three cruised home in the positions they started in. If that was the race headline it would completely disguise the slightly mad route the race had taken to get to this point, and the brilliant battles at the opposite end of the points. Outside the podium places is an unusual place to find a Mercedes powered car never mind one from the factory team, but in 4th place was Nico Rosberg, the sole representative from the all conquering Silver Arrows left in the race. Nico managed to trim the deficit to Hamilton in the championship by a little bit but lost more points to Vettel who closes in on his second place. Valtteri Bottas brought the one remaining Williams home in 5th place, ahead of Daniil Kvyat who was caught out significantly by the first virtual safety car intervention. Behind the Russian with the death stare was Sergio Perez, who had successfully held off the attacks of grumpy teenager Mad Max Verstappen. It also meant that Verstappen Jnr still refused to release Sainz - but by that point it was too late for it to matter anyway. So both Toro Rosso's finished 8th and 9th. Romain Grosjean tried to hold onto the final championship point but was overtaken by both Saubers, in the end only Felipe 'Fred' Nasr was able to score for the underfunded swiss team.

The Considerably Belated Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

While it may now be Tuesday - and we'll see if it doesn't become Wednesday before this is finally published... having started it on Monday. But I haven't been at my computer at Blog HQ for a while. The race itself was an outside broadcast, but anyway here, finally, are the points following the Singapore GP.

• 25pts - Mad Max Verstappen - From going a lap down at the start to scoring points and passing people en route - deserves many points
• 18pts - Carlos Sainz Jnr - A double for Toro Rosso as the team operated in formation to dispatch the opposition
• 15pts - Sergio Perez - One of the only runners on the worn tyres that managed to hold off the Toro Rosso onslaught
• 12pts - Jenson Button - Was on course for a decent points haul, had things not gone wrong with Maldonado
• 10pts - Alex Rossi - Made friends with Raikkonen and defeated the chap who has been in the car all season on his debut
• 8pts - Sebastian Vettel - Made that look very easy indeed, despite Ricciardo's best laid plans, the German bloke had that race completely under control through all the restarts.
• 6pts - Felipe 'Fred' Nasr - After Ericsson had been taking home the points for Sauber in the past races, Nasr added to the tally this time
• 4pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Was able to reel in Vettel from time to time and scored one of Renault's highest finishes in 2015
• 2pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Rounded off a double podium for Ferrari
• 1pt -Daniil Kvyat - Got unlucky with the timing of the first safety car deployment but still but still had a decent day.

• -1pt - Track Invader - You utter plonker
• -1pt - BBC - Make longer highlights packages to accommodate a longer race, thanks
• -1pt - SKY TV - Give the races back to the BBC to make outside broadcasts easier, thanks

Looking ahead to Suzuka

The upcoming Japanese GP will be a difficult weekend for all involved for several different reasons. Mercedes will want to know why they were suddenly so comprehensively beaten in Singapore, Toro Rosso will need to know whether they can cut off Verstappen's TV privileges and lock his hotel room after 9pm as it is past his bedtime. But more importantly, and far more sincerely - the 2015 Japanese GP marks one year since the incident that ultimately resulted in the death of Marussia driver Jules Bianchi. At this point I don't know what the weather conditions have in store this weekend in Japan but a change in start time plus the new regulations involving virtual safety cars should prevent that perfect storm from ever forming again. 

Undoubtedly there will be tributes and reminiscences about what happened at the Dunlop corner, but there will also be joy in the fact that the Suzuka circuit is one of the the most universally loved venues to go racing on. The corners are spectacular and are placed beautifully. Each one has its own unique challenge and profile, so many are famous throughout the world of motorsport in their own right. It isn't one of those new soul-less car parks in the middle of the desert - it is a fantastic track, and of the remaining races it is easily the most enticing. Only Spa can be held in quite the same high regard, and perhaps Silverstone if you ignore that arena section. We like Suzuka because it is a challenge and it punishes errors with a visit to the barrier or a gravel trap. We just wish it didn't have the consequences it did in 2014.

Round 13 - Singapore 2015 - Qualifying

Ahoy Matey's aboard the good ship Internet, 

Thar running order be a little squally upon this day, I sit here upon the carpeted deck of blog HQ in front of the mechanical porthole gazing upon the distant lands of Singapore with an expression of grand surprise. If ye be wonderin' why I be scrawling in this incoherent tongue. Well I be tellin' ye - today be international talk like a pirate day, and therefore I be swiggin from me flaggon o' tea and typin' in the way o' the high seas. Thar session started wit thar news of dismay upon the decks of Lotus an' rumours o' mutiny among shipmates deep in the cabin spaces. Thar Capt'ns at Renault be casting thar spyglass upon the Endstone team most favourably - and an armada of nefarious lawyers be circlin' to strike up an accord to take over captaincy o' the crew. Across the waters in the sea o' Red Bull they be maroonin' thar mechanical sail provider - an' they be scouring the depths for new shipmates and loot to take thar vessels up to the top of the piratical hierarchy. Thar shipmates aboard Ferrari an' Mercedes be spying across the harbour at thar enemies an' considerin' whether or not they should be powering the opposition. 

But today that pecking order sailed into doldrums as the rulers of the high seas have been made to walk the plank, and dive into the rougher waters of the mid-field. Swathing fleets of marauding crews have struck up an accord to mutiny against the established order. In thar post session parlay, the captains remained confused at why thar vessels be not parting the seas quite as effectively. Upon the morn i'll strike up the electrical spyglass and see what the high tides have in store. For now I think I'll consign the pirate parlay to davey jones locker, for my keyboard be considerin' a mutiny for  manglin all the rules o' spellin' an' grammar.

Qualifying

The session started under an air of suspicion because the practice sessions had thrown up some rather interesting results. The mighty, unstoppable Mercedes team were nowhere near the front of the field - over a second away from the top times. Instead Ferrari and Red Bull were far more the dominant force - just as Red Bull and Renault had officially terminated relations, things started to look up. What made things even more interesting is that this bemusing turn around has come at exactly the wrong time for the statisticians up and down the paddock and across the internet who were pointing out that Hamilton and Mercedes were on course for equalling all kinds of records for domination... and how things change.

Q1

The first session of the day would provide an interesting insight into whether that strange practice form would carry over into qualifying. We'd have to wait for the top runners to take to the track - and instead we saw some of the other runners enjoying the circuit to themselves. Bottas was the first one to set a time, locking up through the new reprofiled bridge section on the approach to the Fullerton Hairpin - it's probably not called that but I have redubbed it as such because turn numbers are soulless and the commentary team are constantly mentioning the hotel on the exit of the corner. Other drivers were having fun through the section, particularly Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus who was every single shade of sideways across the bridge, but this time kept it out of the wall. 

Eventually the main runners ventured onto the circuit, and the battle between Mercedes and their rivals remained as one-sided as we've seen it all season long. With one slight exception that there was a case of role reversal taking place. Raikkonen took the lead from Bottas, only for Ricciardo to outpace the Ferrari. It has been a long time since Red Bull have been competitively fighting over the front row. While Mercedes were nowhere to be seen. At the other end of the spectrum down in the relegation zone McLaren were notably absent from that category as well - they were inside the promotion zone. Instead Sauber, Manor and Maldonado were in relegation instead. Ericsson promoted himself, shortly before Nasr replaced him as the sole promoted Sauber - but it wasn't over. Jenson Button, threw his McLaren at the final sector throwing caution to the wind and scratching his way into Q2 by less than a tenth of second. 

Q2

It was Bottas again who set the initial lap time in the second part of qualifying for Williams, but he like everyone else with a Mercedes engine were not having it quite their own way this weekend. In Monza it was almost a walkover for anyone with a German engine - but this race is a completely different story. The factory team drivers set almost identical lap times down to a few thousandths of a second - this just served to prove that the ultimate pace of the Mercedes car was a long way off the pace of those cars at the front of the grid. This time it was Daniil Kvyat and his death stare that was sitting at the top of the time sheets in a Renault powered car, with the two Ferraris and Ricciardo in close attendance. There was certainly a four way battle for pole position forming as closing in the final part of qualifying.

In the final runs of Q2 the focus was directed towards the relegation zone, where Force India, McLaren and Carlos Sainz. Several of these occupants had dreams of moving into the next round. Especially McLaren who saw Singapore as one of their few opportunities to get close to the points. But the final runs were sort of ruined by Carlos Sainz who brushed the wall coming out of the grandstand section. As he limped the damaged Toro Rosso back to the pits the yellow flags prevented many drivers from improving. Debris left on the circuit from the front wing meant that once Sainz had cleared the car, the yellows remained in place while the clock timed out. 

Q3

We headed into the final part of the session with a very strange prospect on the cards - it was looking highly likely that we would see the first non-Mercedes powered pole position since 2013. The factory Mercedes team were nowhere near the top times, and none of the folk in the garage seemed to have any of the answers. Rosberg spent the entire session chasing setup and it made no difference to their competitiveness. This time Ricciardo was the first of the contenders to take to the circuit, breaking Valtteri's streak of being the first driver to put a time on the board throughout the rest of the session. The Williams driver would make up for that later on. Ricciardo held onto the provisional pole position time, after an initial attack from Raikkonen and Kvyat - but there was one more contender left to upset the Australian's hopes and that contender was Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari driver eased his way to provisional pole position. As for the Mercedes drivers - they headed out on a used set of tyres for the opening run, Rosberg completed the lap a country mile behind the top four times. While Hamilton simply aborted his lap after making an error at his favourite corner - turn 7 (see this is why we need names) - running over the raised curbing on the exit.

So it was time for round two, and throughout the session we kind of theorised that maybe, just maybe Mercedes had something in reserve and were going to spring a surprise and take their conventional place at the top of the tree. Vettel's time seemed unbeatable, and it was starting to look even more so as every contender that crossed the line fell sort of the mark. Even the first sector times alone were an instant indicator that we were looking at a Ferrari pole. Ricciardo must have seen these sector times on his dashboard and thrashed the Red Bull through the final sector, he did improve his time but not his grid position. While none of Vettel's rivals could wrestle pole position away from him the German Bloke kept the boot in on his final lap and carved a mighty half second advantage over Ricciardo and a decimating 1.5 seconds over the leading Mercedes... what on earth has a happened...

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

That was a highly unusual session, one which has forged a sudden and sharp change in the running order of an unprecedented magnitude. Transitioning from a dominant Monza to this weekend being 1.5s off pole is a huge backwards step for Mercedes. But this allows others to sweep in and steal some points.

• 10pts - Daniil Kvyat - Recorded his best grid position on one of the more difficult circuits in an traditionally unfavoured car
• 8pts - Sebastian Vettel - That was a very powerful and dominant performance, that final Q3 lap was just decadent 
• 6pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Front row for the Australian is a brilliant return to form and sets up tomorrow's race brilliantly
• 5pts - Romain Grosjean - Completely anhilated Maldonado today, made it into Q3 while Pastor didn't leave Q1 
• 4pts - Fernando Alonso - 12th on the grid is a marvellous result for McLaren given their current performances this season
• 3pts - Max Verstappen - Takes some points for his very lurid slide and save in the high speed final corner on his last Q3 lap
• 2pts - Alex Rossi - A spontaneous debut for the American but he kept in touch with Will Stevens in the other car
• 1pt - Pastor Maldonado - Gets a point for his powerslide across the Andersen bridge in Q1

•  -1pt - Carlos Sainz - Gets a penalty point for ruining the end of Q2 with his visit to the wall.

Looking to Tomorrow

This looks to be a very intriguing race, once which doesn't have the ominous headline of another race of Mercedes domination. If Hamilton or Rosberg want to win this one they are going to have put a lot of work into it, and on the basis of the weekend thus far they probably don't have the pace surprisingly enough. So we are left with a four car fight for the lead as both Ferrari's and Red Bulls are on very similar pace, but I suspect that Vettel might have the edge on the rest of them.

Then there is the matter of the general unpredictability of any race on the tropical streets of Singapore. It is going to be a long two hour epic event with a very high risk of a safety car and some collisions which have typified previous races here. So it could be a conventional Vettel victory as we've seen many times in the Red Bull era... or it could be utter chaos. I know which version I'd prefer and it isn't the former option.

Round 13 - Singapore 2015 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

So the voyage begins at the conclusion of the tradition European season last race off to the flyaway races of Asia and the Americas - with the exception of a brief return to Europe for the Russian GP. Some of you might have noticed that there was no real concluding post following the Italian GP... well life kind of got in the way of that, something to do with flying off to Vienna for a week which sort of compromised the conventional post writing process. Although the Italian GP wasn't exactly an enthralling occasion - no race for the win as Rosberg was running an older spec engine. Ferrari couldn't maintain the pace they showed earlier in the weekend and Hamilton's final few laps were converted into a suspense novel as the engineers issued instructions and ordered Lewis "not to ask questions"... While that was all very suspicious, it turned out it was down to a discrepancy in the tyre pressures on the Mercedes vs the Pirelli mandated minimum settings. Despite initially being found in breach of the regulations, no real action was taken and the results stood.

In the weeks following the race the biggest news has to be the continued saga of Red Bull vs Renault. A recent comment by Renault has suggested that the 2016 engine contract with the teams - both Red Bull and Toro Rosso - is now under renegotiation. One of the news bites quotes Renault as saying they will want their own team or play no real further part in the sport. Rumours suggest that they will buy Lotus, to become a factory team. The Endstone team has run under the Renault name in 2011 - with Squadron Leader Heidfeld and Wing-commander Vitaly Petrov, know round here as the Renault Squadron. Such a purchase has been rumoured to place Maldonado's future a little in doubt. Grosjean is already in Renault's good books with his sponsorship coming from Total, who are friends with Renault. But Pastor's PDVSA association might not mix with Total and thus he might not be back. However Lotus in their current state do need quite a bit of cash to keep running so I imagine Renault would like to take on Pastor's sponsorship income to help fill some of the financial voids within the team.

Another reasonably recent development regards the lower echelon of the grid - and this time we don't mean the unfortunate situation that continues to rumble on at McLaren. We are looking further back, but not too much further to Manor, who have a new driver for the weekend. Alexander Rossi will be driving Mehri's car for the remainder of the season - with the exceptions of Russia and Abu-Dhabi where he will be on GP2 duty. This came as a slight shock to Roberto who only found out that he wouldn't get to play in Singapore until he'd landed in the country. The current theory is that Manor are giving Rossi the minimum number of races to earn a super-licence so that he can take a seat with HAAS - an American team joining the grid next season. It will be interesting to see how well he compares in relation to Will Stevens who has driven the car all season.

Marina Bay

The venue playing host to this most recent round of the championship is the Singapore street circuit. One the circuits that polarises opinions throughout the driver and fan communities. Some see it as a glossy gimmick, a night race for the sake of European race audiences and to overly glamourise an unimpressive street circuit with too many unnecessary corners. To some degree I can see that side of the fence, the circuit itself isn't the greatest layout in the world, but in reality very few street circuits are. They are confined to the topology of the road network and have little room for expansion or modification as the years go by. But I can see the unique appeal of the Singapore GP as a race and as a spectacle. Yes under the artificial lights it looks magnificent - but so does Abu Dhabi and the physical layout there is a bit pants. Night racing always looks more spectacular because the colours seem more vibrant and the sparks are emphasised - but it is down to the circuit and the drivers to make the racing entertaining. Singapore hasn't necessarily delivered on these finer points, but there is no denying that it is a supreme test for car and driver. The longest race of the season in hot, humid conditions on a bumpy circuit bounded by concrete barriers is an immense challenge. It is no surprise to note that every edition of the Singaporean GP has involved the safety car at least once such is the potential for making an error. 

This season the track has undergone some minor and probably quite irrelevant modifications since last year. For the most part the track has remained exactly the same since it's creation in 2008, generally because it is quite difficult to make wholesale changes to a street circuit. But adjustments have been made to the section around the Andersen Bridge, where the cars will now drive along the opposite carriageway to change the line into the hairpin. Swapping lanes also removes the need for the small chicane immediately before the bridge - straightening the road ever so slightly. Will this make any real difference in terms of overtaking as the designers hope... well I severely doubt it somehow. But at least they are trying something. This change is an addition to the removal of the odd triple apex chicane before this bridge, which was replaced with a dull and generic left hander. 

But all of the modifications only influence a small part of the track the rest of it remains the same - I would do a corner by corner inspection of the layout but given there are quite a lot of corners and most of them don't really stand up to much on their own I'd be at it for days. These posts are getting late enough as it is without hugely long winded explanations of why turn five is quite similar to turn nine and why in the great scheme of things that doesn't really matter to anyone. However despite being a wash with stereotypical street track 90 degree corners, the Marina bay circuit does have some interesting features. For example in the latter stages of the lap, the track burrows underneath the grandstands and emerges out the other side. The trouble is that in order to add this feature, a whole bunch of other corners had to be added just so that the cars would be in the right place to dive under the stands, and the corner itself is a dull and rather narrow generic 90 degree corner. Elsewhere the final corner is a nice high speed conclusion to the lap - because it is not part of the city road network it can be designed with a little more intent. Intent which is well used in this case. 

Overall some circuits are recognised by their iconic corners and tradition - Singapore will likely never be able to compete on that sort of level because the only really unique corner was ripped up and replaced some time ago. But this is one of those circuits where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts, as a complete entity it is a magnificent challenge especially over the course of a race distance. It's a race that is filled with tension as everyone waits patiently for the safety car to strike. It is difficult to quite put into words why I fall firmly into the 'pro' camp when it comes to the Singapore GP even though we haven't been treated to a Hungary 2015 esque race of epic proportions around the streets. But I think it has a lot to do with how unique it is and how severely it differs from F1's current only other street circuit in Monaco. There is something grand and mesmerizing about it, maybe it's just the spectacle of the night race and the potential for madness at any corner that keeps the anticipation high throughout the weekend.

The Form Guide

As FP1 is just about to get underway, due to the slight time difference for accommodating the night event in Singapore I have no existing data to base my guesses on this week. But I can assume that because engine performance won't be quite so important as it was in Monza and before that in Spa, we will see a much greater mix of competitors inside the top ten. Of course we can expect Mercedes to be at the very top of the tree with Ferrari as their closest rivals. While the likes of Williams, Force India and Lotus may not enjoy the same degree of freedom to frolic around inside the points places as they have done in the past two events. Because it may get a little more crowded as we approach the final part of qualifying tomorrow.

The main culprits for this will be Red Bull and Toro Rosso, who do have strong race cars from an aerodynamic and chassis design point of view - it is just the case that they are being slightly held back by the power supply. A fact which has stressed the bonds between the Red Bull group and Renault this season, especially after the two high power races we've just seen and the rise in engine penalties the team have faced due to unreliability. The Singaporean GP has a much lighter workload per lap than Monza or Spa - but the bumps associated with a street circuit, intense tropical humidity and the sheer duration of the race may place quite a lot of stress on the engines. Both Renault powered teams should be a lot more competitive this weekend but the question remains as to whether they will be able to use any of that pace.

At the back of the grid we will likely find that Sauber may lose touch with the rest of the mid-field this weekend as they could use the Ferrari power unit to make ground in previous races, but it will have less of an impact this time. But I suspect that despite dropping off the back of their competitors up the road, they will probably be safe from losing any places to McLaren. As we have completed a significant proportion of the season thus far - 12 races - we are starting to worry if McLaren are ever going to fix the issues they are having integrating the Honda power unit into their car. It seems to be a catalogue of mechanical and electrical failures ravaging a car which has no straight line speed, no ERS power and isn't too handy round the corners. Perhaps we will have to wait until 2016 before McLaren can join Ferrari and Williams in staring at the back of the Mercedes cars. Also at the back of the grid we have Manor, who will be running Alex Rossi instead of Merhi this weekend - I doubt the driver change will get them off the back row (on pace that is, not after the inevitable menagerie of penalties which will probably be handed out).

From the air the Singaporean GP may seem like a superficial exercise in indulgence when you see the thousands of lights and deocdant cityscape surrounding the circuit.In some respects that's precisely what this race is about, but inadvertently underneath all the bright lights and artificial glamour, one of the most difficult races has been created. For that reason I welcome the Singapore GP and celebrate the potential it has to be an incredible weekend.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

What's this, Bonus Points, on a preview post - what on earth is the world coming to. Well as I outlined at the beginning of the post... all the way up there somewhere, performances and trips to Austria intervened with the conventional process of writing up the weekend. Therefore there were no bonus points awarded for the Italian GP - and the championship wouldn't be fair without counting all the rounds. Yes I am aware that I haven't done any counting thus far either... it hasn't been a particularly productive season here at Blog HQ. But I have made the spreadsheet that will write the HTML for the points table. All I have to do is fill in the results at some point in time. Anyway without further delay, a fortnight is enough, here are the awards for the Italian GP.

• 25pts - Daniel Ricciardo - In a car which seems to have all the power of a sloth Ricciardo managed to score points from the back of the grid.
• 18pts - Lewis Hamilton - I suppose many points have to be awarded when you effortlessly dominate the race, would have been more if he had any form of competition.
• 15pts - Felipe Massa - On the podium for Williams and had to defend as if his life depended on it to keep Bottas at bay for the final few laps.
• 12pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Made a complete mess of the start, but his recovery drive carving through the field made the race more watchable.
• 10pts - Marcus Ericsson - Another race in the points for the Sauber driver in a car which is sorely lacking development.
• 8pts - Valtteri Bottas - Scores some points for his role in the fight with Massa, not that the TV director wanted to look at any of it...
• 6pts - Daniil Kyvat - May have lucked into a point at Rosberg's demise but put another Red Bull in position to score at an unfavoured venue.
• 4pts - Mad Max Verstappen - While the toddler was well outside the points due to various penalties, he does score bonus points for his overtaking from a long way back in turn one.
• 2pts - Lotus - Both cars out at the first corner in unrelated incidents deserves a pair of consolation points. 
• 1pt - Roberto Merhi - Considering he is being shelved for a while by Manor, here have a point

• -1pt - Mercedes - Those radio messages to Hamilton at the end were probably a little to cryptic 
• -1pt - Pirelli - I'm not going to criticise Pirelli for making the tyres the way they have like many people have done, because they are only following orders. But they do get a penalty point for their handling of the mysterious tyre pressure case for Mercedes at Monza. Branding the whole investigation as a misunderstanding. For a sport based on advanced technology and regulations how can a tyre pressure measurement be so wrong... Only time will tell when more information surfaces.