Singapore Formula1 Grand Prix Race Analysis

Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on winning the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix! Flawless driving by the defending world champion over the course of 61 grueling laps at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. I have driven a hundred laps or so on the Singtel Simulator last year, (I was the 3rd fastest in Singapore, but not eligible for prizes since I was a staff) what a pity. Trust me, its tiring to complete 5 smooth laps in a row without losing concentration, not to mention 61 of them in the real thing!

Let start things off with qualifying. I was surprised Raikkonen failed to make it into Q3. The highlight of qualifying would be Barricello's crash which brought out the red flag. The Brawn's crash not only helped Hamilton clinch a pole, but also enabled the Briton to start the race with relatively heavier fuel load compared to the rest of other Q3 participants.

KERS gave Hamilton a smooth start off the line, but later had to be disengaged and restarted due to some technical difficulty. Overtaking on this narrow & twisty track proved near impossible. Lap 20, Adrian Sutil tried to take Alguersuari on the inside which end up in collision & taking out the innocent Nick Heidfeld in his BMW, effectively ending the latter's 35-Classified-Race stint, also brought out the safety car.

Rosberg & Vettel, *sigh* what can I say? Both made silly mistakes which cost them their podiums. The Williams driver out-braked himself & crossed the white line while exiting the pit lane on lap 18. Drive-thru penalty stripped him of any point scoring chances. Then we saw the Redbull driver suffered a similar penalty where he was caught speeding in the pit lane on lap 40.

Another blow to the Redbull Racing team came shortly on lap 47, when Mark Webber's brake disc failure resulted in a high speed crash in Turn 1. Felt sad for him, it wasn't entirely his fault. Fast-thinking McLaren brought Kovalainen in for an early pit stop following the crash, gambled their chances for a second safety car session which never did materialized.

Drama continues as the infamous Ferrari pit lane incident nearly repeated itself, on Toro Rosso! This time it was Alguersuari speeding off before the lollipop man gave him the go, nearly pulled off the refueling hose like Massa did last year!

Overall, it was a great race, full of actions, you just wouldn't know what's going to happen at the next turn! I'm glad Hamilton learnt his lesson from Monza. But ultimately, Brawn got the most out of Singapore as they emerge one step closer to both Driver & Constructor titles. Next, Japanese Grand Prix!



photos from: PaddockTalk & SingaporeGP

Singapore Formula One Grand Prix 2008 Result

FERNANDO ALONSO WINS THE FIRST EVER SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX!!! Absolutely precision driving by the Spaniard. You saw what he can do with the Renault R28 during the Friday & Saturday practice sessions, besides the fuel pressure failure during Q2 of the Qualifying Session yesterday. It's inspiring to watch him work his way from 15th place on the starting grid to the top. But let's not forget his teammate Piquet's accident that brought out the safety car, which indirectly contributed to his victory.

On the other hand, it's a night to forget for Ferrari. If the pit lane traffic jam wasn't bad enough already, Massa had the refueling hose stuck on his F2008, which eventually cost him the race (and perhaps the World Championship). With a handful of laps to go, Raikkonen made a silly unforced error, losing control at Turn 10 & got a taste of concrete, ha!

Hamilton would be the happiest man, a 3rd place is good enough to open a 7-point lead over fellow World Championship rival, Massa. Last but not least, McLaren is now leading in the Constructor Championship by a single point. The race result as follows:

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	61	Winner	15	10
2	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	61	+2.9 secs	8	8
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	61	+5.9 secs	2	6
4	Timo Glock	Toyota	61	+8.1 secs	7	5
5	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	61	+10.2 secs	6	4
6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	61	+11.1 secs	9	3
7	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	61	+16.3 secs	14	2
8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	61	+18.4 secs	10	1
9	Jenson Button	Honda	61	+19.8 secs	12
10	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	61	+26.9 secs	5
11	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	61	+27.9 secs	4
12	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	61	+29.4 secs	17
13	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	61	+35.1 secs	1
14	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	61	+43.5 secs	20
15	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	57	+4 Laps	3
Ret	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	50	+11 Laps	11
Ret	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	49	+12 Laps	19
Ret	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	29	+32 Laps	13
Ret	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	14	+47 Laps	18
Ret	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	13	+48 Laps	16