In a coincidence that almost makes you question your own atheism, the weekend after F1 was rocked by the race-fixing trial revolving around events at last season's Singapore GP, the F1 teams leave Europe bound for Singapore once again.
Talking Points
- The calm after the storm
Of all the places to show up at, it had to be here, didn't it. After the carnage that the fallout from last year's Singapore race has spread across F1 in recent weeks, destroying careers, wrecking friendships and, if the newspapers are to be believed, threatening the life of every single baby on the planet, we return to the scene of the crime. It's almost like celebrating George W. Bush's retirement with a party in Florida.
It will doubtless be an uncomfortable weekend, as F1 heads into a new, sans-Flavio era. Like a pantomime that killed off it's villain midway through the first act, but it's something that everyone will have to get used to now, what with the snipers on the roof of the paddock making sure that no Italian in a black thong gets within 500 yards of the entrance. But doubtless the organisers, the FIA and the teams themselves, not least Renault, will be hoping that we manage a controversy-free weekend, and maybe, even with the cars as they are, a bit of decent racing as well. Fixgate was fun, but let's please just get back to the racing for a bit, can we?
- Begging you for Merc-y
Like Bender once opined about this guy, Mercedes look like they're about to be somwhat cursed by their own hubris. The Mercedes-Benz V8 has emerged as the class of the field in recent races, with Brawn GP, McLaren and Force India all dominating at the front of the field, and other teams fighting each other to try and get their hands on a bona-fide German motor supply for 2010. But now the slower, less able manufacturers are starting to complain, and Mercedes may well be asked to chop some performance off their engines in time for next season, as the FIA's farcical "engine freeze" continues to remain a liquid, slushy mess.
So it will be worth keeping an eye on the continued performance of the Merc-powered machines. While they may well end up ruling supreme in Singapore, and for the rest of the season. It certainly looks like the FIA will be.
- Brawn again
The title fight may have been somewhat ruined to an extent in Italy, with the dreadful weekend suffered by the two Red Bull drivers leaving them all-but out of the running, and effectively leaving us with a slightly naff-looking all-Brawn GP scrap for the championship, but that particular internecine tussle has plenty of edge to it, if you look hard enough.
For a start, there is the fact that, although Jenson Button retains a 14 point lead in the championship with 40 points to play for, he can only genuinely claim to have outperformed Rubens Barrichello at one race, in Budapest, since he won the Turkish GP in early June. Since then, Button has scored zero wins and 19 points to Barrichello's two wins and 31 points. Although Barrichello is only chipping away at his team mate's lead at the moment, so long as he reduces it down to single figures by the final race in Abu Dhabi, anything will still be possible.
Added to that, the future of the driver lineup in the Brawn team for 2010 looks to be far from settled. Nico Rosberg is rumoured to be on the way into a race seat with the team in 2010, which means that one of the two current incumbents will be forced elsewhere for next season. With Barrichello likely to be the one under more pressure, but Button playing silly buggers over his contract for next season again, we may have the bizarre scenario of the two title contenders fighting to keep their place in the sport.
- Passing problems
Last year, back when we thought the race was actually a proper event, one of the things that struck everyone about the Singapore track was the fact that, despite it being a fairly tight and twisty street circuit, cars were actually managing to overtake each other from time to time. True, you also had plenty of moments of drivers losing time behind slower car, but after all, that happens everywhere. In general, it was a very positive weekend for on-track action.
After the fairly dismal standards in on-track scrapping so far this season, then, it will be interesting to see how this new breed of F1 car can handle the Singapore track. Will we have a dour, Monaco-esque procession, even with the KERS-boosted bunch in the mix, or will we get another cracking race, hopefully without a dubious safety car period this time.
Track Facts
Marina Bay Street Circuit
Number of Laps: 61
Circuit Length: 5.067 km
Race Distance: 308.950 km
Lap Record: 1:45.599 (Kimi Raikkonen - 2008)
2008 pole: Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2008 "winner": Fernando Alonso (Renault)
Timetable
Friday 25th September
Free Practice 1 - 18:00 (Local Time) / 11.00 (BST)
Free Practice 2 - 21.30 (Local Time) / 14.30 (BST)
Saturday 26th September
Free Practice 3 - 19.00 (Local Time) / 12.00 (BST)
Qualifying - 22.00 (Local Time) / 15.00 (BST)
Sunday 27th September
Race - 20.00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (BST)
One Year Ago
Do you need reminding? Well, just in case you do, last year saw Fernando Alonso take what seemed at the time like a wonderfully opportune victory, secured when somesuch driver lost control of a certain car and triggered a race-changing safety car. Before the crash, Felipe Massa was dominating the weekend, and leading the race comfortably, but his race, and to some extent his season, unravelled in a botched pit stop which saw him let down by the nifty Ferrari traffic light pit stop system. He pulled the fuel hose free and was left stuck at the end of the pit lane as his mechanics performed a humiliating sprint to try and get the car race-worthy again. They did, but to no avail.
After the safety car, Nico Rosberg found himself in the lead and built up a decent gap to the pack, but he had fallen prey to the 2008 "closed pit" rule and was forced to serve a drive-through. As he dropped back and the one-stoppers pitted, Alonso took the lead and maintained it to the end, beating a hugely chuffed Rosberg, who held off Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages to take second place. It all seemed so maddeningly straightforward.
Revisit a naive time in F1 when we refused to believe the idea that Piquet Jr could possibly crash for any reason than a simple driver error by reading Patty's innocent race review here.
Best Race Odds
Lewis Hamilton - 11/4 (William Hill)
Rubens Barrichello - 11/2 (Totesport)
Jenson Button - 6/1 (Stan James)
Kimi Raikkonen - 6/1 (Bet365)
Sebastian Vettel - 10/1 (BetFred)
Patty's Tip - After his impressive Monza form, Tonio Liuzzi looks like a sneaky little bet for a podium finish at 28/1, but then he has never driven the Singapore track before, and despite his good run in the race, he remained miles behind his team mate for most of the weekend. So why not have a punt on a maiden podium for Adrian Sutil in the other Force India, at 13/2. It probably won't happen, but hey, who needs money?
On Patronise
This site will be covering all the action from the Singapore weekend with it's usual mix of ignorance, confusion and sarcastic jokes that don't really work. All three practice sessions, along with qualifying and the race, will be accompanied by one of our non-award winning MBM reports from our ever-growing writing team, while bored-sounding reviews of the action, news on whether anyone has tried to cheat again and opinion pieces will, as ever, be available for you to choose not to read.
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