2014 Singapore Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[Samster]

Think I'd give the car a good kick at this point if I were Rosberg, what a depressing chain of events.

[apple2009]

It evens out with the bad luck Hamilton's had this year.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez^2 is fuming.

[Samster]

It evens out with the bad luck Hamilton's had this year.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez^2 is fuming.

Yeah but at least none of Lewis' issues made him look like a backmarker for 15 or so laps, at least his car had the decency to just spontaneously combust at once instead.

[apple2009]

It evens out with the bad luck Hamilton's had this year.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez^2 is fuming.

Yeah but at least none of Lewis' issues made him look like a backmarker for 15 or so laps, at least his car had the decency to just spontaneously combust at once instead.

Chilton is just too talented for Rosberg to deal with.

[apple2009]

I'm a bit disappointed with the relative lack of attrition thus far.

[Samster]

It evens out with the bad luck Hamilton's had this year.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez^2 is fuming.

Yeah but at least none of Lewis' issues made him look like a backmarker for 15 or so laps, at least his car had the decency to just spontaneously combust at once instead.

Chilton is just too talented for Rosberg to deal with.

So talented that he was the only car that Rosberg managed to pass.

[Londoner]

Ricky reporting a loss of power.

[F1000X]

I'm a bit disappointed with the relative lack of attrition thus far.

Yeah, it's been eerily calm.

[apple2009]

Safety car!

[sw3ishida]

So talented that he was the only car that Rosberg managed to pass.

It takes real talent to allow a car riddled with such problems through without causing incident. Don't kid yourself.

[apple2009]

Going to call a Ricciardo win now.

[Henrique]

Why do you depress me, Sauber?

[apple2009]

K-Mag and Daniil are dying.

[apple2009]

What a finish this should be.

[Miguel98]

Meh race. If only Rosberg's car didn't die in the start... And the way Mercedes dealt with that.. just bad.

Good race by Vettel and Ricky, shame Vettel tyre's we're ded in the end. And Mercedes speed hacks.. Sweet Jesus.

[Waris]

Jean-Éric Vergne is bloody marvelous. That's all I will say.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Jean-Éric Vergne is bloody marvelous. That's all I will say.

Just one more top six result and he won't be a reject anymore.
100th post!

[good_Ralf]

Kevin has actually been treated for burns.

[CoopsII]

Well, to me, the race was a bit dull. I insist that the FIA drafts a series of regulation changes for Suzuka which must include the drivers having to use Formula E cars for 9 laps (when is at the teams discretion), stopping on lap 17 to tell a humorous limerick which must feature the word 'blunt' and for the track layout to be changed mid-race without informing the drivers, stop-go penalties for anybody going the wrong way.

[DonTirri]

Sigh... Why does Rosberg get the mechanical gremlins NOW that the title is drawing to a close? I swear, if Whinelton wins the title I'll... do something unpleasant pertaining to F1. The LAST thing the sport needs is that annoying piece of bull to be able to bill himself as a 2-time champion.

I question Williams strategy once again. When will they learn that trying to go overly long doesn't work? Dull race. Even Crashtor Maldonado and Esteban Shuntierrez behaved themselves :/

[mario]

Sigh... Why does Rosberg get the mechanical gremlins NOW that the title is drawing to a close? I swear, if Whinelton wins the title I'll... do something unpleasant pertaining to F1. The LAST thing the sport needs is that annoying piece of bull to be able to bill himself as a 2-time champion.

I question Williams strategy once again. When will they learn that trying to go overly long doesn't work? Dull race. Even Crashtor Maldonado and Esteban Shuntierrez behaved themselves :/

Is it really surprising given the fairly sizeable change in regulations and the fact that the components are becoming increasingly worn as the season goes on? We saw in pre-season testing that, whilst Mercedes had the fastest car, there were signs that their reliability did start to drop as the mileage increased. Besides, Rosberg benefited from Hamilton suffering from mechanical problems earlier in the season, so to a certain extent Rosberg has already had a fairly sizeable run of good fortune for most of the season.

As for the Williams strategy, well, the strategy worked out for Massa in the end - he was forced into pitting early to cover off Kimi, who was pressuring him earlier in the race, but it worked out reasonably well for him and helped him secure 5th place. I think that Williams had perhaps expected the race to be timed out slightly sooner than it actually was - had it been just a lap sooner, then the gamble would have paid off.

[tommykl]

The most surprising aspect for me was that of all the races where the drivers could have suddenly developed competent amounts of spatial awareness, it was this one, probably the one which needed the most incompetence to make things interesting.

Oh well. At least we had a bit of suspense for two laps.

[good_Ralf]

Perez's response to Sutil's 5-second penalty (which was for something else) on the radio after the colllision: "It should be more than that!"

[James1978]

Perez's response to Sutil's 5-second penalty (which was for something else) on the radio after the colllision: "It should be more than that!"

The penalty was not even for that incident!

Anyway, two things - did anyone think that with Rosberg out, that Red Bull should have made Vettel let Ricciardo through? I saw the standings, and saw that Ricciardo is now just 60 points off the championship lead, he was 72 before the race, but he could have been only 57 behind had they swapped places - which is close to the 50 he will need to still being in mathematical contention going to Abu Dhabi. I know it would have been tough on Vettel but he doesn't have a chance of a 5th championship.

And the other is I think Toro Rosso are making a BIG mistake after Vergne's drive - would a 17-year old really have to stamina to cope with yesterday's race conditions?

[DanielPT]

Whenever DonTirri comes to post in here after a Hamilton win, I can only imagine him going like this.


As for the race, well, It was nothing unexpected. Some races are less intertaining than others and that is the nature of F1. Too bad many people, specially those o rule our sport, fail to grasp this. I like that Rosberg's reliability is catching up with him. After all, he only was leading thanks to Hamilton's diverse woes in past races.

[CoopsII]

Whenever DonTirri comes to post in here after a Hamilton win, I can only imagine him going like this.

About right except he's normally naked, drenched in sweat and with his dick in his hand.

[lgaquino]

And the other is I think Toro Rosso are making a BIG mistake after Vergne's drive - would a 17-year old really have to stamina to cope with yesterday's race conditions?

perhaps not, but he may well be faster in every other race [although yeah, I wouldn't have put verstappen jr in either]

[Nessafox]

Anyway, two things - did anyone think that with Rosberg out, that Red Bull should have made Vettel let Ricciardo through? I saw the standings, and saw that Ricciardo is now just 60 points off the championship lead, he was 72 before the race, but he could have been only 57 behind had they swapped places - which is close to the 50 he will need to still being in mathematical contention going to Abu Dhabi. I know it would have been tough on Vettel but he doesn't have a chance of a 5th championship.

No, because for Red Bull, the Mercedes intra-team battle is a huge PR-opportunity if Vettel and Ricciardo can fight each other without causing problems. RB hasn't exactly got the best reputation on these matters, so this would come in very handy. Losing the title in style would do more good for them than winning in controversy. They could get away with it until now because Vettel was just simply faster than Webber, but with Ricciardo doing a very good job, he could potentially become just as popular as Vettel. And for RB, what matters most is image, as they have a product to sell that is not in itself related to the sport. Mercedes can get away with this bad publicity, because they can still say 'we got the best car' which makes sense as they are a car maker.
On the other hand, i doubt Vettel would be very keen on listening to team-orders...

[AndreaModa]

Whenever DonTirri comes to post in here after a Hamilton win, I can only imagine him going like this.

About right except he's normally naked, drenched in sweat and with his dick in his hand.

Post of the day. Made me laugh out loud at work!

[mario]

Anyway, two things - did anyone think that with Rosberg out, that Red Bull should have made Vettel let Ricciardo through? I saw the standings, and saw that Ricciardo is now just 60 points off the championship lead, he was 72 before the race, but he could have been only 57 behind had they swapped places - which is close to the 50 he will need to still being in mathematical contention going to Abu Dhabi. I know it would have been tough on Vettel but he doesn't have a chance of a 5th championship.

No, because for Red Bull, the Mercedes intra-team battle is a huge PR-opportunity if Vettel and Ricciardo can fight each other without causing problems. RB hasn't exactly got the best reputation on these matters, so this would come in very handy. Losing the title in style would do more good for them than winning in controversy. They could get away with it until now because Vettel was just simply faster than Webber, but with Ricciardo doing a very good job, he could potentially become just as popular as Vettel. And for RB, what matters most is image, as they have a product to sell that is not in itself related to the sport. Mercedes can get away with this bad publicity, because they can still say 'we got the best car' which makes sense as they are a car maker.
On the other hand, i doubt Vettel would be very keen on listening to team-orders...

The other aspect is probably that, realistically, Red Bull are still in a situation where Ricciardo's chances are extremely slim and switching him with Vettel probably won't make much difference - both Mercedes drivers are in a position where, even if they both had two DNF's and Ricciardo won the next two races, he'd still be behind both drivers.

Furthermore, I think that, once the safety car in Singapore released Hamilton from the necessity to save fuel, the rate at which he pulled away from Vettel was a real gut punch to the team and seems to have shaken some of their confidence (they had hoped to be able to at least pressurise Mercedes in the race, but in the end Hamilton had them comfortably covered whichever way that Red Bull went on their strategy).

On top of that, there is the ever present issue of reliability - Ricciardo has been one of the more fortunate Renault powered drivers, especially in comparison to Vettel, but Ricciardo is still tight for engine mileage. On top of that, there are some rumours that Renault are possibly struggling a bit more than Mercedes when it comes to performance loss with increasing mileage, which is going to potentially hinder Red Bull as well when it comes to out and out speed.

Another element that could possibly be factored in is the psychological boost that Vettel might get from beating Ricciardo. Red Bull have been working on that aspect, since Vettel's confidence has taken a knock for a number of reasons, particularly due to reliability issues (he almost certainly has to take a grid penalty in the closing races, according to Renault's Remi Taffin), and those persistent reliability woes have had a cumulative effect.
Lost practise mileage means he's had persistent set up issues and not really fully got on top of the new tyres, whilst the current driving style that suits the current engines and tyres is quite different to the method that worked so well with the exhaust blown diffusers on earlier cars and really worked for his natural driving style.

With that in mind, it is possible that Red Bull wanted to leave Vettel out in front as a way of giving him a bit of a psychological boost and therefore hope to improve his performance in the closing races. They are still reasonably secure for 2nd in the WCC, but they'll still want as large a gap over Williams and Ferrari as possible and will be keen to focus the minds of both drivers on 2015 - giving Vettel an opportunity to score a few decent results now may be a way of getting both drivers into decent form for 2015, even if they have to sacrifice a little this year for Ricciardo, where they might hope to be able to close down some of the gap to Mercedes.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Anyone have an idea where hulkenberg has gone lately. This was just his latest in a series of anonymous races. Earlier in the year he was making Perez look bad, now it's flipped.

[Ataxia]

Anyone have an idea where hulkenberg has gone lately. This was just his latest in a series of anonymous races. Earlier in the year he was making Perez look bad, now it's flipped.

In his defense, his strategies haven't exactly been the best; Force India got it wrong for him in Monza and at Singapore, Perez fluked into a good strategy when he lost his front wing, because he was able to pick up fresh tyres and push on through the field. That said, he does need to be a little bolder; he's not qualified particularly well recently and if he gets something together on a Saturday we might see his form pick up.

[AndreaModa]

Anyone have an idea where hulkenberg has gone lately. This was just his latest in a series of anonymous races. Earlier in the year he was making Perez look bad, now it's flipped.

In his defense, his strategies haven't exactly been the best; Force India got it wrong for him in Monza and at Singapore, Perez fluked into a good strategy when he lost his front wing, because he was able to pick up fresh tyres and push on through the field. That said, he does need to be a little bolder; he's not qualified particularly well recently and if he gets something together on a Saturday we might see his form pick up.

Seemed pretty despondent on Twitter earlier today as well:

Leaving Singapore not too happy. Feel like we missed an opportunity to score much better than 9th. Anyway - Japan next! #bringiton

[mario]

Anyone have an idea where hulkenberg has gone lately. This was just his latest in a series of anonymous races. Earlier in the year he was making Perez look bad, now it's flipped.

In his defense, his strategies haven't exactly been the best; Force India got it wrong for him in Monza and at Singapore, Perez fluked into a good strategy when he lost his front wing, because he was able to pick up fresh tyres and push on through the field. That said, he does need to be a little bolder; he's not qualified particularly well recently and if he gets something together on a Saturday we might see his form pick up.

Seemed pretty despondent on Twitter earlier today as well:

Leaving Singapore not too happy. Feel like we missed an opportunity to score much better than 9th. Anyway - Japan next! #bringiton

It was one of those odd races where the teams could split the strategies of their drivers, and the circumstances made it more favourable for Perez to switch to a three stop strategy that let him make up that ground. The problem with Hulkenberg in that situation was that he didn't have a fast enough car to avoid falling a long way back into the pack, whereas Perez, having already fallen some way back in the pack, had less to lose in terms of relative track position and could take what proved to be the correct gamble.

It does seem to be the case that the past few races have not worked out well for Hulkenberg - it's as if he is still stuck in the rut that he made for himself in Hungary, and for what ever reason hasn't looked quite so comfortable.
Then again, Hulkenberg also had a similarly poor run of form at Hungary, Spa and Singapore in 2013 as well: 11th in Hungary, 13th in Spa, where he consistently struggled with the set up and handling of the car (Gutierrez was actually quicker than Hulkenberg over most of that race, but finished behind due to his poor qualifying performance) and, in Singapore, he was outqualified by Gutierrez on merit, although he did manage to get back ahead for 9th in the race. In fact, in some ways Singapore is probably one of Hulkenberg's weakest tracks - 2014 was the first time that he had outqualified his team mate at that venue, and 2013 the only time that he has finished ahead of his team mate.

Part of it could be that some of the more recent circuits have tended to put a heavier emphasis on rear tyre management and are therefore rear traction limited, which is where Perez tends to have an advantage over Hulkenberg. Suzuka, in that respect, might be a circuit where Hulkenberg is more competitive given that tends to be front limited - we'll have to see whether he can bounce back a bit in that race.

[CoopsII]

Does anyone know why one member of the Williams pit crew twatted another on the head after Massas pit stop? I assume the twattee was too slow thus causing the twatter to get involved but I didnt catch anything on the replay.

[BigG80]

Ted Kravitz addressed it in his notebook. Apparently there is a healthy rivalry going on between the different wheel crews with a lot of banter and potentially sidebets as well. Anyway he asked Williams about it and they said it was just a spirited "Haha beat you" or "You made us last of the four wheels" bop round the head. He did comment that the hit seemed rather more vicious than intended but that he had no reason to not believe what Williams told him.

Oh and he also said some of the pit crew guys do engage in silly games and rough housing which is apparently very rough!

[Rocks with Salt]

Not disparage Magnussen from his grueling race, but apparently it wasn't as bad as the press is making it. Here it is straight from the horse's mouth.

[dr-baker]

Ted Kravitz addressed it in his notebook. Apparently there is a healthy rivalry going on between the different wheel crews with a lot of banter and potentially sidebets as well. Anyway he asked Williams about it and they said it was just a spirited "Haha beat you" or "You made us last of the four wheels" bop round the head. He did comment that the hit seemed rather more vicious than intended but that he had no reason to not believe what Williams told him.

Oh and he also said some of the pit crew guys do engage in silly games and rough housing which is apparently very rough!

I was wondering about that as well - thanks for providing an explanation!

[DonTirri]

Whenever DonTirri comes to post in here after a Hamilton win, I can only imagine him going like this.

About right except he's normally naked, drenched in sweat and with his dick in his hand.

*golfclap*

Congratulations. We've just reached playground insults. This is exactly the kind of stuff I'd expect from Autosport, and not F1Rejects. But what can you expect when you're dealing with thin-skinned immature keyboardwarriors.

[Londoner]

pls no fite, so scare, i cri everytiem

But yeah, knock it off chaps.