Singapore under the lights which means I have to get up at the relatively sane hour of 7:30 am.
Relative to what? Have you met my relatives?
At least they’re not as crazy as Uncle Bernie who was all for banning radio between the pit and the drivers until he was all for it again. Personally I think it a particularly daft bit of madness because as Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says, “The changes are absolutely not necessary. For us of course it’s a big disadvantage because the more inexperienced the driver is, there’s more information you have to give him.”
Pat Symonds, chief technical officer for Williams, added: “The whole thing has been handled hastily. It’s a team sport. I don’t see any difference between an engineer advising a driver how to drive and a caddie helping a golfer choose an iron. Golf is not a team sport but that is perfectly permissible. Racing is a team sport. Should drivers get out and change the tyres during a pitstop?”
He added: “We want personalities in the sport and if the personalities are engineers and not just drivers what’s wrong with that? I think the banter between the engineer and a driver is a good thing.”
As for the FIA, the race director, Charlie Whiting, admits there will be problems policing coded radio messages. He said: “I agree it won’t be straightforward.” Chaos and confusion vie for pole in Singapore.
And then there’s the issue of new, unreliable, and complicated engines and energy recovery systems and batteries which don’t just drive the car forward but also assist in braking and substantially effect fuel consumption.
In short I think it’s entirely contrary to my position which is that the struggling teams need more practice and development time to perfect their cars and train their drivers than the teams that are oozing with money, not less. It’s a false economy.
Oh not to worry says crazy Uncle Bernie, we’ll just have less teams and give them more cars on the track because that’s what the people want to see- Mercedes or Red Bull or Ferrari all driving away in a pack from everyone else and grabbing first, second, AND third except for those that get purposely bashed out of the race by their team mates and heaven forfend that an engineer someplace reminds them that this hardware is expensive and all comes out of the same wallet.
Sure, that will help.
In other “big” news the suits at Fiat have finally won and the last Formula One program trained executive at Scuderia Marlboro has been shoved to the curb and replaced by a pencil pushing accountant, not that he had a record of anything except failure but that belongs to the Team as a whole and will not be improved by the replacement of a single individual.
The Marina Bay street circuit is the second slowest track after Monaco and due to the number of turns (23), heat and humidity (even at night), and counter-clockwise layout is one of the most demanding despite being the shortest and having 2 DRS zones. Tire strategy is going to make a huge difference, on offer are Softs and Super-Softs. The Super-Softs are 2 to 2.5 seconds faster per lap but will only last between 13 and 14 laps before they start to go off. In a 61 lap race that might mean frequent changes, but you also have to factor in the mandatory two compound rule and the fact they only have 3 sets total and most Teams have used 1 or 2 sets in Qualifying.
Pretty tables below.
Starting Grid
| Grid | Driver | Team | Q-Time | Q-Laps |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:45.681 | 17 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:45.688 | 19 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:45.854 | 12 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:45.902 | 15 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:45.907 | 16 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:46.000 | 20 |
| 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:46.170 | 14 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:46.187 | 18 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:46.250 | 18 |
| 10 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:47.362 | 21 |
| 11 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:46.943 | 12 |
| 12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 1:46.989 | 14 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:47.308 | 13 |
| 14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:47.333 | 9 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:47.575 | 13 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:47.812 | 14 |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:48.324 | 6 |
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1:49.063 | 8 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:49.440 | 7 |
| 20 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:50.405 | 8 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:50.473 | 7 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:52.287 | 5 |
Driver Standings
| Rank | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 238 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 216 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 166 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 122 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 121 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 106 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 72 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 70 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 55 |
| 10 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 41 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 39 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 38 |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 11 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 8 |
| 15 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 8 |
| 16 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 2 |
Constructor Standings
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Mercedes | 454 |
| 2 | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 272 |
| 3 | Williams-Mercedes | 177 |
| 4 | Ferrari | 162 |
| 5 | McLaren-Mercedes | 110 |
| 6 | Force India-Mercedes | 109 |
| 7 | STR-Renault | 19 |
| 8 | Lotus-Renault | 8 |
| 9 | Marussia-Ferrari | 2 |
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Hamilton
Alonso
Vettel
Ricciard
Button
Massa
Raikkonen
Bottas
Vergne
Magnussen
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Hamilton
Vettel
Ricciardo
Alonso
Massa
Bottas
Button
Raikkonen
Vergne
Magnussen
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Hamilton
Vettel
Ricciardo
Alonso
Massa
Botta
Button
Raikkonen
Vergne
Magnussen
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Hamilton
Vettel
Ricciardo
Alonso
Massa
Bottas
Button
Raikkonen
Magnussen
Hulkenberg
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Hamilton
Vettel
Ricciard
Alonso
Massa
Bottas
Button
Raikkonen
Hulkenberg
Maldonado
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Vettel’s tires off.
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Hamilton
Vettel
Ricciardo
Alonso
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Vergne
Maldonado
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Hamilton
Vettel
Ricciardo
Alonso
Massa
Vergne (might change with penalty)
Perez
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Magnussen
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