It’s a spectacle truly like none other in Formula 1. So when
the calendar reaches Singapore after a two week layoff, there isn’t a whole lot
of letdown in the paddock coming off of the Spa-Francorchamps-Monza
back-to-back.
Ever since its inception to the
schedule in 2008, it’s built an image different from that of its sister track
of many ways, Valencia. From the outside, it’s easy to tell the differences, the
most obvious being the nighttime and the even more so festive atmosphere that
it brings.
But that’s not the only difference,
nor is it the only thing that makes the streets of Singapore so special. There’s
a concert, this year headlining Katy Perry. There’s the location itself,
Singapore, a place as exotic as any other locale on the Formula One calendar. There’s
the fact that it’s a street race, a true street race, with little to no runoff whatsoever
with an exception of only a few corners. And for goodness sake, the circuit
goes under a grandstand. How the fuck do they even do that?
There are a few words that come to
mind when I think of the Grand Prix of Singapore, but honestly the only one
that I keep coming back to is spectacle. The aerial footage of the Flyer, one
of the world’s largest Ferris Wheels, illuminated in use as the cars glimmering
the blurred reflections of the floodlights storm past it in the final
complex of the track at nearly 170mph is absolutely stunning. The skyline is lit
up not too far away from the action, complete with a skyscraper connected by a
boat-shaped lounge at the top. All of these things and more make the Marina Bay
Circuit one of the finest in the world.
In only five years, it has become
one of the ‘Crown Jewels’ of any driver’s career. I wouldn’t hesitate to say
that in the grand scheme of things, the circuits that are most important to a
driver include Marina Bay now, along with the mainstays, tracks with such
historical significance, like Monaco, Monza, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.
Although it has a history that pales in comparison to the GP’s I just
mentioned, the glitz and glamor of the place has truly made it the Monaco of
the Far East.
The race weekend itself started off
somewhat unusually, with Free Practice 1 being held on a dampened circuit, and
seeing reigning Double World Champion Sebastian Vettel claim one of his few
practice fastest laps of the season.
On a thoroughly dried second
practice, Bruno Senna managed to bring out a red flag as he bumped the wall out
of Turn 19, spinning out down the short straightaway, before coming to rest in
the middle of the following chicane. Vettel again claimed fastest lap.
The next morning, FP3 was again
topped by Vettel, although slightly shortened by Vitaly Petrov breaking his
suspension on the turn leading into the main straight with two minutes
remaining.
 |
| Sebastian Vettel: On an issue of GQ Magazine near you. #Fabulous |
Heading into qualifying it seemed
that the Red Bull’s held the upper hand, Vettel especially. But his luck soon
ran short at the hands of Lewis Hamilton, claiming his second consecutive pole
with an absolutely blistering Q3 run, finishing nearly half a second in front
of the overachieving Pastor Maldonado in his Williams. Vettel and Button made
up row two, Alonso and Di Resta on row 3, Webber and the unsuspended Grosjean
on row 4, and the Mercedes’ of Schumacher and Rosberg on row 5, after both did
not attempt a run at pole in Q3.
Hamilton publicly warned the
oft-troubled but blindingly quick Maldonado to avoid confrontation on the narrow
run down to the first corner, and rightfully so, seeing that both are sometimes
overly-aggressive, and have been involved some pretty major incidents (including
one together at Valencia) over the past two seasons.
 |
| Someone locks up at the first corner, resulting in madness for those behind. |
But as expected, when it came down
to business on the start, Maldonado quickly filed in behind Hamilton, braking a
little too deep, and running wide in the first left-hander. This opened to door
for Vettel to overtake him on the outside, and seeing as turn one is more than
just one turn but a complex, Maldonado’s mistake cost him in Turn 3, as Button
took advantage of his faulty line choice while accelerating out of the hairpin.
Felipe
Massa picked up a puncture soon thereafter, most likely from the first corner shemozzle
in which Petrov’s Caterham emerged without its front wing. This put him in an
interesting spot strategy-wise although running well behind in last place
before the first string of pit stops.
The
first stint went relatively to plan for all outside of the first corner
incident, with the bumpy metropolitan street roads eating up the tires. Within
lap 12 of the 61-lap affair, Alonso and Vettel pitted from fifth and second
respectively, with Vettel being released behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus. Without
that misfortune, Vettel could have possibly cycled through ahead of Hamilton,
who let his tires degradate for an extra lap before pitting on lap 13. But
unfortunately for Hamilton, that would shortly become irrelevant.
 |
| This motherfucker. |
On lap
23, while leading Vettel at the same 1-2 second gap that he had been for most
of the race, Hamilton lost all gears while entering the first chicane, as
denoted by the big ‘0’ on his steering wheel. Although cycling feverously up
and down the paddle shifters, no gear was available and he was forced to
retire. This gave Vettel all he needed, coasting at a comfortable distance
until Narain Karthikeyen stuffed his HRT into the barrier at the incredibly tight
corner that goes under the grandstand on lap 32.
This
brought out a Safety Car, which coincidentally led to another retirement while
the cars paraded behind it following many well-placed pit stops immediately
after the SC was deployed, this time; a hydraulics issue for Pastor Maldonado
meant that his day in podium contention was over.
But
even once the Safety Car came in and the race resumed, it didn’t last for very
long. In the manic laps following the drop of the green flag, Michael
Schumacher locked up his brakes, scrubbing little speed, and rammed into the
rear wing of the unexpecting Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso, who was engaged in
a side-by-side battle further up the track. Schumacher has adamantly insisted that there
was a fault with his car, stating that he couldn’t slow down. Both drivers
walked away from this somewhat scary incident, but yet again the Safety Car was
deployed. (Link below)
From
then to the end, the result never seemed much in doubt for the
newly-invigorated Vettel, who’s victory would bring him to second in the championship,
within a stone’s throw of Alonso, who ran in 3rd following the
retirements of Hamilton and Maldonado.
That’s
not to say that the final third of the race was without excitement, however.
Felipe Massa was involved in a scrum with Bruno Senna while challenging for P9,
leading to quite possibly one of the best saves and overtakes of the season,
and possibly a job-saving drive (link below). Kimi Raikkonen, who had been stricken by a 12th
place result in qualifying, finished 6th, and Paul di Resta came
home in a career-best 4th. Timo Glock also had a race to note, finishing a
remarkable 12th in his Marussia, ahead of the likes of Kamui
Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg.
 |
| The 2012 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix Podium. Vettel, Button, Alonso. |
But in
the end, it all came down to Sebastian Vettel, and the brightening of his
once-darkened hope of a third consecutive world title. Leaping over Hamilton
and Raikkonen in the championship table, he now holds 165 to Fernando Alonso’s
194 points, and has issued a warning shot to the rest of the contenders as the
2012 season reaches its homestretch, and packs up for Suzuka in two weeks’ time.
As stated in the text, here are links to the Schumacher-Vergne crash, and Massa's big save, in that order.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrF9PYou6ZE
Included: Lewis Hamilton interview after his disappointing race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92XG1RwDens
Included: Lewis Hamilton interview after his disappointing race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92XG1RwDens
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