100% agree with this. Would not want to lose Kimi either. F1 still needs some of the Old Gen to show the Young Guns.
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And an illustrated version which highlights the extreme confusion of this silly season:
(Ripped from r/formula1) Loving the Alonso move… 
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Welcome to Marina Bay and the 2018 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix!
Selamat datang ke Marina Bay dan Grand Prix Formula 1 Singapura 2018!
欢迎来到滨海湾和2018年一级方程式新加坡大奖赛！
மரினா பே மற்றும் 2018 ஃபார்முலா 1 சிங்கப்பூர் கிராண்ட் பிரிக்ஸ் ஆகியோருக்கு வரவேற்கிறோம்!
(English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are all official languages of the Republic of Singapore, so Mewbs get to see some Tamil script, and to paste it into Google Translate to see how accurate it is.)
It’s night racing time under the bright lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. Hopefully Verstappen will let the Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen make it to the first corner this year, and avoid driving into them again (no, I’m not biased at all!). It’s really important that especially Vettel has a good race in Singapore and is able to keep the First to Five championship race alive a little longer.
Here’s the weekend schedule, in SAST:
And a (new) look at how the Singapore streets are reconfigured into a Formula 1 circuit: (Seems F1.com has undergone some serious updates and visual changes in the last week or two.)
Then, I’m very pleased to welcome our resident track guide back for a tour around the circuit. Here’s @DieGrootHammer making like a future Kimi and taking the Sauber around the Marina Bay Circuit for us:
Pirelli tread their way around the track to produce their standard tyre infographic:
Local weekend weather here in SA looks just about perfect for a Triple-B Sunday afternoon (Boerewors Braai & Beer). 8,500km away, it’s going to be hot and humid in Singapore, with a high chance of rain. In fact, there’s rain forecast the entire race weekend, but most of it seems to be morning thunderstorms, so may not impact the race itself. Here’s the outlook at the moment:
While you’re waiting for the coals to reach optimum wors braaing temperature, some Singapore GP stats to ponder:
- 2017 Pole: Sebastian Vettel , Ferrari - 1:39.491
- 2017 Winner: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Race Lap Record: Hamilton, Mercedes 2017 - 1:45.008
- Sunday’s race is the 11th in Singapore, the first night-time grand prix upon its introduction in 2008.
- Only four drivers have won at the circuit — Fernando Alonso (2008, 2010), Vettel (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015), Hamilton (2009, 2014, 2017), Nico Rosberg (2016).
- Red Bull and Mercedes have won the race three times, Ferrari twice.
- Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo has twice finished second and twice set the fastest lap. He is going for a fifth successive Singapore podium.
- Vettel has been on pole four times in Singapore, more than anyone else, but only in odd years.
- Hamilton has three poles.
- The race has been won from pole position on seven occasions.
- The lowest winning grid position was Alonso, who came from 15th in a now-notorious 2008 race where Brazilian team mate Nelson Piquet crashed his Renault deliberately on team orders.
- There has been at least one safety car intervention in every race in Singapore so far. Last year’s had three.
- The race is the longest on the calendar in terms of time taken to complete and runs close to the two-hour limit.
- The winner in Singapore has been champion at the end of the season in six of the last seven years.
- Vettel has been on the Singapore podium six times to Hamilton’s five.
And to round off your race prep, F1 have once again given fans access to the official race programme in digital format. Enjoy all 148 high resolution, full-colour pages at your leisure right here:
Direct link: https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/a56aae6f#/a56aae6f/1
And the official circuit tour with Carlos Sainz that has just been uploaded to the F1 channel:
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The F1 social media team are getting much better at understanding their market… their pinned comment on the video highlights from today’s driver press conference:
And the video itself:
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XD OMG Kimmi is best!
Doesn’t care about anything. Just here for the racing.
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Yeah, he pretty much made a point of it when “retired” in 2009. He’s back in F1 because he wants to race and have fun.
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2021 F1 concept car image leaked.
Lewlew thinks it’s “dope AF”. Probably the first time I’ve ever agreed with him
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I’m all for simpler cars. Also sick of these stupid thumb noses. They also need to slim down and become more nimble again. Over 700kg dry weight is just ridiculous.
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More 2021 concepts have been unveiled. Some pretty radical ideas in there.
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Important win for Hamilton that. You can sense Vettel’s chances slipping fast.
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Ferrari, my hart se punt. Feels a bit like being a Springbok supporter. You know they can but those few mistakes here and there just harm their own chances.
This was the first year that I legitimately believed they could win. But I don’t feel that way anymore.
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I must say Singapore shows us how boring F1 really is getting. It cuts me to say it as F1 is my sport, but just watching cars go around in a circle with the odd daring overtake was a bit boring.
If Danny Ric cant overtake, who could.
My driver of the day is Perez, he at least took two guys out and added two items for the highlights reel which was lacking a bit.
Dam FIA gave him a penalty though.
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I dont know why they insist on tracks like this. It was a boring race, I was getting really irritated by everyone moaning about the lack of blue flags - when they were nowhere close enough to pass, but they cant get closer because the aero is such a mess
Ferrari needs to do something drastic. Seb cannot drive and thing strategically. And they made a mess with the tires again.
Sirokin . . . . i was actually hoping that he would cause an accident, just for a safety car that Vettel could get fresh tires. At least it looked like he was managing the tires nicely at the end and kept that third place.
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