The Formula One “circus” reached the city of Singapore to witness the city stage its very first F1 race which also happens to be the first ever night race in F1’s history. Yes you read that right, it was a night race as in all cars went round in circles under flood lights. The entire track was illuminated to such an extent that it almost felt like daytime. The tarmac was smooth and the background was delicious, none of the teams knew what to expect.
It was all down to the practice sessions where the drivers had limited time to study the track. All the braking points had to be memorized well as a minor loss in concentration would inevitably result in a crash. Ferrari seemed to have an edge over McLaren here and things were looking good for Massa’s championship challenge. It was Fernando Alonso who managed to learn the track better than anyone else and ended up with the fastest time on Friday evening.
No rain was expected during the qualifying session and the entire session was run in dry. Alonso looked so good in the first part of qualifying only to have his hopes dashed with an electrical failure in the second qualifying. Felipe Massa was simple unbeatable and he managed to stitch up an outstanding lap to claim another pole position. Lewis Hamilton managed 2nd while Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for 3rd place on the grid followed by Robert Kubica and Kovalainen in 4th and 5th respectively.
There was no doubt about the winner of the race as its very difficult to overtake on a street circuit. Massa made a quick get away and was followed by Lewis and Kimi before the first safety car period came into being. That’s when all equations changed and Ferrari were worst hit. They were easily eying a 1-2 finish with their cars being superior but all that went into bits. Massa had a horrible pit-stop and easily lost 20-25 seconds while Kimi lost time queuing up behind Massa.
Both the Ferrari drivers re-joined the race at the very back and started to climb their way up. This worked perfectly to Alonso’s advantage who was now leading the race. Rosberg and Kubica made their pit-stops under red lights and were able to gain some significant advantage. They were penalized later but the damage had been done already. Alonso cruised to the checkered flag and secured another win in his career. Renault mechanics were thrilled to bits and that’s understandable.
Nico Rosberg finished 2nd for Williams while Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd. Kimi crashed out a few laps before finish while trying to pass Timo Glock and lost out on a few valuable points for his team. Massa finished in 13th place, outside of points. Heikki Kovalainen finished 10th for McLaren. Glock and Vettel finished in 4th and 5th places respectively. Other drivers to finish in points were Heidfeld, Coulthard and Nakajima.
The race overall was a spectacle with no overtaking opportunities provided to drivers. Probably this is what prompted Luca to term the race as a “circus” to which Bernie jokingly said “If it was a circus, Ferrari provided the clowns“. Ferrari had a disastrous race and they’ll have to come back strong if they’ve to make an impact. On a side note, Alonso must thank his team-mate, Nelson Piquet for playing a big role in his victory. The full race results are as under -
1 - Fernando Alonso - Renault - 61 - 1:57:16.304
2 - Nico Rosberg - Williams-Toyota - 61 - +2.9 secs
3 - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes - 61 - +5.9 secs
4 - Timo Glock - Toyota - 61 - +8.1 secs
5 - Sebastian Vettel - STR-Ferrari - 61 - +10.2 secs
6 - Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber - 61 - +11.1 secs
7 - David Coulthard - Red Bull-Renault - 61 - +16.3 secs
8 - Kazuki Nakajima - Williams-Toyota - 61 - +18.4 secs
9 - Jenson Button - Honda - 61 - +19.8 secs
10 - Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren-Mercedes - 61 - +26.9 secs
11 - Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber - 61 - +27.9 secs
12 - Sebastien Bourdais - STR-Ferrari - 61 - +29.4 secs
13 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 61 - +35.1 secs
14 - Giancarlo Fisichella - Force India-Ferrari - 61 - +43.5 secs
15 - Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 57 - Accident
Ret - Jarno Trulli - Toyota - 50 - Hydraulics
Ret - Adrian Sutil - Force India-Ferrari - 49 - Accident
Ret - Mark Webber - Red Bull-Renault - 29 - Transmission
Ret - Rubens Barrichello - Honda - 14 - Engine
Ret - Nelsinho Piquet - Renault - 13 - Accident
