The season’s final race is getting closer and the situation in Formula 1 is getting increasingly tense. The Silver Arrows driver Lewis Hamilton claimed another victory for Mercedes, while Nico Rosberg is having his share of bad luck.
Hamilton celebrated victory in the previous race held in Italy, where Nico Rosberg came second. Everyone was expecting to see an escalation of the conflict between the teammates but nothing happened. Both drivers were doing their job quite impassively. It was a rather even race with just one unexpected breakthrough — third place was taken by Felipe Massa (Williams), who managed to earn his first podium this season.
One would think it was time to rest easy but the FIA decided to introduce new changes to the regulations. From now on, most pit-car radio messages are banned. It’s a great advantage for low-budget teams and a big problem for the rest. The drivers have to watch braking points, choose gears, look for the right trajectory, etc. all on their own.
The drivers should have always done that on their own; however, many of them were getting help from the pit wall. On the other hand, sometimes it’s really difficult to watch the fuel level in a race car. Not all of them are equipped with indicators on their steering wheels, which allow displaying many different characteristics.
Despite discontent from teams, the new rule was introduced right before the Singapore Grand Prix.
The race on the track in Singapore is considered to be one of the most difficult Grand Prix for the drivers. The event is held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which has been hosting Formula 1 races since 2008. The cherry on top of this race is that it is held at night. The track is 5,073 m long.
Best qualifying result was achieved here by Sebastian Vettel in 2013 — 1:42,841: “My greatest memories are the wins of 2011, 2012 and 2013, because I think it’s one of the toughest races of the year. It’s very long, there’s no space for mistakes and the race just seems to go on forever.”
The drivers had to attack the curbs and fly by the fence just a few centimetres away from it.
Quite unexpectedly, at first Massa was topping the sheets in qualifying — 1:46.007, then came the turn of Ricciardo, and then Rosberg, but Hamilton was able to show an even better result and defeated all his competitors. He was seven thousandths of a second faster than Nico — 1:45.681.
Lewis Hamilton: “That was one of the most exciting qualifying sessions I can remember. I lost a lot of time at the beginning of my last lap and at that point I thought pole was lost. But I just kept going and managed to pull some time back. I was surprised by how close everyone was.”
As a result, Mercedes drivers had front row grid start, Ricciardo and Vettel (Red Bull) blocked the second row, while the third row was taken by Alonso (Ferrari) and Massa. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) ran a lap of 1:47.362, giving him 10th starting position.
Rosberg’s car did not leave the grid for the formation lap due to some electronic and gear shifting problems. Mechanics had to reboot the system and replace the steering wheel. Eventually, Rosberg was forced to start from pit-lane. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham) had even worse luck. He didn’t make it past the formation lap, parking his race car up due to an ERS failure.
Kamui Kobayashi: “What a frustrating way to end the race weekend here in Singapore. During the formation lap, all of a sudden I felt no power and then it smelt as if something was burning. Then I suddenly lost the brakes so I decided to stop the car because it was dangerous and I had nothing to do. I was really looking forward to this race and it's a shame not to have been able to get out there and fight, but this happens sometimes in motorsport unfortunately."
Time for the race. The start went off smoothly; Lewis Hamilton kept the lead and shot ahead. The circuit was very well illuminated and it seemed to be as light as during the daytime. Street circuits are much more dangerous than permanent ones, making the drivers take fewer risks. Moreover, the support they received from the teams was emotional but contained less technical tips than it used it. Nico Rosberg’s car refused to re-engage first gear after changing tyres at the pit stop. He had to leave his teammate fight for both of them during this Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg: “The problems with my steering wheel began in the garage even before the race and it was a difficult moment when I couldn't pull away from the grid — the car didn't get out of neutral. When I left the pit-lane, I was only able to change gear — there was no radio, no DRS and reduced Hybrid power. We were hoping that the systems might come back to life, like the radio did, and that we could change the situation. But after we changed the wheel another time, we had to retire the car.”
Many drivers were noticed cutting a chicane. However, under the watchful eye of the track marshals, all of them were handed 5-second penalties. The safety car came out just once to clear the debris after Force India’s Sergio Pérez made contact with Sauber’s Adrian Sutil. No one was injured; however, Sergio Pérez’s front wing broke off.
Sauber’s drivers were out of luck — both of them had to retire. Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber team principal: “That was a very disappointing race. Esteban particularly was in a good position, but he was forced to retire from the race once again due to a problem with the power unit. As Adrian's car had a water leak, the team decided to retire him from the race so not to risk an engine failure."
The rest of the pack was spread across the track and looked like taxi drivers. Lewis Hamilton had built up a solid lead from his competitors, Sebastian Vettel was holding behind him with Daniel Ricciardo in third.
The race was stopped after reaching its two-hour limit. Hamilton built a 25-second lead from Sebastian Vettel: “It was great to come here after winning in Monza and start the final leg of the season with such a competitive car. It would have been a really hardcore race if Nico had been at the front, as we clearly had the pace.”
Sebastian Vettel: “There was no point fighting Lewis at the end, he was on fresh tyres and I had to manage mine to the end as they were pretty old by then; that was the focus. It was nice to get the cold champagne on the podium.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “We were really close to the Mercedes in qualifying and we expected the race pace to be a bit faster today to be honest. We weren't quick enough in the first stint and we had a few other issues going on, with brakes and some power issues that were coming and going, but in terms of points we still got a good handful to take away from here.”
As for Daniil Kvyat, he suffered a hard time during this Grand Prix. His water bottle failed to function leaving him thirsty throughout the race. Eventually, he had to withstand both all of his competitors and dehydration. He finished 14th: “It was a very tough race today in which I had to fight more with myself than with the cars around me. The car was quite difficult to drive and it was sliding a lot. It was also hard work to take care of the tyres. Unfortunately I also had a problem with my drink system, so I was without water for the whole race, which definitely made it a much tougher race."
Now the drivers are getting ready for the Japanese Grand Prix, which will be held on October 5th.
Photo: f1fanatic.co.uk
