Same i feel bad tho he is a very talented person, just never had the luck
2 Likes
2019 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Preview
Selamat kembali ke Pameran Pratonton F1 di sini di MEW-FM, Stesen anda untuk Negara Permainan!
Selepas kemenangan rumah Charles Leclerc untuk Ferrari di Monza membawa leg Eropa musim ini hampir dua minggu lalu, Cirque du Zoom-Zoom melepaskan semua tujuh baki tahun ini. Perhentian pertama kami ialah Singapura untuk Race Malam OG F1 - masa untuk mendapatkan semua yang panas dan berpeluh di Singapura!
Welcome back to The F1 Preview Show here on MEW-FM, your Station for the Gaming Nation!
After Charles Leclerc’s home win for Ferrari at Monza brought the European leg of the season to a close two weeks ago, Cirque du Zoom-Zoom goes all flyaway for the remaining seven races of the year. Our first stop is Singapore for the OG F1 Night Race - time to get all hot and sweaty in Singapore!
The Scene
The Singapore Grand Prix is a motor race which forms part of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The event takes place on the Marina Bay Street Circuit and was Formula One’s inaugural night race. The circuit was also the first street circuit in Asia specifically designed for Formula One races.
Officially named the Republic of Singapore, Singapore is a city-state in Southeast Asia. The country is situated just 1° (137 kilometres) north of the Equator at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Indonesia’s Riau Island (Sumatra) lies to the south and Malaysia to the north. Singapore’s territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 square kilometres or 50 square miles).
Although its history stretches back millennia, modern Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the Company’s collapse in 1858, the islands came under direct British control as a crown colony known as the Straits Settlements. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, following which Britain occupied it again.
Singapore finally gained independence from the British Empire in 1963 by joining Malaysia along with Sabah and Sarawak, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a fully sovereign state in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce.
Carry on straight through the Turn 7 barriers instead of turning left and follow Raffles Boulevard far enough into the heart of the city and it becomes Orchard Road, one of Singapore’s original roads. Here’s how Orchard Road has evolved over the years:
Modern Singapore is a global hub for education, finance, healthcare, innovation, manufacturing, technology, tourism, trade, and transport.
Singapore is a highly developed country and is ranked 9th on the UN Human Development Index, the highest in Asia for a sovereign state, with the 2nd highest GDP per capita in the world. It was ranked the most expensive city to live in from 2013 to 2019 by the Economist and is identified as a tax haven.
Singapore is also placed highly in key social indicators: education, healthcare, quality of life, personal safety and housing, with a home-ownership rate of 90%. Singaporeans also enjoy one of the world’s longest life expectancies and one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world. As of 2019, Singaporean citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 189 countries and territories, ranking the Singaporean passport 1st in the world, tied with Japan.
The city-state is home to 5.6 million residents, 39% of whom are foreign nationals, including permanent residents. There are four official languages of Singapore: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil; most Singaporeans are bilingual, with English serving as the nation’s lingua franca, while Malay is the national language.
Its cultural diversity is reflected in its extensive ethnic cuisine and major festivals. Pew Research has found that Singapore has the highest religious diversity of any country. Multiracialism has been enshrined in its constitution since independence, and continues to shape national policies in education, housing and politics.
Last Time in Singapore
Lewis Hamilton dominated the entire weekend in Singapore last year, winning the race from pole position after setting a blistering lap in Q3 that stands as the current outright fast lap of the circuit. Here’s a look at that ludicrous speed 2018 pole lap:
Pole Position
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (1:36.015)
Podium
-
P1 = Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (1:51:11.611)
-
P2 = Max Verstappen, Red Bull (+8.961)
-
P3 = Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, (+39.945)
Fastest Race Lap
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas (1:41.905)
Here’s last year’s Race Highlights package:
The 2019 Race
-
Is Round 15 of the 2019 Formula 1 season and Formula 1 Race #1012.
-
Will be the 12th running of the F1 Singapore Grand Prix, all of which have taken place on the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
-
To date, there have only been 4 winners of the Singapore Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg has 1 (2016); Fernando Alonso has 2 (2008, 2010); and with 4 wins each, Sebastian Vettel (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015) and Lewis Hamilton (2009, 2014, 2017, 2018).
-
Lewis Hamilton goes into the race with a continued dominance in the Driver’s Championship Standings. His lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas is now 63 points. Bottas in turn is 36 points ahead of Max Verstappen, while Ferrari young gun Charles Leclerc has leap-frogged his more seasoned teammate Sebastian Vettel and moved into 4th on the Championship Standings, just 3 points behind Max.
- On the Constructor’s Standings, Mercedes have now passed the 500-point milestone for the season and arrive in Singapore 154 points of their Ferrari rivals. Despite their inconsistent results, the red team maintain a decent 85-point advantage over 3rd placed Red Bull.
The Singapore Circuit
The 5.063km Marina Bay Circuit is one of the most physically demanding on the calendar. The 23 corners that the drivers need to navigate 61 times, the bumpy and narrow street surface coupled with extremely humid conditions and high ambient temperatures, all combine to give the drivers an intense in-cockpit workout session. The physical stress of the GP is known to result in drivers losing as much as 3kg over the course of a race.
The race under artificial lights start at midday GMT (8pm local time), which is the standard time for European Grands Prix, moderating the extreme daytime apparent temperature in the tropical climate. Even so, cockpit temperatures can reach 60°C.
On top of that, the nature of a street circuit means the average speed is lower – despite a number of relatively long straights – and therefore this is a race that is often the longest of the season in terms of time. Racing flat-out for almost two full hours in 30+ degree heat and high humidity is not an easy challenge.
And all of that is assuming that the race is run in optimal conditions. Which generally doesn’t happen in Singapore. With the average relative humidity levels in Singapore for September at 83%, rain is always a possibility. And that just adds exponentially to the race time and to the driver’s stress levels.
And even if the race is dry (which this weekend looks to be), the walls that ring the circuit have claimed a number of scalps over the years. The Marina Bay Circuit has the dubious and unique honour of having at least one safety car appearance in every race to date. There has been a total of 18 safety car deployments over the eleven Grands Prix held there.
Here’s an interesting Further Reading Assignment for you students: Fight Night: How brutal Singapore GP pushes drivers to the limit
The eagled eyed will notice the addition of a new DRS Zone to the circuit map for this year. DRS2 has its Detection Point on the Anderson Bridge section before the Turn 13 hairpin, while the zone itself is activated just after T13 down the Esplanade Bridge straight leading to Turn 14. The zones on the Start/Finish straight and after Turn 5 down to Turn 7 remain in place.
The Tyres
From the forefront of rubber tyre development, comes news from Pirelli that the 3 softest compounds in the P Zero Formula 1 range have been chosen: C3 as White hard, C4 as Yellow medium, and C5 as Red soft.
The stop-start Marina Bay layout is renowned for its low-grip conditions, with teams running high downforce to help increase cornering speeds on the second-slowest lap of the year after Monaco.
-
The nomination is broadly the same as last year, when soft, ultrasoft and hypersoft were chosen. These were well-suited to a demanding race, which Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won with a single-stop hypersoft-soft strategy – although a number of other strategies were seen as well.
-
Singapore has a 100% safety car record thanks to its tight confines and unforgiving barriers, meaning that strategies have to be flexible to capitalise on any opportunities that arise.
-
With the circuit used just once a year, on public roads, there is a high degree of track evolution as well as the usual street furniture as manholes and white lines that can alter grip levels.
-
It is a tough race mechanically due to the heat and humidity, with very little ventilation and cooling due to the track characteristics.
-
With the race taking place at night, the usual patterns of rising and falling track temperatures during the afternoon are not seen. With some practice sessions taking place earlier, it is not always easy to get an accurate read on the likely race conditions.
It is hard to think of a bigger contrast to Monza than Singapore, so the teams will have a significant reset as we head into the final long-haul leg of the season. The unique challenges of Singapore are quite well known to them though, so they will have a good idea what to expect as they dial themselves into the track on Friday.
We’ve seen in the past that there is scope to vary the strategy, and with overtaking quite tricky at Marina Bay, teams will be carefully assessing the ways in which they could potentially take advantage of strategy to move up the order. Especially considering the very high likelihood of safety cars there, which can change the complexion of a race. It is going to be interesting to see if anyone tries to qualify on the medium rather than the soft, to add flexibility to the strategy, given all the variables. There are some quite different tyre choices among the drivers, so we might see some alternative approaches.
Mario Isola – Pirelli Head of F1 & Car Racing
The Weather
The weekend weather forecast for Singapore has remained fairly stable for the last few days that I’ve been tracking it. Temperatures will be in the high 20s to low 30s in all sessions, with the highest rain probability (a 23% chance of showers) occurring mid-morning on Friday, well before track action takes place.
The Schedule
The conditions the drivers are racing in are so difficult despite the Grand Prix starting at 8:10pm local time and running until after 10pm. While it might seem strange to be racing at such an hour, that translates to a pretty standard 2:10pm for us here, so the whole F1 paddock remains on European time for the entire weekend.
That means going to bed at around 5am and getting up in the early afternoon, so blackout curtains are essential for a full night’s sleep. Breakfast is served around 3 or 4pm at the track, while lunchtime is more like 8pm – and you’re thinking about dinner in the early hours.
The schedule does mean FP1 and FP3 take place before sunset, and therefore limit the amount of representative data the teams can gain from practice – which often leads to entertaining and unpredictable races.
That’s All Folks!
Not much more to add to this week’s Preview. I’ll leave you with a look at F1.com’s selection of so-called “Shocking Moments” from past Singapore Grands Prix. See if you can spot the glaring shocking moment from the inaugural 2008 race that’s been left off this list *:
* Another Further Reading Assignment for you, if you don’t know the answer.
2019 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Preview
5 Likes
I can think of great comeback stories, hell I can think of comeback stories. His return was more of a miracle and surprise than anything else.
1 Like
Can’t follow Practice today sadly, so thanks for posting the FP1 timesheet @Wyvern 
Here’s the highlights video:
And the summary report:
1 Like
FP2 Timesheet:
Hamilton on top, but it’s a close one again to P2. Seb and the rest well off the pace. Good lap count for all 20 cars for a change.
The session report:
And eventually the session’s highlights package:
2 Likes
FP3 Timesheet:
That P1 lap by Charlie Leclerc was millimetre perfect. And a little surprising considering that Ferrari weren’t expected to really compete for anything other than maybe a P3 this weekend. Maybe the wing and floor changes they’ve brought with them are making the difference? But then Seb’s times in comparison are not quite up to challenging his teammate. Certainly not enough evidence to indicate that Ferrari will equal the Mercs though - Lewis had a bit of scrappy session, and I’m sure that if when he hooks things up in Quali it’ll be business as usual again.
And the F1 Report for the session:
And the Highlights video:
1 Like
A semi-positive update on Juan Manuel Correa’s condition:
Formula 2 driver Juan Manuel Correa has been taken out his induced coma following the crash at Spa-Francorchamps that claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert. However, doctors have cautioned that Correa is still in ‘a race against time’ with regards to his leg injuries.
1 Like
Le Clerc jou doring! Jassie this kid is the real deal.
2 Likes
Wow! What a cracking pole lap from Leclerc! “Jou doring!” indeed 
And what a great Qualifying show from Ferrari - if anyone’s been sandbagging this weekend, it’s the Red Brigade, with Vettel setting down the early marker on the first runs in Q3 that had him a full second clear of the Mercs and Max.
But his second run was full of small errors, and he ultimately landed up abandoning it to watch from the pits as his young upstart teammate snatched pole from him in the final seconds of the session. And then he had added salt rubbed in by Lewis Hamilton who pushed Vettel back to the 2nd row with his final lap, just 3 hundredths faster than the German.
Can Charles convert his three in row poles to a three in a row wins tomorrow? With 8 of the 11 Singapore Grands Prix being won by the Polesitter, it’s definitely the best place to be in for him.
Excellent to see both the Renaults and both the McLaren’s fill out the Top 10 too.
Qualifying Report from F1:
And the Quali Highlights:
1 Like
So D-Ric penalized because his MGU-K pushed 1kw over the rating for 1ms on his slowest qualifying lap…
3 Likes
Yeah, that’s a bit harsh. And by “harsh” I mean fekkin stupid.
1 Like
Surely that should disqualify that lap, not the whole session?!?!
2 Likes
But the rules, the rules say disregard the entire session.
1 Like
I’m typing this for posterity: your top three on lap 27 are Giovinazzi, Gasly, and Ricciardo.
2 Likes
Also, not one, not two, but three safety cars thus far.
2 Likes
Ferrari 1-2, Mercedes not on the podium. Today was a good day!
Pity that Le Clerc got nailed via strategy by his own team. But glad for Vettel finally getting a win.
It’s too late for this season. But hope they can keep some of this for next year to give Merc some grief.
2 Likes
Not the first time this season either…
2 Likes
Well, there we have it. Vettel finally comes to the party and has a good drive. Seeing his emotions on the podium was great to see. You know this win meant a lot to him. And while he did benefit from the undercut strategy, he did have a great drive to get through traffic so well.
I feel for Charles. He really did deserve the win today, and Ferrari did him a dirty. But placing second is still great, and the first 1-2 for Ferrari should be a good result for the team.
If I’m not mistaken, this was the first podium of the year without a Merc. On a track where everyone expected them to dominate. Well, is there some twist to come in the latter half of the year? Hopefully. Merc was just not on top of their game today. Their strategy calls were Ferrari level bad. Why Hamilton didn’t come in earlier is beyond me.
Norris did well to hang on to his 7th position. He was never going to seriously threaten the top 6 cars, but it looked like he comfortably held his place. I am so sad what happened to Sainz. That first lap incident ruined his race, but he did managed to do well and come back to 12th.
Overall was a good race. Not as great as the previous few we’ve had, but still better than the start of the year. Who knew that after the start we had this year, the races after France would be this entertaining and open.
3 Likes