2008 Singapore Grand Prix Race Report

by effwun - FOAS # 65

Fernando Alonso took an unexpected but well deserved victory in Singapore - the first night race in Formula 1 history - ahead of Nico Rosberg, who scored his best finish to date, and title challenger Lewis Hamilton. It was a disastrous race for Ferrari though - a bungled pit stop for Felipe Massa saw the Brazilian drop out of contention, and he would finish 13th; Kimi Raikkonen would crash out of the race with just 4 laps to go.

Coming in to the race weekend, there was really only one thing on people's minds - the fact that the Singapore Grand Prix would be run at night under floodlights. It was going to be ground breaking and history making no matter what the outcome of the race, but of course there were concerns about the practicalities of running such high performance vehicles at night. Moreover, there were concerns about the track - it was narrow and bumpy in places, and there was little run-off area in other places. Before the race weekend even began, modifications were made to the turn ten chicane, where large "tortoises" of concrete lined the central kerbing. There were removed at the behest of the drivers due to the perceived severe penalty for missing the apex of the corner.

After all the anticipation, the cars hit the track for P1. It was a spectacular sight, just as the organisers and Bernie Ecclestone had hoped. The cars certainly looked distinct and different under the lights, with the Ferraris appearing a more blood-red colour than normal, whilst the BMWs looked quite eyecatching under the lights too. It was quite a novelty to be able to see the blue flashes from the exhaust as the cars downshifted, and the sparks from the underside of the cars as they grounded over the bumps was a reminder of street racing of old, such as at Phoenix.

It may have been novel, but the order at the top of the timesheets was nothing new - Hamilton fastest, with Felipe Massa just 8 hundredths slower, followed by Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen, then Heikki Kovalainen. The rest of the top eight was rounded out by Kubica, Rosberg, Alonso, and Heidfeld. It quickly became apparent that the drivers were in for a long race on Sunday. With lap times in the mid 1:45s range, the race looked set to be at least an hour and three quarters long.

The first casualty of the new circuit was Mark Webber. The Australian managed only four laps in P1 before shunting into the concrete wall, damaging his car. Ordinarily this would not have caused too much consternation, but the unique schedulein Singapore meant that there was only an hour between the end of P1 and the start of P2. Thus the Red Bull mechanics had to work frantically to repair the car in time for P2. They managed this feat, but with only 30 minutes of the P2 session reminaing.

The man who topped the time sheet in P2 was Fernando Alonso. The performance of the Renault cars has been well publicised this year and although Alonso has been quick in other practice session throughout the year, it was nonetheless somewhat of a surprise. Also surprising was the fact that the track didn't seem to be be rubbering in during the practices sessions, and the times in P2 were actually slower than in P1.

So, Alonso topped the timesheet, edging Lewis Hamilton by a tenth of a second, followed by Massa, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Kubica, Raikkonen, and Button.

Saturday practice saw Fernando Alonso top of the timesheet again, and again from Hamilton although this time by a large margin - 6 tenths. Felipe Masa was third quickest, ahead of Piquet, Rosberg, Button, Kubica, and Webber; Kovalainen was 13th and Raikkonen was 17th. It was looking like Alonso's pace was genuine, and that he would be in contention for at least a podium come Sunday. Nico Rosberg was also looking strong, but most of the attention was still on the two main title rivals - Hamilton and Massa.

Saturday Practice also claimed a scalp in the form of Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian launched his Force India car over the turn 10 chicane and bounced his car into the wall, causing heavy damage. The mechanics raced to get the car prepared for Q1, which they just managed with around 5 minutes of the session to go, but to no avail - Fisichella suffered a puncture and wound up in the wall again.

Things weren't much better for his team mate, Adrian Sutil - he was woefully off the pace and failed to progress through to Q2 along with Piquet, Bourdais (of whom greater things had been expected) and Barrichello.

Q2 saw a shock retirement for Fernando Alonso - his car coasted to a halt before he could set a hot lap time. The problem would turn out to be a failure in the fuel system, but it was disaster for the Renault man, who had such high hopes for the weekend. His head-grabbing exasperation as he climbed from his stricken car said it all. With no time set, he would start in 15th place, behind the other Q2 eliminees Trulli, Button, Webber, and Coulthard.

So it all came down to Q3 as usual, and in the end it was a stright shoot-out between Hamilton and Massa. It was no contest - Felipe Massa stormed to pole by over sixth tenths, putting in what he described as the perfect lap. Kimi Raikkonen would line up third on the grid, ahead of Kubica, who rued his scruffy qualifying laps, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Vettel, Glock, and Rosberg. However, Nick Heidfeld would incur a three place grid penalty for blocking Rubens Barrichello as he came in to the pits in Q1 - it was a very hars call given that Nick had no option given that the pit entry and the fast line for the final corner overlap.

So, the cars lined up on the grid, and for the first time in history would take the start under the lights. The moment of anticipation finally came, and the cars launched off the line and towards the first corner. Felipe Massa got a great start and led into the first corner ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. Behind them, Robert Kubica got into the side of Heikki Kovalainen, forcing the Finn off-line. He would subsequently drop another two places to Glock and Vettel. Further back, and a couple of people skipped across the first chicane, but with no real dramas.

Fernando Alonso had a blinding opeing lap, and overtook Coulthard, Webber, and Button to climb to 12th place by the end of the opening lap. it was a blinding opening lap by Felipe Massa as well - pulling out a gap of over a second on Hamilton by the start/finish line. Hamilton responded briefly on lap 2, but thereafter Massa pulled away at the rate of around half a second per lap. Meanwhile, Jarno Trulli - who had managed to get by Nakajima and Rosberg at the start - was causing a major traffic jam in ninth position. It looked as though he was on a very heavy fuel load compared to the runners behind him. Nico Rosberg made several attempts to pass the Italian before finally succeeding on lap 7 with a bold move into turn 7. Turn 7 would turn out to be one of the best overtaking places on the circuit - although bumpy on entry, it is a tight left-hander following a reasonably quick straight.

Two laps later, and Fernando Alonso zipped by Trulli also, working his way up to 9th place. As soon as he had cleared Trulli, he started lapping 2 seconds per lap faster, and within tenths of the leaders' pace. It was Kimi Raikkonen who was the fastest man on track though, setting fastest lap of the race on lap 14. Such was Alonso's pace, that it appeared inevitable that he would pit early, and indeed he did - on lap 13, which was consistent with a three-stop strategy. However, it was quite a long stop, and it looked as though the Renault team might have switched Alonso to a 2-stop strategy. Plus, he had switched from the option tyre to the prime tyre, which was considered the more favourable of the two tyre choices. However, it looked grim for the Spaniard - he rejoined in last place, although he would obviously leap up the field as the people ahead of him took their pit stops.

Then came a lucky break, at least from Alonso's point of view - Renault team mate Nelsinho Piquet spun at the exit of turn 17, and crashed backwards into the inside wall, heavily damaging the car. The Safety Car was deployed, but before it could be, both of the Red Bull drivers opportunistically dived for the pits and took their first pit stops effectively without the penalty of the safety car bunching the field up.

So the Safety Car brought the field under control. Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica trundled into the pits when they were closed - presumably they were in danger of running out of fuel. They would ultimately both incur stop-and-go penalties. Elsewhere, Rubens Barrichello's Honda ground to a halt out on track.

On lap 17 the pits opened, and cars flooded in - Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel, Glock, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Nakajima. Importantly, Trulli, Webber, Coulthard, Alonso, and Rosberg and Kubica (by virtue of their earlier stops) stayed out.

Suddenly, Massa's race was turned on its head. There was a complete miscue in the Ferrari pits, and Massa was given the signal to leave before the fuelling was anywhere near complete. He shot out of his pit stall with the fuel hose still attached to his car, breaking the hose and dragging it with him. To make matters worse, he nearly collided with Adrian Sutil as he left his pit stall. Mass came to a stop at the end of the pit lane, and waited for his mechanics to run down and free the hose from his car. It was an agonisingly long wait, and the Ferrari mechanics struggled to free the hose. Eventually they did, but Massa hobbled out of the pits and rejoined the race in last place.

Because of the chaos in the Ferrari pits, Kimi Raikkonen lost time and track position too (he was stacked behind Massa).

After the chaos had died down, the race was resumed, and it was Nico Rosberg who assumed the lead. Knowing that he was due for a penalty, the young German stormed off into the distance, lapping over a second faster than second placed Trulli, and over two seconds faster than third placed Fisichella, who was effective acting as a blocker to the rest of the field. Things went from bad to worse for Massa - he was given a drive-through penalty for the "unsafe release" into the pit lane in front of Adrian Sutil. His chances in the race were now effectively zero.

Five laps after the race resumed, the stewards announced the penalties for Kubica and Rosberg. Whilst the BMW team pulled in Kubica for his stop relatively quickly (because he was mired in the slow mid-pack), the Williams team kept Rosberg out for the allowable three laps. In doing so, Rosberg was able to build enough of a lead that when he served his stop-go, he rejoined the race in third place. This handed the lead to Jarno Trulli, who had yet to pit, although he would pit just four laps later - his only pit stop of the day.

Once Trulli pitted, the lead cycled through to... Fernando Alonso. His early stop and the switch to the two stop strategy, and the switch onto the prime tyres as well, coupled with the safety car period, had paid off. It could be argued that it was more luck than judgement, but the Renault team made their own luck. Moreover, Alonso took the race by the scruff of the neck, lapping faster than anyone else on track and setting fastest sector times in the process. After Nico Rosberg took his final stop, Fernando Alonso's lead was unassailable - he was able to pit from the lead and rejoin the race still in the lead.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton, who had been bottled up behind Coulthard in 4th place, made a dive down the inside into turn 7 to take the place away. He, along with Coulthard, would pit on the same lap and Coulthard nearly suffered the same fate as Massa and almost left whilst the fuel was still being added.

Just when it seemed as though the race couldn't get any worse for Felipe Massa, it did. Momentarily unsighted by Trulli's slowing Toyota (he would retire moments later), Massa spun at turn 18 and clipped the Tecpro barrier. Massa would recover and continue, but in doing so he got in the way of Adrian Sutil (again!). Sutil had to take avoiding action, and stuffed his car into the barrier. This precipitated the second safety car period of the evening, closing up the pack and wiping out the lead tha Alonso had built up.

But there was nothing to worry about for Alonso. At the restart he got a huge jump on second placed Rosberg and was a second ahead of Rosberg across the line. Alonso, in fact, built a comfortable lead and would remain unchallenged to the end. The excitement, though, was anticipated to be the race for second place between Hamilton and Rosberg. In the end, the challenge from Hamilton never came, and he looked like he settled for third place and 6 world championship points.

The action was not over though. With just four laps of the race left, Kimi Raikkonen made a mistake at turn 10, skipped across the kerbs and stuffed his car into the wall. It was an inglorious end to a miserable race for Ferrari, and the fourth race in a row that Raikkonen has failed to score points (two of which were the result of crashes).

But it was a glorious race for Alonso. After having spent most of the year in the wilderness with occasional flashes of pace, he and the Renault team put everything together (with a dash of luck as well) and scored a superb and unexpected victory. If he looked somewhat nonplussed on the podium, it was probably because he was exhausted - the relatively high heat and bumpy and physical nature of the circuit clearly looked as though they had taken their toll.

All in all, the Singapore Grand Prix lived up to the hype - it was fun and exciting, and the unexpected result was a nice counterpoint to the championship battle. With Hamilton now 7 points clear at the top of the table, Massa and Ferrari have a lot of work to do if they are going to take the fight to McLaren and Hamilton.

- effwun

Final Classification
Pos. Driver Time Pos. Driver Time
1 Alonso 1:57:16.304 11 Kubica +27.9
2 Rosberg +2.9 12 Bourdais +29.4
3 Hamilton +5.9 13 Massa +35.1
4 Glock +8.1 14 Fisichella +43.5
5 Vettel +10.2 15 Raikkonen Lap 58
6 Heidfeld +11.1 16 Trulli Lap 51
7 Coulthard +16.3 17 Sutil Lap 50
8 Nakajima +18.4 18 Webber Lap 30
9 Button +19.8 19 Barrichello Lap 15
10 Kovalainen +26.9 20 Piquet Lap 14

Fastest lap - Kimi Raikkonen: 1:45.599 (lap 14)

 

The Alternative Podium Ceremony

1st - The John Watson Award for most places gained in the race: Fernando Alonso (15th - 1st, 14 places).

2nd - The Olivier Grouillard Award for best roadblock: Felipe Massa (got in the way of Sutil not once but twice).

3rd - The Philippe Alliot Award for most pointless crash: Kimi Raikkonen (for the second time in three races).

Constructors - The David Coulthard Award for outstanding achievement in the field of complaining: Fernando Alonso (yes he won the race, bu he was rather pessimistic after his qualifying disappointment, and claimed that the race was lost and that you couldn't overtake... what a difference a day makes huh?)