F1 Race (Singapore)
Thursday, 2. October 2008, 10:00:22
The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. The first ever Formula One race to be run under lights. This was going to be a memorable race no matter what happened...
Full ResultsThe cars look amazing on the grid under the huge lights. It looks like another Monaco, only better. Alonso is the only driver to start on the less favoured, super soft tires. The lights go out and everyone makes a clean start...
61: By the middle of the first lap Massa already has a sizeable lead as Hamilton lost some time defending his position from Kimi. By the end of the lap Alonso is already up to 12th from 15th.
60: Alonso is all over the back of Nakajima in his Williams but can’t find a way past.
59: Rosberg gets the hurry up from his team to pass Trulli for his race strategy to work. Trulli, very slow appears to be heavy. At the front Massa and Hamilton are dropping Kimi.
58: Rosberg has a great run at Trulli and makes a pass by out breaking him. He unfortunately runs wide allowing Trulli back ahead. Trulli is leading a train of cars starting from 9th place. Behind Trulli and Rosberg is Nakajima followed closely by Alonso.
55: Rosberg eventually makes a pass stick but heavily flatspots his tires in the process.
54: Massa drives over a piece of debris on the track but it gets stuck under the car. It doesn’t appear to have caused any damage. Not shown on camera Nakajima probably made a pass on Trulli.
53: Alonso has a run at Trulli and is ahead even before they arrive at the corner.
52: Kimi sets the fastest lap of the race and is starting to catch the leaders. In past races he usually does this 5 or so laps from the end.
49: Mass is pulling away from Hamilton while Kimi, the fastest man on the track, is reeling in Hamilton. Alonso the first to pit, comes in changing to the prime tire. His strategy hasn’t payed off and he is switched to a 2 stop fuel load.
47: Piquet’s car is in the wall. It looks like the right half has been ripped off! On Piquet’s team radio we hear him apologizing to the team. Piquet is ok. He gets out of the car by himself and run across the track. Not one race marshall is at the site. Replay shows he lost the backend as he was exiting the corner and car simply swapped ends and went straight into the wall. It looked worse than it was.
46: Safety car deployed for the first time in the race. Alonso picks up the safety car first and he has importantly already made his stop and even more importantly got rid of the super soft tires that everyone else still had to use before the race finished. The pitlane is currently closed.
45: Kubica comes in with the pit lane closed. He will have to take a penalty later in the race, therefore effectively ending his race.
44: Pit lane is opened and both the Ferrari’s and Hamilton come in. Kimi queues behind Massa. Massa
takes off with the fuel hose still attached and take a mechanic down as well. This is the second time that the Ferrari pit system has failed. Massa is also released into the path of Sutil, very similar to what happened in Valencia last month. Massa dragging the fuel hose on the side of his car stops on the side at the end of the pit lane while the Ferrari mechanics do the 100 metre sprint down the pit lane to remove the hose. Massa eventually has the fuel hose removed and is released on the lead lap but is at the back of the pack.
43: Safety car in this lap.
42: Rosberg leads with from Trulli, Fisichella, Kubica, Alonso, Webber, Coulthard, Hamilton. Effectively after the penalties and pit stops Alonso will be in the lead, followed by the two Red Bull’s who pitted just before the safety car. Down at the tail end of the field Massa runs wide in obvious frustration.
40: Race control says car number 2 is under investigation for unsafe release from the pits. Barrichello, walking around off the track after retirement decides to throw his gloves into the crowd but his aim is so terrible it goes flying into the water lol. Massa, Kubica, and Rosberg look certain to receive stop-go penalties.
38. Race control confirms Drive Through Penalty for Massa for unsafe release.
37: Massa serves the penalty. Race control confirms Kubica and Rosberg 10 second Stop-Go Penalty for refueling while the pit lane was closed. Rosberg gets the news via team radio and is told to push. He already has a good lead as Trulli running in second is holding up the pack.
36: Alonso’s team radio, expect Fisichella in, in 10 laps and also receives news of Kubica penalty.
35: Alonso’s team radio, they aren’t really sure of what’s going on around them but just push until the end. Kubica serves penalty. Webber runs wide and drops 4 places in one corner. He would have been 3rd if he stayed on track.
34: Rosberg serves his penalty and is out in front of Coulthard. Trulli leads, with Alonso second, and Rosberg after his penalty now running in third.
33: Webber didn’t run wide on purpose. He had mechanical problems and retires into the pits. His race is over.
32: Down the order Massa yields to Kubica. Massa was leading the race until the first pit stop.
30: Massa comes in, fuelled until the end and out on the super soft tires.
29: Heikki and Kimi are running in 11th and 12th respectively in their own little battle.
28: Trulli in from the lead, in for his one and only stop, out in 8th in front of Nakajima who tries to pass him again but it comes to nothing.
26: Nakajima tries one more time but still can’t find a way around the heavy Trulli. Alonso leading the race and looking good for a win.
21: Rosberg in from 2nd, out in 7th on super softs.
20: Alonso comes in from the lead and leaves the pits still in the lead just ahead of Coulthard and Hamilton. Lewis passes Coulthard but both come in at the end of the lap. That robs us of a Hamilton Alonso duel that would have been exciting to watch. Alonso has over a pit stop lead over Hamilton.
18: Vettel and Heidfeld in.
12: Kimi has caught Rosberg who is back in 2nd pace but Kimi is stopping again.
11: Kimi pits, and out in 5th.
10: Sutil slides straight into a wall as we see a Ferrari scampering away from the scene on the accident. Safety car deployed. Replay shows the slow Trulli was being passed by Massa who had spun in that corner and was just rejoining the track as Sutil drove into the same place only he connected with the wall.
9: Race control says kerb damaged at Turn 7. Its strange message and the cameras shows that the kerb at Turn 7 is indeed damaged. Safety car in this lap. Alonso starts backing up the field.
8: Alonso has a 1.4 second lead as the cross the finish line to start the first lap without the safety car. Rosberg was napping.
7: Alonso’s lead is now at 3.5 seconds in the space of one lap.
4: Kimi in the most amateur of mistakes rides the kerb at the Turn 10 chicane and ploughs into the barrier. Right front wheel gone, he’s out and so are all of Ferrari’s points.
0: Alonso wins! His last victory came almost a year ago. It’s been way too long since we saw his unique, memorable celebrations
Final Standings:
1. Fernando Alonso, was the quickest in practice, had a torrid time in qualifying, but made his pace count on race day. That’s the 7th different winner of this season and the 5th different constructor to take a victory.
2. Nico Rosberg, even after having a stop-go penalty for what are really stupid rules in F1 he still managed to finish just 2 seconds behind the leader.
3. Lewis Hamilton, a fairly quiet race from him. If the Ferrari’s stayed around he probably would have finished no better than 2nd but importantly he pulls away from Massa in the championship, again.
4. Timo Glock, is fast no doubt. Not as exciting as Lewis but still capable of doing just as much. Strange though how fast he was compared to his teammate Jarno Trulli.
5. Sebastian Vettel, another quiet race, stayed out of trouble and had good pace. Torro Rosso will sorely miss him next year.
6. Nick Heidfeld, quick Nick beat Kubica. When there are safety cars or rain Heidfeld uses his experience well to get himself up the order, but he should have still done better.
7. David Coulthard, the old man should be happy to get a few points, but alas we will not have to see the square jaw again after this season.
8. Kazuki Nakajima, once again scoring points. But in the opening stages he was sitting on the back of Rosberg’s gearbox. Finishing 6 places after him is a bit worrying.
(0%)
WIDGETIZE
How to use Quote function: