VetteDrmr

Damp/wet track, Vettel on the pole, should have had a great clear run to turn 1.

Utterly threw it away with that bone-head move. Yeah, IF there was only Verstappen beside him he could have forced him way off line, but the start of the race, especially in the wet, with Hamilton four spots behind him, a little conservatism would have served him well.

Barring a Hamilton DNF it's gonna be a tough row to hoe for Vettel.

Good points for Haas!

Have a good one,
Mike

sunsalem

The 1st lap clusterfnck turned the race into the most boring of the year.
Complete waste of 2 hours...

Erik L

+1 after the first lap not much too get excited about.


I agree it seems like unless Ferrari can make a step forward its going to be very tough to beat the Mercs to the championship barring something really crazy from LH

VetteDrmr

I was surprised that the intermediates lasted long enough to go straight to slicks. And while the run up front was pretty dull, that race for 9th-11th wasn't!

Have a good one,
Mike

0HP RESEARCH

Completely agree. I was to disgusted to go back and re-watch the start. Kimi had a good run and I want to say he was ahead enough to have taken that spot....either way you typically don't win the race in turn one of the first lap but you can sure loose it there.

63Corvette

Complete disaster for Ferrari

George Washnak

I shut it off after the first lap, not much sense in watching to see who would finish 3rd. I'm terribly bored with Mercedes and the brat LH running away with the constructors championship yet again this year.

VetteDrmr

I know Hamilton is a polarizing figure, but you have to admit that his behavior this year has been a lot better than the past few. Also, he hasn't had the points lead until the previous race.

BrianCunningham

sunsalem

Passing at Singapore is very difficult.
I think that is what drove the guys to be very aggressive at the start.
Unfortunately, it didn't turn out well this time.
No one expected Kimi to get such an incredible start.
Oh well, that's racing.

How about Alonso rocketing up from the outside?
He could have been in 3rd or 2nd after the 1st corner.
Imagine if he would have finished on the podium!

I don't think he feels threatened by Bottas (unlike Nico).

VetteDrmr

I agree that he feels Bottas is comfortable as a #2. IMO the LH/NR feud goes *waaay* deeper than just feeling threatened. For whatever reason LH and VB are working well together.

That move Hamilton made to give Bottas his position back was smart, classy, politically positive (IOW, the right thing to do).

Ah, to have an F1 conversation again. Sure do miss Z!

Have a good one,
Mike

Nowanker

Ditto.
I do believe... without Vettel's squeeze play, Kimi would have held the lead.
Dock his pay for those crashed cars!

Likewise, miss Z.

0HP RESEARCH

Alonso has had the worst luck of any racer I have seen. The guy is very talented and has proved that...but the black cloud following him is larger than Europe..heck he could have won the Indy 500 this year without any seat time in those cars at all which is saying something....but it broke.

Great start here and the rain could have made up for the poor engine performance..but again bad luck hit him.

sunsalem

It did look like he would get the inside of Turn 1...if only he had got past Max.

IMO, there is no question he has no superiors in F1.
He has a gift for forcing drivers ahead of him to make mistakes.
He's the last guy you want on your tail around a race track.

Maybe next year's Renault engine will work out better for McLaren.

sunsalem

Is anyone interested in having a permanent F1 Chat Thread?
We could talk about anything and everything F1 in one thread.
I've been thinking of starting one for a long time.


What does everyone think?

VetteDrmr

A sticky F1 thread would be fantastic!

93Polo

Prior to this year 7 of 9 Singapore GPs were won from P1, Lewis had a gearbox failure in 1 of the 2 not won from P1. Massa had a premature pit release and penalty in the other.

The best chance to pass at Singapore is the start, so you can make the argument that you can win the race in turn 1 barring mechanical failure or an accident.

I view it as a racing accident P1 always defends to the inside going into turn 1. Kimi had an awesome start. Max defended Vettel's move to the inside by moving out only to open the door for Kimi who was shot out of a cannon. Max the angles for turn in and Kimi is there leaving all 3 in basically the same bit real estate.

sunsalem

I'll send a PM to the mods and ask if we can do this.

sunsalem

True.
I wish the Singapore promotors would do some tweaking to the layout of the track to allow more passing opportunities...

My take too.
I can't say anyone really made a mistake to the point of being THE cause of the accident.
It's just racing...

BaconWrappedSushi

Cool! Glad to see other F1 fans on here. I agree after the lap 1 shenanigans the race was...uneventful. Some good fighting by KMAG with Ocon and an impressive pass that was a joy to see.

Glad Grosjean pulled in points for Haas. As a fan of Vettel (love Kimi too, but don't like the Ferrari team), I'm gutted for him. He is probably all but done for on the WDC. I don't see LH losing in Malaysia barring some insane reliability problem, and I'm going to COTA again this year and told my friends who are newcomers that LH will probably dominate there too.

I just hope Bottas brings the heat so we get some good 1-2 action.