Singapore – The Destruction of Bad Misconceptions

So F1 is more than half way over. The middle season break of 2-3 weeks has come and gone, and some teams actually took advantage to improve their equipment. But not all. And it’s still humans that guide these sophisticated 4-wheel missiles.

It is no secret that I am a Lewis Hamilton fan. I think the young man has incredible talent and drives so well. Vettel is a nice guy, and also a fine driver, but I don’t have the same sense for him. Maybe it’s because he’s Swiss. And thank goodness the nasty Rosberg is gone.

Anyway, the season has been a real nail-biter. While Mercedes has managed to pull out in front in the Manufacturer’s Championship, the the Driver Championship has been up for grabs. Lewis did himself no favours earlier in the season with a couple mechanical issues and consequent poor placings. Still, he was in the running, and coming to Singapore he was in the running, being ahead of Vettel by a mere 3 points. Singapore is a track Vettel excells at, having won several years past. It is a tight street track with high walls very close in. Pace cars, that is full track yellows, seem to occur every race, often several times.

This year Ferrari was excelling, with both cars near the front. Vettel had the pole, Verstappen the brash young teenager driving for Red Bull second and Ferrari third. But the drama continued. On race day it was raining – sort of. It was unclear if the track was actually wet enough to run full-up rain tires, and the steward had the option to call a rain delay and force all to go to wet rubber just before the start. He did not. The race was off.

Haikkonen made a fabulous start, pushing past Verstappen. Meanwhile Vettel pinched Verstappen in by. moving over leaving no room for the youngster. Verstappen’s car was pushed into Haikkonen’s, who spun on the turn – and hit Vettel. Verstappen went off track – and was pounded by another driver spinning. So in no more than a few seconds the leading cars were all eliminated. For the first time in history both Ferrari cars were eliminated on the first lap.

Meanwhile Hamilton, sly fox that he is, managed to avoid all the carnage and move into the lead. And there he stayed. Won the race going away, so to speak. There was some tire drama as to when to switch off the intermediates that everyone seems to have started on. Team Haas was first to try the ultrasofts and when Magnusen startted setting fastest lap times, all the rest came in for new tires. Still Hamilton ended up winning – and Vettel ended up with no points. So Hamilton is now ahead with a more comfortable lead, and not that many races to go. Barring some unforeseen event, he will win the championship.

I’m for that.

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6 Responses to Singapore – The Destruction of Bad Misconceptions

  1. BrentB67BrentB67 says:

    Good update. I don’t follow it much any more.

    • DevereauxDevereaux says:

      I stopped for a while, but have come. back to it. I think this year has been really interesting because of the rule changes. The cars now a more competitive, and I believe it takes a bit more skill to drive. The wider tires and overall width plus added wing have helped make these some serious cars, not a French effete-mobile running on exotic fuel.

  2. 10 Cents10 Cents says:

    Thanks for the update. Without you Dev, I would have never heard this.

    • DevereauxDevereaux says:

      Just a little diversity on the site. Talking politics all the time gets tedious. I figure this isn’t exactly a common subject so people may not know much about it.

      • TempTime says:

        I agree and thanks. I had never heard of this either.

        • DevereauxDevereaux says:

          I put up a couple other posts earlier in the season, if you’re interested in reading a little about Formula 1.