Grand Prix thread SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2022

61 laps of the 5.063-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit

30th September Practice 1 11:00 - 12:00
30th September Practice 2 14:00 - 15:00
1st October Practice 3 11:00 - 12:00
1st October Qualifying 14:00 - 15:00
2nd October Race 13:00 - 15:00

All times are UK times

Poll closes before Quali.

 

Max.. season over... Jinx in...

 

Who remembers the Ferrari sandwich a few years ago?

 

Poll has a big advantage here.

Mercs will be on the back foot imo. This is a bumpy street circuit where the ride height has to go up for merc and when they do..... they are toast IMO.

The red bull can ride higher and not have the same issues but there's not many long straights.

Ferrari should be strong but this is bumpy. They are know for porpoising as well but are far more stable then on the corners.



My script:

Ferrari Poll
Ferrari eats its own tyres and pits early
Red bull sails serenely by
Verstappen declared WDC in a shower of fireworks at the end.

 

Well, interesting FP1 time. Come on Lewis, please be this weekend...

 

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in general.

a) Red bull prob running both cars on same set up plan (whatever plan that was) as verstappen was 0.8 ahead of perez.
b) ferrari prob doing the same as sainz is well behind le clerc. (its not that unusual)
c) 1 second gap between hamilton and russell. may suggest two different plans as thats a massive gap.

we have not been here since 2019. Quality time then was 1:36.2s given say at hungary the times in 2019 were 1:14.5 and russel got 1:17.2 this year its fair to assume that 1:43.0 is not the final times and something more like 1:39.0????

FP2 here we go!

 

Verstappen on quali sim, 1:42.926 on the softs . not good enough

russell does improve and get his time up to 3rd.

hamilton looks to be doing a longer run of softs to see where they are at. not really any jump from him.

ferrari's 1 and 2.

FP2 looks like both ferraris following same plan, now closer
Mercs look like they are following different set up plans.
Red bull, perez still a second off verstappen. who knows.

Roll on FP3. anyone could top this. Not much evidence of bumps upsetting merc.

 

Anyone seen anything about Merc having new suspension? Their cars seem so much more compliant than they have previously. They had looked very stiffly sprung in previous races - I assume to combat bouncing. Maybe they have a new floor that's helping control the bouncing?

Anyone seen what 'new' parts Merc have this weekend? That said Toto was just being interviewed about the 2 teams who may have breached the cap - he said 1 had breached in a big way the other might just be procedurally. He went on to say they were having to use older parts as they didn't have the budget to create new ones!!!

Hopefully Merc have finally sorted out bouncing and compliance.

 

What is the penalty going to be for the one that has breached it in a big way? I can't believe Red Bull would do that since I can't see how you can breach and win both championships. Redbull are more likely to miss the last 4 races than breach, except I imagine that would be a contractual breach with F1.

 

My guess is Red Bull have found a 'grey' area in the financial rules that they have exploited. So they will argue that they have complied with the rules.

I very much doubt any significant punishments will be administered IF anyone has breached the cap. If FIA try any major penalties then any teams effected would surely mount a legal challenge! Horner has been interviewed today and hinting at legal action for anyone that keeps saying they have broken rules and damaging their reputation!!!

The more I think of what he has said now and previously the more I think they have found a loophole! I think FIA have already had chats with any team that may have breached the cap and they and the teams will come to an agreement before these 'certificates of conformity' are released. I see just a rule clarification re cost cap coming very soon!

As you say they are contractually obliged to attend all races but do they have to qualify or actually race or just attend and then say they can run as they have no PU's or working parts available?

 

In fairness to my stupidity I wrote that in the context of this years spend, not last years spend, the later i have commented on the other thread having woken up to the fact we are talking last year, not this. This I find shocking, Nearly 10 months on they are producing results, which are hard to audit, e.g. where are the unused parts now, to verify they were unused? No one can verify this after this length of time. Their excuse should be disallowed due to the inability to verify, but it will be accepted but with a clarification for the future.

 

Could be a rain affected race?

 

Sounds like it could be wet quali and race. Hopefully not too much rain but a bit of light rain on and off could be interesting.

Interesting that Merc, Aston and alpine all not setting times! Even though it could be wet quali and race!

 

Ferrari looks quite compliant in the drying conditions

 

Wet = mix up grid.

Wet race = multiple safety cars.

 

I have voted for Carlos again, not because I think he will win but because I would like him to win. I think he has the potential to be better than LeClerc, not so sensitive. I don't see the killer instinct coming through in a positive way with Le Clerc albeit a sensitive driver can be a WDC, it needs an applied killer instinct to go with it.

 

Looks bad right now for merc again.

Whatever the plans yesterday they are all out the window and the set up flexibility looks very narrow so the wet has sent ferrari and red ull well out in front.

 

You called it for George!

 

Whenever I think Max might have grown up a bit he starts behaving like spoilt little boy again. Don’t worry Max, I’m sure you’ll get back up to about 2nd after 5 laps or so and into the lead after the first stop so maybe shut your pouty face.

 

Much as I dislike max I can see his point. He made a mistake on a flying lap so was told to abandon lap, recharged batteries then went for it again. He is then told he has to abort that lap due to a miscalculated fuel volume. While he did make a mistake on a banker lap his final chance was messed up by the team miscalculation fuel required.
Again, much as I don't like him he did miss out on a final opportunity to get pole by a team error.