The Official 2018 Singapore Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

The Official 2018 Singapore Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

Author
Discussion

Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Date(s): Friday 14th September - Sunday 16th September 2018

Session Timings

Local

|https://thumbsnap.com/hF3TWnLt[/url]

Uk

|https://thumbsnap.com/9h0z3MvA[/url]

UK TV Time


Session Day Sky F1 Channel 4 Session Start Local Time
Drivers Press Conference Thursday 11.00
Practice 1 Friday 09.15 09.25 09.30 16.30
Practice 2 Friday 13.15 13.10 13.30 20.30
Practice 3 Saturday 10.45 10.55 11.00 18.00
Qualifying Saturday 13.00 14.00 14:00 21.00
Race Sunday 11.30 12.00 13.10 20:10


Circuit



When was the track built?

The Marina Bay Circuit arrived on the scene in 2008. A street track with the city's famous skyline as its spectacular backdrop, the initial circuit plan by Herman Tilke was refined by KBR Inc, while the event has quickly established itself as one of the standouts on the F1 calendar.

When was its first Grand Prix?

In 2008, Singapore had the honour of hosting the first night-time race in F1 history. The Grand Prix – the 15th round of that season – proved a huge hit with the teams and drivers, while Renault’s Fernando Alonso claimed a controversial victory.

What’s the circuit like?

The 5.073km Marina Bay Circuit is one of the most physically demanding on the calendar, its bumpy street surface coupled with humid conditions giving the drivers plenty to think about. With 23 corners, they are working the wheel a lot, too, around the high-speed lap – the physical stress causing them to lose as much as 3kg over the course of a race. The circuit also boasts some of the most unique features of any track on the F1 calendar, including Turn 18, which actually sees the drivers pass underneath a grandstand.

Changes for 2018




Live Timing

https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...

Tyres

For 2018 Pirelli will bring to Marina Bay three tyres from the softer end of their ‘rainbow’ of available colours.
These are the yellow-striped Soft, purple-striped Ultrasoft and new-for-2018 pink-striped Hypersoft compounds. This combination has not previously been seen at any race this season; the Hypersofts have been used only in Monaco and Canada.



Weather (looking wet)

http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Singapore/S...

2017 Quailfying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSkMBM3P7i8

Pole Lap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhM_04gQQkk

Race Highlights A night race in the rain, what could possibly go wrong...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAOMOmsqpUY






The 2017 race: Lewis thanks his lucky stars

Singapore may have been celebrating its 10th F1 birthday, but Lewis Hamilton decided he would keep most of the presents for himself.
The 33-year-old Englishman claimed his third Marina Bay Street Circuit victory, his seventh of 2017 and the 60th of his Formula 1 career to move 28 points ahead of championship rival Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel’s Ferrari had started from pole position but the German’s race was over within a few hundred metres. As Red Bull’s Max Verstappen tried to force his way between Vettel and his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen the Dutch driver found himself with nowhere to go: he and Räikkönen were out instantly, while Vettel spun into retirement just seconds later.
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hamilton brought his Mercedes through from the third row to take the race lead which would be his until the end of a race shortened to 58 laps.

Before the race Hamilton had said he needed a miracle and he was quick to acknowledge his good fortune. “God blessed me today for sure,” said the 32-year-old Briton. “I capitalised on the incident – who would ever have known that would happen?”
Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull gave chase but could never get within striking distance, leaving the Australian to come home second for the third year in a row at Marina Bay. “I can’t win the bloody thing!” said Ricciardo in jest, “But I’m trying!”
Third, rounding off a superb day for Mercedes, was Valtteri Bottas, the Finn helping propel Mercedes into a lead of more than 100 points from Ferrari in the constructors’ standings as the three-pointed star continued its relentless pursuit of a fourth consecutive double title success.

Hamilton was not the only driver to profit from the early chaos: Carlos Sainz, in his last year with Toro Rosso, took his best-ever finish in fourth place ahead of Sergio Perez’s Force India, Jolyon Palmer, dropped by Renault for 2018 to make way for Sainz, achieved his best F1 result in sixth, and Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren was eighth to give the Belgian his own highest finish.

With the race ending at the two-hour limit after 58 of the scheduled 61 laps, only 12 cars finished, the lowest in Singapore’s first decade as a Grand Prix venue. Hamilton sweetened his day even further with a new lap record of 1 minute 45.008 seconds and summed it all up in one sentence.

“I needed it to rain,” he said, “and as soon as it began to rain I knew where I would finish.”








Edited by Deesee on Monday 10th September 12:00

BrettMRC

4,037 posts

159 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Thanks for the OP smile

Really looking forward to this race, I think we will some Mercedes damage limitation and Red Bull trying everything to claim a win. (Will they leave Ricciardo out in the cold and favour Max though?)

Expecting Vettle to do something daft and Magnussen to do something dangerous.

Quali:

1) MV
2) SV
3) DR

Race:

1) MV
2) KR
3) SV

sandman77

2,366 posts

137 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Are Channel4 not showing the race live this weekend? frown

Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
sandman77 said:
Are Channel4 not showing the race live this weekend? frown
Yes sorry, did not change/missed that bit of the code, amended!!


Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
A couple of points (hopefully interesting)...

The Race has only been won by a WDC.

In 10 races there have been 17 safety cars.

This is almost (always) the longest race in the season, quickest race completed in 1 hr 56 mins.

LaurasOtherHalf

21,429 posts

195 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Ferrari and Vettel in particular really need to pull their socks up at this one in order to start clawing back the points their performance deserves.

Hamilton should at best be a theoretical 5th here behind the red and blue cars however does anyone know what’s happening with engine penalties yet?


Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Ferrari and Vettel in particular really need to pull their socks up at this one in order to start clawing back the points their performance deserves.

Hamilton should at best be a theoretical 5th here behind the red and blue cars however does anyone know what’s happening with engine penalties yet?
Units used to date, Red bull have the freshest units (one race old) of the front runners.

https://maxf1.net/en/2018-f1-power-unit-elements-u...

High downforce circuit for Mercedes, I can't wait to see Red Bull think they can get away with on the rear wing!!!!

Dani Ric/Max for me (if clean), can see Merc pulling an unexpected 2 stop (assuming minimal safety car activity), to keep the scuderia on there toes.

Matthen

1,285 posts

150 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Deesee said:
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Ferrari and Vettel in particular really need to pull their socks up at this one in order to start clawing back the points their performance deserves.

Hamilton should at best be a theoretical 5th here behind the red and blue cars however does anyone know what’s happening with engine penalties yet?
Units used to date, Red bull have the freshest units (one race old) of the front runners.

https://maxf1.net/en/2018-f1-power-unit-elements-u...

High downforce circuit for Mercedes, I can't wait to see Red Bull think they can get away with on the rear wing!!!!

Dani Ric/Max for me (if clean), can see Merc pulling an unexpected 2 stop (assuming minimal safety car activity), to keep the scuderia on there toes.
I do hope RBR get Riccardo's PU sorted, it's getting tedious watching him pull over when he should be scoring points. Wouldn't be surprised if Vettel binned it again under pressure. Hopefully it'll be a good race.

LaurasOtherHalf

21,429 posts

195 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Has there ever been a genuinely good race at Singapore?

Crashes, and the odd bit of cheating but I'm struggling to recall one? I always think it's an unattractive thing to view as well though a customer has been a couple of times and apparently it's a cracking venue to visit.

HustleRussell

24,602 posts

159 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Can't see anybody other than Vettel on pole as he is so good around Singapore and has the car to do it IMO. Ferrari have an electrical power deployment advantage, superior traction and seem to work well on all tyre compounds.

It's very difficult to call it between Raikkonen, the Red Bulls and the Mercedes. I can't imagine Mercedes will arrive once again without having made significant inroads on their Singapore pace, however it's not likely to suddenly become their specialist circuit- especially as there is still a question mark over whether they can perform over a qualifying lap on the Hyper Softs.

Red Bull should be a threat for anything up to the number two spot but their poor reliability continues and Verstappen, unless fully reformed, is overdue an unforced crash.

Qualifying
-Vettel
-Raikkonen
-Verstappen

Race
-Vettel
-Hamilton
-Raikkonen

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I always think it's an unattractive thing to view as well though a customer has been a couple of times and apparently it's a cracking venue to visit.
I agree on the unattractiveness. I know they run it at night to aid the timings for global TV, but as a result all we get to see is concrete and streetlights. It could be anywhere in the world.

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
It is going to be interesting to see if the Mercs have "fixed" their hot running issue...

Jabbah

1,331 posts

153 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Deesee said:
... can see Merc pulling an unexpected 2 stop (assuming minimal safety car activity), to keep the scuderia on there toes.
Looking at the tyre choices I'd have thought Ferrari the most likely to be going for a 2 stop. I think Merc will be hoping the SC gods look kindly on them.

Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
pgh said:
Weather looking wet you say? Should imagine there's a Ferrari driver checking the forecast on an hourly basis!
Yes the “second” best driver in the wet is not as good as the first.

Vettel need to run more wing..

Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Gaz. said:
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Has there ever been a genuinely good race at Singapore?

Crashes, and the odd bit of cheating but I'm struggling to recall one? I always think it's an unattractive thing to view as well though a customer has been a couple of times and apparently it's a cracking venue to visit.
It looks great during the day, lots of trees & parks. FP1 and F2 are quite something during daylight.

2008 was good, even before we knew of the cheating, 2009 was good, 2010 was good, 2012 was ok, Vettel was on fire in 2013, 2017 was good. Can't remember 2011, 2014, 2015 or 2016 but if they're on this week I'll rewatch them.
Last yr was great just watch the first 2 mins of the race highlights, granted I’m biased (but as op keep a broad view).

Deesee

Original Poster:

8,331 posts

82 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Jabbah said:
Deesee said:
... can see Merc pulling an unexpected 2 stop (assuming minimal safety car activity), to keep the scuderia on there toes.
Looking at the tyre choices I'd have thought Ferrari the most likely to be going for a 2 stop. I think Merc will be hoping the SC gods look kindly on them.
Ferrari have had the rug pulled from under their feet literally, the floor they have been running previously has been pulled (I have been led to believe), they have almost discounted the yellow/soft tyre, anyway this should be a one stopper, but we have an almost guaranteed safety car.



Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Jabbah said:
Looking at the tyre choices I'd have thought Ferrari the most likely to be going for a 2 stop. I think Merc will be hoping the SC gods look kindly on them.
Well I think it is a fair bet to take...

rdjohn

6,135 posts

194 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
I was thinking that, perhaps the next couple of races, could decide the championships.

But then I looked at the 7-race calendar and I now don’t think it’s going to happen.

This time last year you could look at the venue and think either Ferrari, or Mercedes. This year we have no clues other than Seb’s propensity to make the odd cock-up.i thought that Merc would have it in the bag now based on their reliability, but think they now might actually be more vulnerable.

But based on the general form of both teams/drivers, I now think that it could go all the way.

Yippee!

The Moose

22,821 posts

208 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
It looks like rain is possible (but unlikely) for quali, but not happening on the Sunday. Am I missing something?!

Sam993

1,302 posts

71 months

Monday 10th September 2018
quotequote all
Looking forward to Vettel scoring a DNF and Vandoorne staying consistent during qualifying.