Fernando Alonso is a Winner Again at Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore was a highly anticipated event, and everyone was looking forward to seeing how F1 racing would look at night time, and seeing how big the challenge of the track would be.

People were expecting Valencia to be a great track, but it ended up being rather disappointing. The track lacked character, it was too forgiving to driver errors, and overall it was just bland and didn’t produce a great race.

So the pressure was on Singapore to prove it wouldn’t end up going down the same route as Valencia.

Was Singapore a success?

Overall, I thought Singapore’s first weekend was a great success. It beat my expectations by a big margin.

Unlike Valencia, this was a proper street circuit. There were bumps all over the track. The barriers were dangerously close to the track in places, plus there were lots of slow 90-degree corners. These are all the characteristics you expect to find at a street track.

It was great to see drivers being punished for small errors and seeing the amount of work they had to put in over the whole lap. Just like at Monaco, the lap is very busy and there isn’t one moment where the drivers can have a rest.

Add in the heat and the increased length of this race, and the drivers had a huge physical challenge on their hands. At most street tracks, overtaking is very tough, and this was expected to be the same at Singapore.

Instead, we saw a lot of moves going into turn 7 and into turn 1, which was another bonus.

The night racing added to the spectacle, although it didn’t really change the race other than the drivers wearing different visors and having to change their eating and sleeping patterns.

For us at home, the night setting made the cars look shiny and spectacular, and for the first time in a while, we saw sparks coming off the cars. It was almost like a fireworks display.

The other thing to note spectacle wise was being able to see the drivers' faces through the clear visor. You could see the amount of sheer concentration in their eyes.

Many of the recent new tracks have had a lot of money spent on them by the country’s governments, but they haven’t captured the imagination of the fans.

Here in Singapore, the race sold out a long time before the race and you could see the grandstands were full to bursting.

The people of Singapore have really taken to this event, and they will become more knowledgeable F1 fans as time continues and the atmosphere will continue to improve.

For Singapore as a country, they have piled a lot of money and effort into this event. I think in the long run, it will really pay off for them. The uniqueness of the night race and the track cleverly positioned to show off the tourist attractions, will have made the headlines everywhere.

Singapore won’t have been a country people knew much about before the race, but now it has been exposed to millions worldwide.

I think in time more tourists will visit Singapore and we will see a bigger mix of nationalities attending the race. Hosting this race could end up being a very shrewd move by the government and make the work and effort worthwhile.

The only small negatives were the pit lane entrance, which was badly positioned as it was on the racing lane. We saw Heidfeld entering the pit lane legally and in the process inadvertently blocking Barrichello, who was on a hot lap in qualifying.

Heidfeld was very wrongly punished. The pit lane entrance needs a re-design for next season along with the pit lane exit, which joins the racing line. To have this is as the only main fault on the circuit’s first attempt is extremely impressive.

Main stories from the race

This was a dramatic GP and in the title race, it could end up being a real turning point. There were a lot of stories that occurred during this race. Lets look at the main ones.

Ferrari have a Singapore “night” mare

This is a mega opportunity missed for Ferrari. They will go away from this event feeling really low after a 1-2 finish was there for the taking.

Ferrari were comfortably quicker than McLaren. In the race Ferrari were around 0.5 seconds quicker per lap. The track was still very warm despite it being night time so Ferrari were able to look after its tyres better than McLaren.

Also, Ferrari seemed to have found the sweet spot for the race and the Ferrari was much easier to drive than the McLaren. Therefore, Ferrari’s laptimes were far more consistent than McLaren's.

Hamilton was a little bit ragged at times, especially during qualifying. Massa got a better handle on this circuit.

Massa’s qualifying lap was supreme, six-tenths is a big gap. Hamilton may have been a couple of laps heavier but that doesn’t equal six-tenths difference.

Massa was driving away from Hamilton easily in the first part of the race. Raikkonen was also much quicker than Hamilton and was gaining on him quickly.

Without the Safety Car's intervention, Raikkonen would have very likely jumped Hamilton at the first round of pit stops, and supported Massa for the rest of the race.

Over the race distance with no Safety Cars, I think Hamilton and McLaren would have been very soundly beaten. Pace wise, McLaren had no response to Ferrari.

However Piquet’s crash completely turned the race upside down, and this is where Ferrari’s race fell apart. As soon as the pit lane re-opened after the initial pit lane closure (which hampered Rosberg and Kubica) all the leaders came in.

Ferrari have recently been using a lights system as opposed to the lollipop man. This system already caused controversy in Valencia with two fumbled pit stops there.

The system is normally automated once everyone has finished their jobs, but here it was worked manually. Basically, one of the Ferrari pit crew gave the go-ahead too early and Massa left the pit lane with the hose still on.

Massa was given a green light too soon; he wasn’t at fault whatsoever. It was a simple human error, and one which could prove very costly.

Massa ended up at the back of the snake behind the Safety Car, and problems were confounded when he got a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release in the path of Adrian Sutil.

This is quite ironic, as Sutil was the man Massa was released in the path of in Valencia, where he got away with just a fine on that occasion. From then on, his head was down and he simply never recovered like he should have.

He had a very fast car so he had enough of a time advantage over his rivals in front of him to overtake them, and snatch himself a point or two.

Points scored in these disastrous situations can win championships. Massa simply didn’t deliver and was lucky not to retire when he scraped the wall on the entrance to the tunnel.

Raikkonen had another unusual race. He started slowly but then picked up the pace and looked a sure bet for second place. However the safety car queued him behind Massa in the pits, so he lost ground.

However, he did well to get back to fifth place and would have scored four vital points to keep Ferrari ahead in the constructors championship. But he pushed too hard and made a silly mistake at turn 10 and hit the wall. This ensured that Ferrari scored no points.

This weekend, Massa should have taken the lead of the championship; instead, he is now seven points behind. Ferrari should have extended their lead comfortably in the constructors championship, instead they are now one point behind McLaren.

They have to pick themselves up very quickly and ditch that lights system they currently use for their pit stops. If Ferrari lose both championships, they may well look back at this race.

Alonso returns to glory

After a frustrating season, this surprise victory came at a great time for Fernando Alonso. Admittedly, there was a lot of luck involved in this win. However, Alonso was in superb form throughout the weekend and maximized his opportunity.

Alonso had a great chance of starting at the front of grid, but a reliability gremlin in Q2 put him down in 15th on the grid. When Alonso got out of the car, you could see the sheer frustration. If someone had jokingly told him after that session, that he could win the race he would probably have thumped them.

However, a different strategy and perfect timing of the Safety Car played into Alonso’s hands. Alonso started on the soft tyres and on a light load with a potential three-stop race. Alonso made a few places at the start and then got stuck in the Trulli train but did eventually get past him.

When he stopped, he hadn’t made up as many places as he would have liked and lost a lot of ground behind Trulli. Renault decided to change tactics and they gave him nearly 30 laps worth of fuel.

When Piquet crashed and the Safety Car came out he was now suddenly in a great position, as all the drivers on a standard two-stopper came in leaving just the one-stoppers ahead of Alonso.

The one-stoppers gradually made their stops and Alonso took the lead of the race. Hamilton was being held up by Coulthard, which took out Alonso’s most likely rival for victory out of the equation.

Rosberg had to serve a 10-second stop/go, so that was another potential rival out of the way as well. Alonso drove superbly at this stage of the race and built up a big gap worth a full pit stop ahead of the Hamilton/Coulthard battle.

When the Safety Car came out for the second time, Alonso’s big lead evaporated and Hamilton in third place came back into play.

Alonso could have lost the race at this point but when the Safety Car came in he showed no signs of nerves, and shot off away into the distance again and won the race.

He was now on the harder tyres, which were the right tyre choice at this stage of the race. Starting the race on the unfavourable tyre proved to be a very gutsy choice.

Everything may have fallen Alonso’s way in this race but trying to do something different, is the key factor that won Alonso his race. Ironically it was his team mate Piquet crashing that made the gamble work. I am sure Renault didn’t tell Piquet to crash on purpose!

Nevertheless, this was a great drive by Alonso and reminded everyone why he is one of the best drivers in Formula 1. This victory will remind Alonso how much he enjoys F1 and possibly re-motivate him, and revive his career from this point onwards.

This victory is also the huge boast that Renault needed, after a tough time since winning the championship in 2006. Can this be the springboard to a more successful 2009?

Hamilton takes cautious approach

Up to the chaos after the safety car deployment, it looked like both Ferrari drivers would thrash Hamilton today. Ferrari were just simply quicker than McLaren.

So this race would have ended up being a case of damage limitation. Ron Dennis pretty much admitted this before the race started and would have been perfectly happy to finish behind Massa.

However the Safety Car and Ferrari’s big pit error played beautifully into Hamilton’s hands, and gave him a big opportunity. In the end Hamilton may have been a bit disappointed he didn’t make full use of the opportunity.

Hamilton lost a lot of time stuck behind David Coulthard and this allowed Rosberg and Alonso to get away. He did eventually pass Coulthard with a spectacular move and went up to third.

When the Safety Car came out at the end of the race there was perhaps a chance of a win. He thought about passing Rosberg but in the end thought better of it. Last season Hamilton may have opted to go for glory but he has learnt from his previous mistakes. Trying to overtake Alonso after their previous history may not have been very wise. With Massa scoring no points Hamilton had to ensure he scored good points rather than crashing and not punishing Ferrari for their errors.

Hamilton now has a seven-point lead in the championship over Massa. This means that Hamilton could finish second to Massa in the last three races and be champion. Considering that Hamilton could have left Singapore three points behind Massa then it’s starting to look quite good. The error in the pits by Ferrari has effectively made a 10-point swing in the Drivers Championship in Hamilton’s favour.

Let's remember that Hamilton lost the lead of the championship with a bigger lead this time last year. However he has learnt a lot since then and matured as a driver so he has a fighting chance to finish the job off.

Red Bull play a blinder and then lose it

Red Bull were really shrewd in that as soon as Piquet crashed, they reacted straight away and brought both their men in. They anticipated that the Safety Car would have to be deployed. Initially, after Piquet crashed they was a slight delay before the Safety Car was deployed. This meant there was time for the Red Bull drivers to pit before the Pit Lane was closed.

This allowed them to move up the order and they could have got a giant haul of points. Unfortunately, Mark Webber had a gear problem and was potentially on target for eight points. David Coulthard was running third but a botched pit stop, and then brake problems in the last part of the race meant he could only snatch two points for the team.

It could have been so much better and Red Bull and could have put themselves back into contention for fourth place in the Constructors.

Great drive by Rosberg but was he helped out by the Stewards?

Rosberg got a much-needed result in Singapore. Overall this has been a very disappointing season for him and Williams. During the season, Rosberg has fallen off the radar of other teams after such a great season in 2007.

Here though he qualified solidly in the top 10, and took the lead thanks to the Safety Car period. Unfortunately he had to pit whilst the pits were closed. This meant he would incur a 10-second stop/go penalty more or less straight away and have to sacrifice this lead.

However, the stewards took around 15-20 minutes to give him the penalty in which time he built up a huge gap over Fisichella in 3^rdplace who was holding a lot of drivers up. This allowed Rosberg to take his penalty and still come out in second ahead of Hamilton.

There is no doubt that Rosberg drove exceptionally well. Question marks hang over the amount of time it took the stewards to give a penalty for something that is so clear-cut.

There is no need to deliberate over whether Rosberg pitted whilst the pit lane was closed. Why was the penalty not given immediately?

Had the penalty been given straight away Rosberg’s race would have ended up being completely different. He would have been lucky to come away from the race with any points at all. On another note Hamilton would have finished 2^nd. Some cynics may say that the Stewards have done Hamilton once again and cost him 2 points.

Final Verdict

The first-ever Singapore GP produced a dramatic race. The track was a real unique challenge for the teams and drivers.

This is by far the best new addition to the F1 calendar we have had for quite some time, and goes straight into my top 5 current F1 tracks. Singapore could challenge Monaco for F1’s best street race although I think Monaco will always have the edge due to its rich history and heritage. Everyone will look forward to coming back to Singapore next season.

This race should have been a great win for Ferrari, giving them a hand on both trophies. However, one small human error has given Hamilton and McLaren the advantage going into the final three races. The Ferrari really worked around Singapore, the McLaren didn’t look as strong.

The next two races should suit McLaren, and in Fuji, a dry race is as rare as a wet race in other places. Ferrari have to try and simply stay in touch, or hope McLaren slip up, to have a chance of taking both titles in Brazil. It is still possible for Ferrari, but they have made it much harder for themselves.