2008 Singapore GP.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeah, specially if it rains.

Great! More penalties awarded to Hamilton for overtaking stationary cars

Track looks damn nice tho. It is floodlit but the ambience is dark which is a nice change for an F1 venue. I missed Vallencia (by all accounts not a bad thing) so I'm looking forward to this one.

 

[JohnBM01]

I wished I could have seen the first few laps of practice at Singapore. I'm sure Speed will re-air practice action later today or in the after hours. After seeing the pictures from Post #57, this is a lovely experience. It's a proper street course with plenty of lights to light up the night. Again, it's an experience you could probably expect in a racing game, but never expect to see this kind of action in real life. Can you imagine if F1 decides to do a race on the streets of Hong Kong or something (not necessarily the Gran Turismo 4 race)? I know this race was basically made to be more in tune with European viewing times, but look at the tradeoff here- you get to see a lively city lit up at night with arguably the finest race cars in the world driven by (again) arguably the finest race car drivers in the world. I know I've heard all along of perhaps the Grand Prix of Malaysia to be the first-ever night race in F1 years ago. It's very cool to see the city-state of Singapore have a race like this in a lovely city like Singapore.

According to the practice times, I'd probably say that lap times would average somewhere between 1:45 and maybe 1:49. Wasn't this the range of times from the streets of Valencia? I still need to see what a lap around this track is like to get a general synopsis of what to expect with this track.

 

[mustang245]

Intresting that the fastest time from the second session was slower than the first, perhaps a sign of the cooling track? Ferrari could be in trouble here with their tyre warming issues..

I find it much more interesting 'who' set P1! Not a current WDC contender, but a sublime champion, nonetheless. Special moments like these... priceless. Let's hope the next Renault is a more worthy challenger for the title, so Alonso can reclaim his rightful place. In the meantime, I enjoy these 'embarrasing' moments (for anyone in silver or red). Bellisimo! Ha, ha!

 

[Lee]

Haha indeed, but practice doesn't give out points now, does it?

 

[mustang245]

Haha indeed, but practice doesn't give out points now, does it?

Touché!
Moments like this keep me interested in a season which finds the 'champ' handicapped by the Renault. All the more noteworthy, my man...

 

[Sureboss]

Trulli doesn't like the track then!

 

[Lee]

Trulli doesn't like the track then!

It's concerning when a driver goes the wrong way round the circuit, perhaps more lights are needed..

 

[JohnBM01]

I found this link with more pictures of the night race around Singapore. I expect this link to have MANY more pictures once this race is complete:

http://www.singaporeshots.com/thumbnails.php?album=43

As I mentioned before, Singapore is a lovely place. The race will have its fair share of thrills once this race finally kicks off. I did a search for Singapore on wunderground.com to see weather conditions. Allow me to be a meteorologist for a bit. As of this post, it's 4:30 AM Saturday in Singapore. Currently mostly cloudy and 79 degrees. It's supposed to be a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms for Saturday and Sunday afternoons. But for Saturday night- showers and thunderstorms are likely. A 70% chance of showers and thunderstorms with lows of about 77. I personally hate Saturday nights where thunderstorms are possible. I was born on a Saturday, so I hate messy Saturdays. Then for Sunday according to a wunderground.com report, there could be a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Night temperatures are pretty warm according to these reports. Highs tend to flirt with the 90s. Come down to Houston in the Summer, and we have NO problem going past 90 degrees. The Texas heat really has nothing on Singapore's highs. Darkness and rain can pose problems. I've seen races that are held at night and are wet. I think I remember a Grand-Am race around the Phoenix infield road course back in... I want to say 2002 because it was before Daytona Prototypes. The race had to be red-flagged because of either too much rain or a bad crash. Racing in the rain at night can be miserable. Add a street course to this, and this could be the roughest ride for the F1 circus. Quickly being able to adapt will be increasingly more important for whomever wins this race. Probably not all of the active drivers have done even F1 exhibitions at night, let alone going full song around a course at night. This will be a new experience to just about all of the drivers.

Question is... could I actually pretend to be sleeping... just to see an F1 race for the first time in the Sunday morning time slot? I feigned sleep to see all of the final hours of this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. I wonder if I can be able to feign sleep again to try to see this race live. I have seen absolutely NO full races in the Sunday morning time frame. I usually fake sleep to see some Saturday morning cartoons, but never an F1 race. And if I miss it all, I hope to see highlights or a replay. I just hope to see more of this race than I did with the Grand Prix of Italy last week.

 

[Omnis]

Trulli doesn't like the track then!

Well Trulli is a late-braker, so that's why he's not doing well.

 

[daan]

Well Trulli is a late-braker, so that's why he's not doing well.

I think the previous comment was more to do with the fact that Trulli was driving in the wrong direction and not much to do with his driving style...

 

[spyrrari]

I think the previous comment was more to do with the fact that Trulli was driving in the wrong direction and not much to do with his driving style...

excactly....and just imagine what would have happened is somebody came thru that corner doing 260km/h....

just an unbelievable action from one of the most experienced f1 drivers in the field...


spyrrari.

 

[TS]

It's concerning when a driver goes the wrong way round the circuit, perhaps more lights are needed..

I figured that's why they mounted all the lights in one direction so the drivers wouldn't get lost after a spin.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Or so the lights wouldn't be pointed at the drivers and blind them...

 

[Alex.]

I figured that's why they mounted all the lights in one direction so the drivers wouldn't get lost after a spin.

For the amount of money the drivers and Renault are on, (Piquet pays Renault?) They should know which direction to drive in.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I figured that's why they mounted all the lights in one direction so the drivers wouldn't get lost after a spin.

I believe they were installed only along one side of the track to save power and money. Because F1 cars are so low, they don't have much in the way of a shadow, so it was felt it wasn't neccessary to have lights on both sides of the track. However, if Albert Park and Sepang have lights, they will have to be on both sides because of the run-off areas; there's more that needs to be illuminated.

 

[JohnBM01]

I'm watching "Inside Grand Prix" at a 3D view of the track. Just on this accord, it looks like a very cool place to race. It isn't like the Singapore track is going to be a disasterous street course. I'm going to see F1 practice on Speed once "Inside Grand Prix" goes off. From video footage I've seen in commercials, I already imagine what an in-car view will be like- freaking insane! Qualifying will be on at 10:00 AM EDT here in the States. Now, Saturday night concerns me in Singapore because that's when showers and thunderstorms are likely according to the wunderground.com weather report.

Anyone want to specualate as to how Sebastian(?) Vettel will finish in Singapore after his breakthrough win at Monza last weekend?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Vettel's position in therace is dependent upon his qualifying. Going by F1.com and GP Update, he's not happy with his setup, so he needs to work on that before qualifying to be in a good position.

Here's to another dud tyre choice by Hamilton. I don't care how good he is, I'm sick of him.

 

[JohnBM01]

Okay. I had the chance to finally see F1 go around Singapore for the Second practice session. All I can say is... wow! This looks like a fantastic circuit with all the surroundings. The track itself is pretty challenging. Maybe not as exciting as Valencia, but surely a challenging course. I wished there wasn't a threat of rain or heavy rain for this weekend. I think it's very smart for F1 to do all they could to make this course all lit up and everything. It is a phenomenal experience second to none. All the different camera angles offered unique and impressive views of a city that comes alive for Formula One racing. All the lighting and such of the city skyline as well as the city itself is purely amazing to me.

Qualifying's going to be a wild ride with the likelyhood of rain Saturday night. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer night races to be held on Saturday night rather than Sunday night. Only Sunday night exception to me is the Coca-Cola 600 in NASCAR. Otherwise, I'm sure the European general audience is going to get themselves PLENTY of primetime love from F1.

 

[GTP_JASE72]

Massa



Hamilton



Both from Free Practice 2

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It seems some of the drivers aren't happy:

F1 drivers raise concerns over Singapore street circuit
27 September 2008

Formula 1 drivers finished a one hour meeting on Friday evening with race director Charlie Whiting to request a number of improvements to the race track in Singapore . The drivers complained about the lighting at some parts of the tracks, the pit lane entry and bumps.

While most drivers were very positive after Friday's two free practice session there are still some concerns in the brand-new street circuit. Some drivers expressed their concerns about the lighting quality at some parts of the track.

Fernando Alonso said about the lighting: "I was really impressed with the track here in Singapore when I walked the track. But behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car at 300 km/h some parts of the track are still a bit dark."

A number of drivers also pointed out that Turn 10's kerbs are still too high. "We've seen a few drivers already having incidents there at Turn 10 and I'm sure we'll see more of the same story during the weekend if it can't be changed," Coulthard said.

Linky

 

[GTP_rpm]

My girlfriends out there in the grandstands now!

Jammy...

 

[Muzaffar]

I managed to catch my tv showing the 3rd free practice session live!!!!

3rd Free Practice

Pos.  	Driver  	Team  			Time		Laps
1 	F. Alonso 	Renault 		1:44.506	19
2 	L. Hamilton 	McLaren 		1:45.119	12
3 	F. Massa 	Ferrari 		1:45.246	16
4 	N. Piquet jr. 	Renault 		1:45.249	17
5 	N. Rosberg 	Williams 		1:45.386	16
6 	J. Button 	Honda 			1:45.409	20
7 	R. Kubica 	BMW 			1:45.425	17
8 	M. Webber 	Red Bull 		1:45.450	21
9 	S. Vettel 	Scuderia Toro Rosso 	1:45.477	18
10 	S. Bourdais 	Scuderia Toro Rosso 	1:45.599	17
11 	N. Heidfeld 	BMW 			1:45.689	19
12 	K. Nakajima 	Williams 		1:45.982	18
13 	H. Kovalainen 	McLaren 		1:45.982	12
14 	R. Barrichello 	Honda 			1:46.073	21
15 	T. Glock 	Toyota 			1:46.180	22
16 	J. Trulli 	Toyota 			1:46.221	18
17 	K. Räikkönen 	Ferrari 		1:46.482	10
18 	D. Coulthard 	Red Bull 		1:46.794	6
19 	G. Fisichella 	Force India F1 		1:47.166	14
20 	A. Sutil 	Force India F1 		1:47.727	19

The Renault seems pretty competitive this weekend, hopefully their qualifying efforts are as good as this. 👍 However, the two big during the 3rd practice session was that Kimi managed to stall his car after his car bottomed out hard and overshoots turn 7 (I think) and had inexperience Singapore marshals pushing his car (👍), and of course the big news that Fisichella managed to hit the tall kerbs at turn 10, got his car airborne before lading hard and crashed into the barriers.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/09/27/alonso-clearly-fastest-in-final-practice-session/

 

[nissan tuner]

Qualifying session starts in 2 minutes.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Looks like Toyota is losing that fourth constructors place this weekend...


Oh well, go Massa, go!

 

[Muzaffar]

Damn, my tv broadcast delayed the qualifying till 12am. They think football is more important..... 👎
Will comment on the results afterwards....

 

[nissan tuner]

whoa, that's alot of sparks coming from vettel's car

 

[daan]

I love the shots looking at the back of the cars as they go over the bumps and brake for turn 7 with the sparks flying and the exhausts glowing.

 

[Alex.]

D'oh Alonso

CMON WEBBER AND DC, Hami out of the top 10 please, it's where he races best from

d'oh

 

[Motominded]

time for q2

 

[darkfinal]

Oh no, no, NO. >_<