Okay then, the European season has run its course
and now it’s time to crown the F1 world Champion.
Welcome to the Singapore Grand Prix and Vettels
ascension to the hall of the greats. Yeah, I know he’s not one of the greats,
but he has (almost) won back to back titles and there aren’t too many that have
done that.
But am I getting ahead of myself ?
Will Vettel clinch the deal in the cool night air ?
Well to string it out for a few
more races either Button or Alonso needs to win and Vettel needs to not finish,
but given how reliable the Redbull has been this year that’s unlikely.
Basically, if Vettel wins and Alonso and Button are
not on the podium, It’s a done deal.
Vettel might crash, but he’s one of these new young
guns like Hamilton and Rosberg who can go out and spank the street circuits
like Monaco and Singapore. Also given that he’s a qualifying God these days, he’ll
be up the front and thus does not have to work his way past other cars, which
always makes things easier.
So I’m pretty sure he’ll be crowned F1 World
Champion this weekend. Which is fair enough you have to admit, if you have a
car that can win with ease week after week, then you shouldn’t be surprised if
the driver goes out and wins week after week. Unless it’s Webber of course, who
either hits other cars or forgets to engage first gear off the line, week after
week.
Singapore then, this is the toughest circuit of the
championship, it’s hot, humid and lasts bang on 2 hours. It’s a stop start
track with lots of heavy braking into tight corners before short sweeping
straight bits. The problem has always been that the brakes never get enough
time to cool down, so the discs which run at well over 1000 degrees start to
cook the wheels, which heats the tires up and this year’s Pirellis don’t like
getting hot.
When the Pirellis get hot they start to lose their
grip faster than a Greek government put in charge of a bailout cheque from the
EU, Added to which, the cars need to be brimmed up with fuel at the start for a
long two hour race. Heavy cars with hot brakes and slippery tires equal lots of
expensive carbon bits smeared down solid looking walls being swept up by the
cleanup crews.
We might well be seeing rather a lot of the
safety car on Sunday.
Singapore
isn’t a bad circuit; it’s not too narrow like Monaco so there is overtaking to
be had, especially if the tires only last 10 laps.
The cars do look
fantastic under the stars and the arc lights, with the City lit up with neon
and street lights. The place has bags of character and lots of happy looking
punters. Exactly the opposite to Yas Marina in fact
So all things considered being on pole is going to
be at a premium here. Let’s look at the likely candidates.
Alonso – the Ferrari is nimble enough, and the
Spaniard has the balls to drive it like he stole it, which is what you need
here. Ferrari need to salvage something from this year with a car that’s been lackluster on the hard tires, if they can get ahead off the line then they can
control the pace of the race and avoid the carnage behind.
Hamilton – has gone very quiet of late, with coded
message to the press and media to cut out the character assassination column
inches. He’s spent a lot of time in the steward’s offices around the world and
I think it’s starting to affect his mojo. Last year he would have nailed
Schumacher after two laps, this year and after many “stiff talking to’s” he
followed the German for lap after lap. I think he’s found a team mate in button
that can out drive him and he needs to prove to himself that he still has it.
This place is like Monaco, a place Hamilton excels at, so a pole would go a
long way to building him up again.
Vettel – Currently the best one lap specialist out
there bar none, if you need a hot lap when the chips are down he is the go too
guy this year. He doesn’t seem too fussed about the title either so he’s not
holding back to pick up points, he wants to nail this and crush the opposition.
Webber – If he has it all his own way, he’s good
for a hot lap or two. He needs to do something to prove he’s worth the contract
extension after all.
Button - maybe, but he’s not really a Banzai lap
kind of driver. With much umming and arring over his contract a pole and result
would go some way to getting him a salary like Lewis has.
As for the rest will there’s Massa, not a chance
and Rosberg likes this place a lot so he might have a pop.
As for the winner, well like I say it’s a long old
widow maker of a track to it’s a game of survival. The Redbull is a bit suspect
on tracks that are hard on tires, but with lots of lesser drivers painting the
wall in hint of carbon fiber, they can manage their tires effectively. If
they’re at the front then they can control the pace and not burn the tires out
chasing the lead down.
But I would love
to see Hamilton win again, he looks a bit sad every week walking back from the
race stewards office towards the media who are already sharpening their pencils.
Remember the race in China all those months ago where he chased down Vettel and
overtook him to win the race. That was vintage Hamilton and that’s what we’ve
been missing
The big grey
thing on the horizon though is rain, and plenty of it. The met office is
warning of a big old thunder storm sometime during the weekend. Last year it
was during the day and was nice and dry but humid and hot for the race. There
is talk this year that the typhoon sweeping over Japan at the moment will make
it as far as Singapore by Saturday, so we could see some rain on the cars. Once
that happens ... well we’ll see if we get a race at all.
Sort out your Predictions by Friday please.
Qualifying kicks
off at 3pm British time, the race is at 1pm BST.
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