28/09/2008
NEWS STORY
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Well, what a humdinger of a race that was! Formula One's first visit to Singapore certainly provided action, some of it unwanted of course, but that's Formula One racing. Hopefully the huge crowds in the stands were able to understand what was going on. Neil Crompton, my fellow commentator, and I did our best and I think we mainly made the right calls without too many blunders, but the penalties, safety car periods etc didn't make for the simplest of races.
It was, of course, a black day for Ferrari (Stefano Domenicali's words). Not only did their pit stop go so wrong that desperately penalised Massa, but Raikkonen was penalised as well because of the double stop. He actually made a fine climb back up the field, but after Massa had a spin, Kimi put it in the barriers with three laps to go, which is pretty desperate.
Of course, pit stops during safety car periods are frantic. Half the field came in on that same lap, but not only was Massa's release dangerous with regard to fellow competitors, but he still had the fuel rig attached, so it was a double error. After the problems in Valencia, this has thrown further doubts on Ferrari's performance, and new team principal Domenicali has perhaps got to do a certain amount of whip-cracking, although his approach is generally diplomatic. He now says the team has to finish one-two in the remaining races; now that is a tough order, only enforceable with the aforementioned whip-cracking.
Personally, I thought that Fernando Alonso had the possibility to put in a good performance here. He was quick in practice, suffered the massive disappointment of being unable to set a decent lap in second qualifying, but could go for an aggressive strategy in the race. He and second placed Nico Rosberg were the only two drivers to start on Bridgestone's super soft tyres, although for differing reasons with the same result.
While Alonso was praying for rain, of course no one could predict that there would be one or two safety car interludes. As it was, the safety car worked for Fernando, and partially for Nico, although it worked against him again when he had to pit for fuel, at the same time shedding his unfavourable super soft Bridgestones. Hopefully Singapore spectators will log onto to Pitpass if they have any doubts about what went on!
After qualifying on Saturday I accompanied some photographer mates to their nightly refreshment centre at Orchard Plaza. This comes at the low end of sophistication, and or course, at the high end of taste as in palate. We did manage to find some chairs with backs to them rather than stools but the food was delicious and the only expensive items were the beers - something that most people have found elsewhere. This spot isn't quite a hawker's stall, but not far up the gourmet ladder.
We stayed there until they closed at five in the morning, which was a couple of beers-worth. A diversion was provided by a stunning blonde who walked through the restaurant and sat down for a brief meal. She was completely unaccompanied, and obviously felt totally safe. Such is Singapore.
The snappers were staying around the corner in a fairly central but cheap hotel. Like many of the teams, they were concerned about staying up late and trying to remain on European time. Unlike the teams, however, their efforts were aided by an unexpected stroke of good luck. While the teams have had floors entirely devoted to European time, and rooms sealed off to prevent daylight making inroads, the snappers turned up to be told that their luxury room only had a double bed, and if they wanted twin beds, they would have to have a standard room. Dreading what else the standard room might comprise, they asked the question and were told 'no windows.' Sorted!
A fellow blogger hatched a plot which would have caused a pitlane riot - but then he thought better of it. How do you do that? Well, in this instance, you just had to suggest that Team X was paying overtime to their mechanics for working past midnight, perhaps double-time after 2am… Every other team's mechanics would have stormed up to their team manager to ask why they weren't being paid the same. Cue instant revolution. My friend desisted, however.
One welcome visitor to Singapore was Leo Sayer, who of course, did sing about Orchard Road which is one of the main roads here in Singapore. Indeed, it is the location of the 'four floors of whores' but we won't go down that road. Little Leo lives in Australia these days, so had 'hopped up' from there for the race, being an avid race-goer for many years. Adam Faith was his manager for a while - possibly in conjunction with Faith's mate B Ecclestone.
So was this Orchard Road the Orchard Road in Sayer's song? We were looking for Leo to find out, but let me tell you that the majority of pit lane pop gurus have no idea, nor, I'm afraid, do they have much interest!
So we leave Singapore - sometime - and head for the final three races. No rain here but why not elsewhere? Ferrari have a lot to do, McLaren have the upper hand at the moment, but it all gets tighter and tighter as we move closer and closer to the end of the championship. It's all about consistency and has been from a long way back. The best man, of course, will win…
Bob Constanduros