He's BEHIND you !!!!!!

Our players have been assigned their rolls and costumes have been donned, lines learnt and props … propped. Now it’s on with the lights, let the entertainment commence 

Lewis as our plucky hero, robbed of his rightful inheritance, he has to travel the world searching high and low for the magic points with which to defeat;
Nico, our Panto villain with his dashing good looks and a twinkle in the eye. He has beguiled Lady Luck into a tawdry affair and trapped her in a never ending cycle of champagne and bratwurst parties.

 

Lady Luck the beautiful but fickle heiress to a large silver cup with the words “F1 world champion” written on it. Sister to the Goddess of not driving on the wet lines you idiots and the countess lady have you tightened that fuel line Kevin. She is the love interest of our Hero who hopes to rescue her from incarceration in the Mercedes hospitality suit. 

Monza was the last of the European season and now we head off for the start of the home stretch for the quest of the chase for the title.

Singapore

Japan (Suzuka)

Russia (Sochi) … probably will happen now.
America (Circuit Of The Americas)
Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

With the double pointer in Abu Dhabi, that’s a maximum of 150 points  up for grabs. Which means this thing is going to go down to the wire.

We’ve not had a wet race for a long time, so the weather Gods have perked up and look set to dump a load of rain all over the Singapore circuit this weekend. If that happens I’m not sure they’re going to actually race, I’m pretty sure a wet street circuit at night is going to be too much of a PR risk for the chaps in race control so I imagine there will be a lot of safety car action.

If its dry, well Lewis is my favourite, he’s a bit of a whizz around street circuits and like Monaco, loves this place. Its more open and flowing than Monaco but shill punishes the drivers who like to push things to the limit. Nico is almost certainly going to be in championship protection mode now. He doesn’t need to win every race so he can sit behind Hamilton and hoover up the points. No need to get all puffed up to prove anything now.

This could be a good one for Danny as the circuit shares a lot common with Hungary, lots of flowing hairpins with low grip and Redbull have been talking up his chances. Renault are making noises about a pole on Saturday, something I think is beyond them realistically if the Mercs are on song as usual. But it’s a mark of how far the engine team has come from the start of the year, where finishing in Australia was considered an amazing result. So Danny on the podium is a pretty confident bet.

Ferrari could be a surprise package here, the car is a dog but a wet or soggy circuit would level the field for them. Dry and they’ll be behind the Merc/Redbull race, scrapping it out with Williams who missed their shot for the win in Monza and this place isn’t for them. They’ll be top five at best on a dry track.

Williams are now targeting a championship position ahead of Ferrari so a press statement from Ferrari saying, they are starting to work on their 2015 car now and have no interest in racing anymore, will be welcome news to the boys from Didcot. Ferrari isn’t going to win anything so there’s no point busting a nut trying to chase a lost cause.  There’s pride and expectation of course, but they don’t pay the for Kimis’ ice cream bill.

 

Further back and Kobayashi is allowed to keep his seat for another week as Caterham grub around in the dirt and behind the sofa for any loose change to pay for stuff. The hot rumour doing the rounds in Monza was whether Christian Albers, the new team boss after the fire sale, was still working for the team. The answer came a few hours after the race when he quit for “private reasons”, which appear to be the fact the new corporate owners had failed to pay for anything and had stopped answering the phone to him.  

If this team was in prison it would have a 24 hour suicide watch standing over it. The chances of them making it to the end of the season are looking more and more remote by the hour.

Also having a few sleepless nights are the Lotus team, with lots of rumours floating about suggesting there are still suppliers looking to be paid for work undertaken months ago. Into these dark clouds was dropped the incendiary news that the Merc engine deal was less than certain due to the German engine builders still waiting for the first down payment. The Lotus management of course denied there was any sort of problem whilst visibly sweating and avoiding any sort of eye contact.  

Anyway.

Singapore looks absolutely gorgeous in HD on your TV, I imagine it looks even better live. The track usually throws up a bit of a race with plenty of overtaking and last of the late breakers. It should a be good race, with lots to watch though the field.

Lewis and Nico upfront, Danny continuing to impress and Vettel looking grumpy.

The Williams and Ferrari fight, as Force India and McLaren look to capitalise on any mistakes they make.

Don’t forget to update your predictions before midnight tonight.