F1 Singapore - The Race

Here we go for the much anticipated Singapore Grand Prix around the 23 turns of the Marina Bay circuit. The teams are now into fly away races to the end of the season which means no real major upgrades so what they have will remain for the final five races of the 2010 season.

With only twenty four points covering the top five makes it very intense and any slip up amongst them could punt them out of the championship chase. Turns one and two could a major test for all the drivers.

Fernando on pole alongside Sebastian, the Mclaren's line astern behind, Mark back in fifth, Felipe last with plenty in between to cause problems for the top five including Robert in his Renault suggest this could be a very interesting if not great race.

Apart from the race in Singapore, underneath the lights it is also a great spectacle and you can really see the intense colours of the cars. A quick look at the Gull winged Mercedes safety car during Martin's grid walk showed what level of equipment this car has, a fantastic motor car which follows the grand prix circus.

The temperature in Singapore must be difficult for the drivers to deal with particularly as it is likely to be a two hour race. With humidity at 61 degrees, track temperature thirty one degrees, air temperature of thirty degrees and sixty one laps to go this is intense for all concerned.

The cars move off onto their siter lap and the tension begins to build. Tyres and brakes will be critical for all the cars and that has been the case for the past two years here. Mark blew a brake disc apart and rammed the barrier last year.

Away they go basically in grid order albeit Fernando had to move over to stop the fast starting Sebastian from coming past and Fernando put in quick laps from the start. Jenson passed Lewis momentarily but Lewis was later on the brakes into turn one.

Then out came the safety on only lap three and many of the cars came into to change to the prime tyres enabling them to run to the finish without another stop. Mark however rejoined in eleventh and his progress through the field was not helped by the twisty circuit nature. Felipe in the meanwhile was running in fifteenth and having the same problem passing as Mark.

Both Mclaren's seemed to be running a waiting game as Fernando was running a second quicker on lap fourteen. It will be interesting to see what happens when the top drivers come in to change the tyres. It appears the prime tyres are not working on their early stages and Nico H was complaining about traction on them.

Timo was causing a mobile chicane and the drivers who switched to the prime tyres were all blocked behind him and it took a mistake from him to allow Nico H and Felipe through. At the front Fernando was now down in the 51's as the fuel burns off and the front five won't have any problems changing tyres and holding their positions.

Sebastian was running some seven seconds ahead of Lewis and it seems the Mclaren's cannot hold the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull at this fairly early stage of the race. Mark has dropped some thirty seconds behind Fernando and his progress was stunted after his tyre stop.

Then the Mclaren's dropped straight off the pace and had to stop for tyres but their pace had dropped Lewis behind Mark. Then they were followed in by Fernando and Sebastian and Sebastian almost immediately narrowed the gap to Fernando.

Kamui went into the barriers and Bruno went straight into the back of him which then brought out the safety car again. After what seems to have have been a long race already there are still twenty eight laps to go as they all bunch up behind the safety car.

The placings at thirty four laps are Fernando, Sebastian, Mark, Lewis, Jenson, Nico, Robert and Rubens. With 26 laps to go the race will almost certainly run to the two hour period after all the events of the previous laps.

As the safety car came in Lewis was on better tyres than Mark and went to pass him, they tangled and once again out went Lewis and another non finish. The contact is being viewed by the stewards and we have to await the outcome. I believe a racing incident and will be surprised if any action against Mark is taken.

Now Mark has Jenson on his tail and the outcome between these two will be interesting. Out in front Fernando and Sebastian are in a class of their own trading fastest lap after fastest lap running only a second apart. After forty three laps we now had lost seven cars through accidents basically. In the meanwhile Felipe was now running in tenth which is creditable after starting last.

Robert picked up a right side rear puncture from sixth and pitted for a tyre change and strangely they put on a set of primes. He immediately shot onto the back of Sebastien B and with Vitaly in front him he was in a Renault sandwich. Robert was running now in twelfth until he passed Sebastien B and shot straight up behind Vitaly. Robert has nothing to lose as running eleventh and out of the points so action stations on his team mate.

Still nip and tuck between Fernando and Sebastian, Mark and Jenson and at the bottom end of the points Robert was now moving through as he passed Vitaly, Felipe, Nico H, Adrian and now Adrian is flying on his new tyres and already back to seventh.

It is still mighty close between the front two as Sebastian closes on Fernando when passing Michael and Heikki and they are both driving an outstanding race. As Fernando has the lead he will be very difficult to pass having the high ground.

As the final minutes ground down Sebastian was sat on Fernando's tail and it was certainly very tense. As the two hours struck Fernando took the flag after a great drive from the two times world champion.

At the flag Fernando finished in P1 followed by Sebastian, Mark, Jenson, Nico, Rubens, Robert, Adrian, Nico H and Felipe completing the points scorers. Vitaly, Jaime, Michael, Sebastien B, Lucas and finally Heikki whose was badly on fire and he had to put the fire out himself as the fire marshall's were too slow and he did a great job as the cars literally flew past him on the start finish line.

All the rest didn't finish and that of course included Lewis who leaves in third in the championship now twenty points behind Mark but still in the hunt.

Great race, great spectacle and congratulations to all the drivers for a wonderful job done under the heat intensity of Singapore. Now the teams move to Suzuka and hopefully to another thrilling race.

F1 Singapore Quali

Welcome to the night race in Singapore and the fantastic albeit sometimes dangerous Marina Bay circuit. Lewis has criticised certain changes to the circuit complaining that what were already tight corners have now been made dangerous and actually launch the car into the air, very dangerous.

This is a tough track with plenty of turns and of course the drivers have to contend with body clock issues albeit none of them seem to mention that, only the heat.

Teams have difficult decisions to make at this time in the season accepting some of the drivers have a better chance to win the championship. However, Mclaren and Red Bull have both drivers fighting at the top and it appears Ferrari have chosen Fernando based on his points. There is talk Renault could upset the apple cart by taking points away from the front runners.

Into Q1 and it is a real dog fight at the top as Sebastian drops into the 46's. With 10 minutes to go the session was Red flagged as Felipe's Ferrari stopped out on track in a difficult position.

It does seem strange when looking at the long shots of the circuit in the dark yet when watching the race the lighting is so good you don't really notice the dark. However, the cars look even better as the bright lights show the colours in depth under the very strong lighting.

I feel impressed with myself as I have been lapping in the 1.46's on the WII in Lewis's car.

So as they resume it is Sebastian, Fernando, Mark, Jenson, Jaime and Lewis. Red Bull seem to have the edge here as they forecast that would be the case as in fact they said would be the opposite at Monza and Spa.

With Felipe out neither Mercedes cars came out for the remaining time in Q1 as they felt none of the lesser teams would beat their time. Whilst that makes some sense they are not learning anything either but they do save a set of tyres.

So as the session closes Fernando is in P1 with a mid 1.46 followed by Sebastian & Mark. As discussed earlier Robert has shot the Renault up to P4 and could mix the front runners up. We lose Timo, Lucas, Jarno, Heikki, new boy Chrstian Klien in the HRT car, Bruno and of course the luckless Felipe. Lewis finishes in ninth whilst Jenson was up in sixth.

They all launch out into Q2 and this will be a tight battle up front. Fernando found a glitch and had to go back to the pits for the engine to be remapped. Then out of the Blue, Lewis ran the fastest lap ever round the Marina Bay circuit in almost a flat 1.46 some half a second faster than Sebastian albeit Jenson was now third yet Michael in last place.

Jaime is driving fantastic and now running ninth which is great for Toro Rosso. Fernando came back out and the car is now running OK as he usurps Lewis into the 1.45's and it now appears all the top runners are going to have to run in the 45's to stand a chance.

As Q2 finishes things remain the same at the front and the only real point of note is that Michael is in the top 10 for the first time since Silverstone. So we lost Jaime, Nico H, Vitaly, Sebastien, Nick, Adrian and Vitantonio.

Going int Q3 we now have the five contenders for the championship in the top five positions so we await the pole lap session in Q3 with interest. Sebastian obviously got something wrong on his first Q3 run as he finished up seventh whilst Fernando and Lewis were running one and two.

In they all come for another set of tyres, refuel and off they go again. They are all finding turn two a problem as it is still a bit damp and with twenty three turns it is a very difficult track under pressure.

So we finish with Fernando on pole followed by Sebastian, Lewis, Jenson, Mark and still the top five in the championship are in the first five places. Then we have Rubens, Nico, Robert, Michael and Kamui.

The grid is going to give us a great race tomorrow and I am sure we all await with interest.

F1 Monza Race

Well here we go for what is to be, I am sure, a thrilling race. It does appear Lewis mad an error with removing the F Duct of his car and we will have to await the outcome during the race. It will be interesting watching the two Mclaren's as they both have different set ups as Lewis has the high speed set up with low down force and yet Jenson has his set up with a high down force.

As Fernando's car is pushed into his pole position there is an army of team personnel on the grid preparing all twenty cars on the grid. The grid is a very special place and only the privileged get to walk its length amongst the cars.

Turn one will be very interesting as twenty low flying projectiles arrive at the very difficult turn right, left turn as also will turn four. The army of personnel leave the grid as the cars move away back onto pit lane to await events during the race.

As the Red lights went out Jenson got a fantastic start and passed Fernando into turn one followed by Felipe. The two Ferrari's then got tight together and in the following melee Lewis then tangled with Fernando which broke his right front and he was out.

So Jenson went into the lead but his high down force set up could affect him down the long straights, we will have to see how it plays out. Nico shot through to fourth but both red Bull's dropped places as Michael made up four places. As Mark passed Michael he was now behind Sebastian and are we to see fire works from the two of them.

The battle at front on lap twenty was intense after Jenson & Fernando traded fastest laps with Felipe still in touch matching the front two. The high down force set up on Jenson's car doesn't seem to have had an effect compared with the Ferrari. Nico still held fourth followed by Robert, Nico (H) and then the two Red Bull's in close company.

Sutil was the first stop for tyres early on as he swapped from soft to hard tyres but then had to pass a lot of cars to regain his position but that should help him later in the race. Then came a radio message from Sebastian that he had an engine problem as Mark went straight through.

Then Sebastian seemed to pick up the pace again so they will have to wait the outcome as the pit wall couldn't find anything. With the pace at the front fuel mileage could be a problem but I am sure the teams were aware of that prior to the race start.

When Jenson and Fernando came up behind back markers on lap twenty five it was all Jenson needed as the gap between the front two narrowed to just over half a second. Still no pit stops for the front runners which means they are still running the tyres they ran on the pole lap yesterday.

Nico was now some fifteen seconds behind Felipe in fourth showing the superiority of the front three runners. In the meanwhile Mark is still being held at bay by Nico (H) which is a credit to the Williams performance.

The Renault mechanics in the pit have asked Sebastian to change some settings on his steering wheel and they confirmed it was some form of engine glitch which seemed to stabilise during the ensuing laps after the changes.

With twenty laps to go more cars are coming on for tyre stops and the first of the high runners, Robert came in. Then came the message across Jenson's radio to push, push, push as he was coming towards his pit stops. Then Nico came in followed by Mark with Mark not making any ground on Nico.

Then in came Jenson with a 4.2 second actual stop followed on the next lap by Fernando but he came out in front of Jenson and the Tiffosi went wild. Then in came Felipe but he came back into third so no change there. Jenson now has all to play for but as the pit wall instructed him to go into fuel saving mode his back to the wall.

Now Jenson has more to worry about as Felipe comes into play in second and starts to close in on him. Fernando seems to have it to lose as he pulls three seconds ahead of Jenson so it seems all over unless Fernando makes a mistake under the pressure of the race as it has played out.

Sebastian is running in fourth but has yet still to stop for tyres and it will be interesting to see where he finishes up after his tyre change but with only five laps to go. In the meanwhile Mark is now running very close behind Nico (H) and getting very spirited but he then went through after a few scrappy laps from Nico (H).

Sebastian then came in for tyres prior on the penultimate lap and went straight into fourth but that is a blow for Mark. So at the flag after a brilliant drive from both Fernando and Jenson, the Ferrari took the win followed by Jenson and Felipe.

Sebastian then took fourth ahead of Nico, Mark, Nico (H), Robert, Michael with Rubens in tenth. So Mark retakes the lead in the championship followed by Jenson, Fernando and Jenson in fourth.

So after a thrilling race the Tiffosi will go home happy and there will be a lot of Vino drunk in the pubs and clubs in Italy tonight. Fernando will be an Italian hero after winning his first race for Ferrari on home soil and it will not do any harm for Felipe either.

So bring on Singapore and let us hope it is as thrillingas Monza. Great drives down the field as we leave Europe for the last five races of the season.

F1 Monza Quali

Welcome to quali at the home of the passionate Tiffosi at Monza. The fans come in their droves to view their beloved Ferrari who have been at the top of everyones mind over the past few weeks. All the talk over the past week is the result of the FIA / WMSC ruling over the debacle in Germany where Felipe was asked to move over to allow Fernando to win the race.

The question of team orders has been a problem for many a year and there are of course varied thoughts across the sport. There is no doubt Ferrari applied a team order and now the other teams are saying the cost of breaching team orders is $100,000 which is a small cost in the world of F1.

I feel sure all the teams apply team orders in one way or another but Ferrari always have a habit of doing it in your face which does not help. From the teams point of view they have a massive investment, sponsors expect results without their names coming under disrepute and the drivers all want to win. So it is an issue that is very unlikely to go away and how the FIA and World Motor Sport Council deal with it will only become clear at the end of the season.

Anyway back to Monza. The weather looks good as we await for quali to begin. The big guns were locked in combat but both Red Bull's seem to be behind Mclaren and Ferrari in the early stages. Felipe, Fernando and Lewis were all in the 22's which is mighty around Monza. So both Ferrari's headed the timing sheets after Q1 in what is basically a warm up session for Q2 & Q3.

So after Q1 we unfortunately lost Yarno, Heikki, Antonio, Timo, Lucas, Bruno and Saron.

As we move into Q2 the track temperature is 39 & air temperature of 27 which is a little warmer than the drivers have had during the practice sessions. The Tiffosi will be pleased after Q1 with both cars in P1 & P2 but will the others haul them in as they all come out onto the track.

Lewis went straight in the mid 1.22's and has thrown down the gauntlet on soft tyres in difference to all the others. When you watch the cars in the Ascari chicane the cars are mighty and onto the straight into the famous Parabolica. Then it hotted up as Fernando slotted in with a faster time in the low 1.22's.

Again the Red Bull's don't seem to have the outright pace which is not what we have to expect albeit Sebastian sent in a 1.23 but six tenths off the pace. Michael is 1.256 off the pace and down in twelfth three places behind Nico up in ninth.

So everything points to a fantastic pole qualifying sessions as the top cars and drivers are locked in very tight combat. So out went Adrian, Michael, Sebastien, Kamui, Vitaly, Jaime and Pedro leaving us with the top ten to fight it out for pole.

Out they went and Fernando immediately threw in the first one twenty one of the weekend and is looking mighty. Jenson slotted into P2 followed by Felipe and Lewis after the first runs. The Red Bull's are in line astern in p5 and P6. Then they all came in to change tyres and the pole shoot out begins with only just over a minute to go.

The Tiffosi goes wild as Fernando takes his first pole for Ferrari at Monza followed by Jenson with a different set up to Lewis and the F Duct should give him a bonus down to turn one. Felipe took third, Mark fourth and a low grid position for Lewis in fifth.

Sebastian took sixth followed by Nico, Nico (H), Robert and Rubens. All is now set for a brilliant race tomorrow and the chicane at turn one will be very interesting. We look forward to a good race tomorrow with two new protagonists on the front row.