Singapore GP 2012 - Race Thread

[wacc]

GREGORYHAINESF1 GREGORY HAINES
No further action over Vettel and Button but Senna also gets 10-place drop for Suzuka #F1

[eddie]

For a track that I have never considered a strong Ferrari track, we made it out of there ok.
I was concerned about our race pace..we finished 15 seconds down on Vettel.
I wouldve thought that our #1 driver could polish off Macs #2 driver. Whether it was tire conservation or
lack of outright pace, we couldnt do it, so Im really happy we did get 3rd for wdc points.
But, we simply cannot do this for the remaining races. Alonso would need a lot more points gap than he has at present.
Vettel/RB is coming on very strong, and Ham/Mac arent going to break at every race. Especially with Button
stiking it to us Q'ing between Alonso and Vettel/Ham with the speed of the Mac. Then there are the odd Reno/Williams/Sauber
cars that have given us quite a bit of trouble this year also, getting between us and the front runners. As seen at the finish of
Monza for example. We actually need quite a bit of improvement if we are to be in it at the end.

Very much agree. We were pretty much being outpaced today.

We couldnt touch the 2 Maccas and Vettel's RB. The Macs seems to be all in a different league. At qualy and race pace.

We need to work very hard. Next few races critical.

[eddie]

Felipe saying on BBC that the car was brilliant today.

Felipe drove brilliantly today as well. What a recovery. ups for him.

Superb points finish.

[wacc]

Actually Fernando's 2nd stint was fantastic. Once he overtook slower cars, he was faster than anyone in front of him.

[Red passion]

Very much agree. We were pretty much being outpaced today.

We couldnt touch the 2 Maccas and Vettel's RB. The Macs seems to be all in a different league. At qualy and race pace.

We need to work very hard. Next few races critical.

Only Vettel can take the title from us now, McLaren are too far behind, LH will not win all the remaining races and if he does a few seconds and thirds for FA and we still win. Vettel is our main threat IMO.

[scuderia_nano]

We have to stop Hamilton. Its pretty clear They have a good car. As for Fernando, I guess eh got a bit unlucky behind slower cars in the 1st stint and Early part of 2nd stint. Sad. But 3rd is better than 4th right?

[wacc]

Only Vettel can take the title from us now, McLaren are too far behind, LH will not win all the remaining races and if he does a few seconds and thirds for FA and we still win. Vettel is our main threat IMO.

I have to disagree. The speed of Maccas at all sort of tracks is stunning. RedBulls have sometimes bigger problems than Ferrari. One DNF can change everything.

[Red passion]

I have to disagree. The speed of Maccas at all sort of tracks is stunning. RedBulls have sometimes bigger problems than Ferrari. One DNF can change everything.

If FA has a DNF yes McLaren are a danger but if FA has no DNF like i was thinking they are not a worry we will take the title, FA is doing a great job, Vettel is a threat but he does have reliability issues

I have faith in Ferrari

[Greig]

Webber gets a 20 second post race penalty for exceeding track limits.

[wacc]

Webber has had only poor results since his win in Silverstone (4, 4, 8, 0, 0 points.)

[Suzie]

I don't understand how Senna has gotten a penalty now, when during the race it came up that no further action would be taken about the incident with Massa?

[scuderiafan]

I agree in the first stint, but on the softs, Ferrari was the fastest car. Alonso used that to get up to button and Vettel, but by then he had to do half the race on one set, so couldn't push. Ferrari needs to improve qualifying. They could have had a much better result if they were higher up on the grid, or Alonso got a good start.

[Sianellen]

I don't understand how Senna has gotten a penalty now, when during the race it came up that no further action would be taken about the incident with Massa?

Yeah, I thought they said that as well?

[wisepie]

At last a decent strategy for Felipe gets him in the points from way down, shame about first lap puncture, imagine what he could have done without that. Great drive from him and of course Fernando, we're still in there but nothing can be taken for granted. What a relief!

[doublesixes]

We gotta pay more attention to Saturdays. Being a second behind in qualy, doesn't bode well for the race. We have a clear number 3 on our backs and that's a fact. Obviously we need more speed from the cars. Drivers are OK.

[eddie]

If FA has a DNF yes McLaren are a danger but if FA has no DNF like i was thinking they are not a worry we will take the title, FA is doing a great job, Vettel is a threat but he does have reliability issues

I have faith in Ferrari

You said the magic word DNF.

Touch, bang and knock on wood, we dont have any of those.

One crazy hero to zero just like SPA would be too much.

Looking at it know, a podium at SPA would have cement in the title nicely. No point crying over split milk now but at times when I think back... those points will be much appreciated.

Agree. I have faith in the team and Alonso. We will make it.

The next 3 races are very critical

[Red passion]

You said the magic word DNF.

Touch, bang and knock on wood, we dont have any of those.

One crazy hero to zero just like SPA would be too much.

Looking at it know, a podium at SPA would have cement in the title nicely. No point crying over split milk now but at times when I think back... those points will be much appreciated.

look on the bright side people mock our car even our fans but we have a victory over our nearest rival, i believe FA will hold on to the title by damage limitation not winning races but 2nd, 3rd etc will do it for him.

[eddie]

I agree in the first stint, but on the softs, Ferrari was the fastest car. Alonso used that to get up to button and Vettel, but by then he had to do half the race on one set, so couldn't push. Ferrari needs to improve qualifying. They could have had a much better result if they were higher up on the grid, or Alonso got a good start.

50% agree. The track would have evolved and rubbered in.

We dont have race pace vs the Maccas today. We were outright beaten.

But brilliant drive from both our drivers and strategy from the team, we got where we were.

The safety car came a little to late as well. thank goodness it didnt do too much damage to our strategy.

[anialonso]

Podium Press Conference::

Q. Fernando, you also have won twice here and now on the podium again. It must be one of your favourite tracks?

FA: Yeah, good evening everybody. Of course, is one of the best tracks to drive, to enjoy. The weekend in general is out of our normal routine, let's say, of times etcetera. We enjoy driving here, the atmosphere is fantastic, the layout is quite interesting and it was a fun race again.

Q. You still have a 29 point lead in the Championship but yet you haven't won since Germany. Are all of your opponents, are they all falling away or tripping over themselves?

FA: Well, in Monza is was Lewis winning the race and Sebastian retired. Here it's Sebastian winning, Lewis retiring, so for me it's OK is they keep doing it like this.

Q. Fernando, for you was this pretty much the best you could hope for?

FA: Yes, definitely. I think we were not very competitive this weekend so we struggled a little with the pace of the car and yesterday we managed to put a good lap in Q3 and that was a little bit the best part of the weekend. Because if you start at the rear I think you are having problems all the race, so starting in fifth, it was OK. Then the start was so-so. We lost position with di Resta and then we recovered in first and second corner, and then we fight a little bit with Maldonado so I think the safety car arrive in the worst moment for us because we have stopped and changed the tyres five laps before the safety car, so we didn't have the pitstop for free like the others did. So, it was, I think with all these difficulties, if we put altogether, arriving third in our difficult weekend is for sure a fantastic result in terms of points.

Q. And in terms of your rivals obviously with Lewis not finishing...

FA: Yes, again I think it's a very positive weekend. A very good weekend. Of the four or five contenders, we lost points with one, with the other three we increased our advantage, so obviously, as I said, when we are not quick enough to win more points against three of our opponents, I think it's positive.

Fernando, in the second stint you were consistently catching up to the leaders; what was different in that stint compared to qualifying and the other parts of the race?

FA: I don't know. I think we were pushing a little bit harder and we were in free air. In the first stint we were fighting a little bit with Pastor and then we were probably a little bit more competitive with the soft tyre compared to the super soft, so maybe that was the reason.

Q: (Frederic Ferret - L'Equipe) To all three of you: what are your expectations for Suzuka and your specific car, each of you?

FA: Yeah, a little bit difficult to predict. I think all this year we've been up and down for all the teams and it's the same for us. For sure, we need to improve the performance we saw here. We struggled all weekend. Positions five and 13 for our cars is not what we were hoping for so we need to be in a better position in Suzuka. Maybe Silverstone is also quite similar to Suzuka and we were quite OK there so hopefully we can repeat that kind of performance.

Q: (Carlos Miguel - La Gaceta) Fernando, maybe your first stop was a little bit early; one or two laps more, for the traffic, I think - or no?

FA: I don't know. We more or less stopped when we felt that the tyres were dropping off too much and we didn't want to lose too much time. So we stopped. We found some traffic there and we struggled to overtake. After that, we had good pace so maybe... I don't know. It's difficult to... or it's easy to see after the race. I was happy with the pit stop call.

[REDARMYSOJA]

I don't understand how Senna has gotten a penalty now, when during the race it came up that no further action would be taken about the incident with Massa?

Where do you see Senna got a penalty?

[anialonso]

Good Damage limitation by Fernando..
Hope Ferrari develop and bring the RW(working)to Suzuka cause it said to be a very important development along with the other upgrades that are expected for Suzuka..
Ferrari need to gain 0.3-0.5 gain to challenge Mclaren or Rebull...

[eddie]

LOL, we do have a very pessimistic fan club at times.

Yes, I am sure thats the plan. But if we win 1 or 2 more races, it will be very much welcomed.

The 7 and 10 pts differences are a little too much.

I hope Kimi wins a race and us on podium.

Then Hamilton win 2 races, us on podium.

Then Button take one with us on podium.

Then job done.. LOL! Never thought I would think of for the Maccas to take points off the RBs.

[anialonso]

Where do you see Senna got a penalty?

Senna has been given no penalty..

[anialonso]

I don't understand how Senna has gotten a penalty now, when during the race it came up that no further action would be taken about the incident with Massa?

NO penalty for senna..

[scuderiafan]

Anyways, on to the best track in F1 now. ( yes, I said it.)

[wacc]

Hamilton will have to have an 6 races old gearbox at Interlagos

[Kyss4k]

Just got home. Good result after all. I don't know the lap times tho, so it's hard to comment on that.

BTW, I am reading all the posts now and I have to laugh when I see somments like "SC, Another chance for Vettel's alternator to conk out!" You know guys, the SC periods were actually helping Vettel and his alternator. Even RedBull mechanics admited (after Valencia GP) that if there was not SC, Vettel would stopped earlier.

[Suzie]

Where do you see Senna got a penalty?

There was something on Twitter about it, but it was obviously bull!

[SoumyaBanerjee]

Webber has had only poor results since his win in Silverstone (4, 4, 8, 0, 0 points.)

I think RB are now regretting their decision to sign him up for another season...at that time,they were waxing eloquent about how they had pulled off a mighty coup by keeping him away from Ferrari's clutches...

[SoumyaBanerjee]

Just got home. Good result after all. I don't know the lap times tho, so it's hard to comment on that.

BTW, I am reading all the posts now and I have to laugh when I see somments like "SC, Another chance for Vettel's alternator to conk out!" You know guys, the SC periods were actually helping Vettel and his alternator. Even RedBull mechanics admited (after Valencia GP) that if there was not SC, Vettel would stopped earlier.

Do you work on Sundays as well??