Official 2015 Singapore Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS with comedy honk horns that have that cute rubber bulb on them. PARP PARP! OK, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel now***

2015 Singapore Grand Prix

Previous Winners
2008 - Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2009 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
2010 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2011 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2012 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2015 12:42PM by EC83.

This quali should be excellent. If Lewis gets Pole, he equals Senna's record for longest run of Poles and breaks the record for consecutive Poles inside of one season. If a Mercedes gets Pole, they equal Williams' record. If anyone else gets Pole, it means there's a genuinely close field and therefore an exciting race in prospect. Win win.

Bring it on!

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Nice one Seb!! Get in!!

Superb performance!

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Could be interesting for once. Hope Raikkonen has a better start as at Monza.

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Some F1 CSM mods
1996 | 2000 | 2002 | 2007 | 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | 2018

Vettel vs Ricciardo could be interesting into Turn 1 with their history. In fact that battle could probably decide the race.

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X (@ed24f1)

It's Seb's race to lose now, but if Ricciardo can get ahead at the start it would definitely bring it alive.

Really surprised at the lack of pace from Mercedes. I was sure before quali that they were sandbagging.

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Could this have anything to do with the fact Mercedes basically got caught "BENDING" the rules with tyre pressures? I mean come on, they've dominated for the last two years and suddenly just one race after the pressures are properly enforced, the go from being over a second a lap faster than the field to a second and a half slower than the Vettel... They've lost 3 seconds a lap from Italy to Singapore! It's the same circuit as last year, they've dominated in every other round this year which is a mixture of types of tracks.

Just saying...



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2015 01:01PM by madotter.

It's a possibility, yeah. How much of it might be down to that and how much of it might be down to the unusual nature of Singapore as a circuit, it's hard to tell right now - I guess it'll be much clearer once we've been to Japan and Russia, and seen how the car performs on those tracks too, whether this is just a blip in their performance or whether it's concrete evidence of something fundamental changing on the car.

It's an interesting thought.

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Nice boomf by Massa on Hulk. That's made things more interesting!

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That hasn't happened during a race since what, Silverstone 2003? Random dude on the track! :S


Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EC83 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That hasn't happened since what, Silverstone
> 2003?
> > Random dude on the track! :S
>
> China, practice session, this year.

I meant during a race, not a practice session, as I thought would've been obvious, given the time I made the original post(And I subsequently edited said post for further clarification). Still, it's not exactly the first time you've misunderstood someone's post and made a stupid response.
Pwned again, eh? Still, thanks for the info!
(Added to a previous post as an edit because this matter wasn't worth making a separate post and bumping the thread for.)

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2016 07:19AM by EC83.

Was a bizarre moment! Shame that the safety cars influenced the race a bit. They need to change the pit speed limit or something during virtual safety cars to remove any advantage people get from pitting in this period. But of course hard to get it exact with different pit lengths at each circuit.

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X (@ed24f1)

madotter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Could this have anything to do with the fact
> Mercedes basically got caught "BENDING" the rules
> with tyre pressures? I mean come on, they've
> dominated for the last two years and suddenly just
> one race after the pressures are properly
> enforced, the go from being over a second a lap
> faster than the field to a second and a half
> slower than the Vettel... They've lost 3 seconds a
> lap from Italy to Singapore! It's the same circuit
> as last year, they've dominated in every other
> round this year which is a mixture of types of
> tracks.
>
> Just saying...

It's very doubtful, that you can gain 3 seconds per lap, by underinflating your tyres by 2-4%.

SchueyFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Was a bizarre moment! Shame that the safety cars
> influenced the race a bit. They need to change the
> pit speed limit or something during virtual safety
> cars to remove any advantage people get from
> pitting in this period. But of course hard to get
> it exact with different pit lengths at each
> circuit.

Pit speeds limits are set for safety reasons. At a time when cars are pouring into the pits, that is where you need those limits the most.

EC83 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That hasn't happened since what, Silverstone 2003?
> Random dude on the track! :S

China, practice session, this year.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2015 05:23PM by Morbid.

A little bit of a dull race by Singapore standards.

Some deva ju initially for Rosberg, but how relived will he be that his car lasted and Hamilton's didn't? But realistically he's a long way of Hamilton still.

Notable performances:

Vettel obviously. In full fingermeister mode he controlled everything.. and gave the impression that he could simply check out at any given moment and indeed did so on numerous occasions.

A strong podium for Ricciardo, which wasn't bad for an apparently terrible Renault engine.

Bottas made the best of good fortune brought about by the safety car. On paper this was always going to a weak circuit for Williams but he kept a Mercedes relatively honest and held a Red Bull (which on paper was much faster) at bay. Kyvat was a little but unlucky with the way things panned out.. but he ought to have been crowding Bottas' glitchy gearbox but he simply didn't.

Yet another strong drive by Verstappen. But not as amazing as the commentary made out. The safety car gifted his lap back to him, however pace wise he had the potential to be scrapping with Kyvat, Rosberg and Bottas.

Alonso looked set to drag the McLaren into the points by sheer will power.

A respectable debut for Rossi. He beat his team mate despite having no radio communication for most of the race. Decent effort.

Lol moments:

Massa v Hulkenberg. A slightly harsh call by the stewards, I felt it was mostly an unfortunate racing incident. Both could have done more to avoid the accident and neither did.

Random bloke going for a nice evening stroll on a live race track. I'm almost surprised that Barrichello didn't go on to win this one <M>

Button v Maldonaldo. Jenson is right, he should have known better for one does not simply race Maldonaldo and expect not to be involved in an accident.

Toro Rosso swap and "NO!". Not exactly good team play but I guess he's shown the ruthless streak needed.

Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pit speeds limits are set for safety reasons. At a
> time when cars are pouring into the pits, that is
> where you need those limits the most.

Yes that is obvious and I am suggesting the limit should be reduced considering the speed of the cars on the actual track is reduced.

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X (@ed24f1)

Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> madotter Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Could this have anything to do with the fact
> > Mercedes basically got caught "BENDING" the
> rules
> > with tyre pressures? I mean come on, they've
> > dominated for the last two years and suddenly
> just
> > one race after the pressures are properly
> > enforced, the go from being over a second a lap
> > faster than the field to a second and a half
> > slower than the Vettel... They've lost 3 seconds
> a
> > lap from Italy to Singapore! It's the same
> circuit
> > as last year, they've dominated in every other
> > round this year which is a mixture of types of
> > tracks.
> >
> > Just saying...
>
> It's very doubtful, that you can gain 3 seconds
> per lap, by underinflating your tyres by 2-4%.


according to the bbc coverage after monza you can gain over 1 sec.

SchueyFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Morbid Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Pit speeds limits are set for safety reasons. At
> a
> > time when cars are pouring into the pits, that
> is
> > where you need those limits the most.
>
> Yes that is obvious and I am suggesting the limit
> should be reduced considering the speed of the
> cars on the actual track is reduced.

Okay, I read that completely inverted... and I will tell you why. It does not make sense to me.

Looking at the first virtual safety car period, the top 5 cars pitted and did 2.46-49s exit laps. The following lap was 2.28-29s. That is a delta time of about 20 seconds. That is a savings of about 10 seconds for a VSC pit stop. How is that better than under a normal safety car period, as we have always known them? I fail to see the difference. In fact, under old safety car rules, or just current safety car periods, you are at a greater advantage, as you are allowed to speed up to catch the guy in front of you, which you are not under VSC.

So I don't understand the objection. Perhaps you could clarify?

mitadumapaga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Morbid Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > madotter Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Could this have anything to do with the fact
> > > Mercedes basically got caught "BENDING" the
> > rules
> > > with tyre pressures? I mean come on, they've
> > > dominated for the last two years and suddenly
> > just
> > > one race after the pressures are properly
> > > enforced, the go from being over a second a
> lap
> > > faster than the field to a second and a half
> > > slower than the Vettel... They've lost 3
> seconds
> > a
> > > lap from Italy to Singapore! It's the same
> > circuit
> > > as last year, they've dominated in every
> other
> > > round this year which is a mixture of types
> of
> > > tracks.
> > >
> > > Just saying...
> >
> > It's very doubtful, that you can gain 3 seconds
> > per lap, by underinflating your tyres by 2-4%.
>
>
> according to the bbc coverage after monza you can
> gain over 1 sec.

So, let's break this down.

Mercedes has dominated every race event this year, but has slumped now. Due to tyre pressures, and them "bending the rules"?

Well, at Spa, Pirelli called for stricter mandatory limits on camber angles and tyre pressures. They named no specific teams as the grave sinners. The two cars in question, that suffered failures that prompted this was Nico's Merc and Vettel's Ferrari. Hence, the conclusion, that probably ALL teams ran cambers and pressures outside the post-Spa restrictions. But not all cars have slumped equally. It just seems to be the Mercs. So the current slump for Mercs being caused by "bending" the rules on cambers and pressures does not naturally follow. Other teams, for instance Ferrari should have suffered as well. But they have not.

Dropping 3 seconds a lap from Monza to Singapore, due to tyre pressures. BBC claims that you can gain over 1 second. That does not account for 3 seconds. Not even close.

I fail to see the reasoning in tyre pressures and camber angles being at the root cause of Mercs slump.

TBH, we saw exactly what Merc had "extra" in the bag at Monza when Lewis was asked to put the hammer down. That wasn't very much, which is in stark contrast to what it was like last season. It wasn't overwhelming at Spa either. No way the Mercs could have lapped every car, if they had wanted to. IMHO, what we are seeing is what we see every time a regulation matures. That is the advantage of the dominant team erodes due to diminishing returns, as the regulations are explored deeper and deeper.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SchueyFan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Morbid Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Pit speeds limits are set for safety reasons.
> At
> > a
> > > time when cars are pouring into the pits,
> that
> > is
> > > where you need those limits the most.
> >
> > Yes that is obvious and I am suggesting the
> limit
> > should be reduced considering the speed of the
> > cars on the actual track is reduced.
>
> Okay, I read that completely inverted... and I
> will tell you why. It does not make sense to me.
>
> Looking at the first virtual safety car period,
> the top 5 cars pitted and did 2.46-49s exit laps.
> The following lap was 2.28-29s. That is a delta
> time of about 20 seconds. That is a savings of
> about 10 seconds for a VSC pit stop. How is that
> better than under a normal safety car period, as
> we have always known them? I fail to see the
> difference. In fact, under old safety car rules,
> or just current safety car periods, you are at a
> greater advantage, as you are allowed to speed up
> to catch the guy in front of you, which you are
> not under VSC.
>
> So I don't understand the objection. Perhaps you
> could clarify?

Yes, I am just nitpicking a bit to be honest. I mean, if the point of a VSC is to neutralise the field and avoid the advantages for some cars that a SC provided, then there should be no advantage for a pitstop in this phase. While there is any advantage of pitting during this period it will still limit the range of strategies of the teams, as we saw in Singapore. However, as you say it's still a lot better than it used to be, but I was just hoping it could be even better.

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X (@ed24f1)