For the second time the F1 cars raced with a background of the night sky and on a track saturated with super bright night-sun lights. That can only mean one thing; They’re back in Singapore! Before the race many were wondering if Alonso could repeat his ill-gotten win from last year or if instead the Brawn GP cars would continue their domination. However it seemed that almost all the drivers on the grid had trouble finding grip in Singapore’s tight, low speed corners. There were more than a few crashes during practice and qualifying. In fact both Brawn GP cars had a date with the wall at one point or another over the weekend.
Though, there was one driver who seemed to find harmony with the tight turns and high speed straights of Singapore, and that was Lewis Hamilton. He qualified on the pole on Saturday and that was all he needed. He lead the race practically from start to finish never getting a proper challenge from Brawn GP or Red Bull F1. He finished a full 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Timo Glock and third place Fernando Alonso. Check out the video below for the post-race wrap up.
The previous weekend was one of ups and downs for Formula 1. Things started off very badly on Saturday when Felipe Massa was knocked unconscious in what some could only describe as a “bizarre” accident. Felipe was rushed to a local hospital and put into a medically induced coma from which he has since awoken and is responsive. However some are reporting that due to sever damage to nerves in his left eye his racing career may be over. Hopefully that won’t be the case. Although if Felipe is unable recover before the next race (Valencia GP) Bernie Ecclestone is hoping that Ferrari may ask Fernando Alonso to take over driving duties. How is this possible? Well the entire Renault team (except drivers) are banned from the next race due to a saftey infraction.
So now for some good news. It looks like Lewis Hamilton is back to old form as he had a dominant performance all weekend and eventually charged his way to his first win of the 2009 season while the current leader Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team suffered a sudden and harsh downturn in performance, only able to muster a 7th place finish for the weekend. Has Brawn GP hit their limit? Can McLaren and Lewis Hamilton turn the season around and become a contender again? Stay tuned! Same F1 time, same F1 channel! I’m so cheesy sometimes…anyway.. Check out the video below for the SPEED discussion on the results.
You thought with the Long Beach Grand Prix in our back yard we’d forget about Formula One?! Not bloody likely! Anyway lets get on with it. In the first race of the season that a Brawn GP car doesn’t take the pole is also the first race that Red Bull Racing gets its first pole position ever thanks to Sebastien Vettel. While announcers and on lookers were surprized that Lewis Hamiton finally made it to the Q3 session Vettel was busy masterminding his blazing lap. Once he got out of the pit he didn’t put a wheel wrong and just when it looked like Mark Webber was going to win the pole position Vettel swoops in and snatches it away from his teammate and then Fernando Alonso swoops in and takes second position away from Webber but the Austrialian still hung onto third.
Stay tuned to SPEED this weekend to watch the Shanghai GP.
Qualifying Results
1 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) 1:36.184
2 Fernando Alonso (Renault) +0.197
3 Mark Webber (Red Bull Renault) +0.282
4 Rubens Barrichello (Brawn Mercedes) +0.309
5 Jenson Button (Brawn Mercedes) +0.348
6 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +0.651
7 Nico Rosberg (Williams Toyota) +1.213
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +1.905
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren Mercedes) +2.411
10 Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso Ferrari) +3.137
11 Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
12 Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren Mercedes)
13 Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
14 Timo Glock (Toyota)
15 Kazuki Nakajima (Williams Toyota)
16 Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso Ferrari)
17 Nelson Piquet (Renault)
18 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
19 Adrian Sutil (Force India Mercedes)
20 Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India Mercedes)
Well I guess this means Alonso’s win in Singapore wasn’t just a fluke. The Japanese Grand Prix was more of a boxing match with cars between Ferrari and McLaren. While the silver and red were slap-fighting the Spanard shoved them both out of the way and took his spot on the top of the podium.
As the race started Lewis Hamilton decided to bum-rush his way through the two Ferraris while his teammate Hekki followed suit and ran both reds off the track. Later on Felipe Massa returned the favor by nosing in on Hamilton in a corner which spun the brit out. Later on Massa took out some extra aggression on Bourdais who was just minding his business but since we know how the FIA goes it was Bourdais who got the penalty instead of Massa (what a surprize right?).
In all this hub-bub (yes I said it!) Fernando and the Renault squad fought their way to the front with Robert Kubica giving chase and that was all she wrote. Those two remained ahead of the carnage and in the end Alonso crossed the line first with Mr. Kubica right behind him. Kubica’s second place finish keeps him mathamatically alive for the title being only 11 points behind Hamilton.
Formula 1 is fun…
Check out what Varsha and the guys had to say about the whole thing:
Well who saw this one coming? In all of this year’s hype about Lewis, Kimi, and Felipe some may have forgotten that Fernando Alonso is in fact a two time world champion. He gave us all quite the reminder over the weekend by taking the checkered flag in the first ever Formula 1 night race in Singapore.
The race started with Felipe Massa on pole and with Singapore being a narrow street circut many thought it would be his race to lose. Ironically that is exactly what happend. After keeping a firm grip on the race lead, Felipe came in for a pit stop. During the stop there was a malfunction with their lighting mechanism. Basically Felipe was told to go much to early and ended up taking the fuel hose and the fuel man with him.
Needless to say this put Ferrari’s current #1 driver towards the back of the field, 15th to be exact. With those pesky red cars out of the way and Lewis Hamilton playing it safe, Fernando saw his opportunity and went for it. With the help of fuel strategy and a stroke of luck created by the safety car, Alonso brought it home for the win.
Check out what the SPEED guys had to say about everything:
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