Singapore GP - Reliability, luck and Safety Cars
Singapore, 26 September 2009
Life is getting tougher for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, as all design and development energies back in Maranello are being focussed on the 2010 car, leaving the F60 exposed to attack from other cars from teams that are still pursuing 2009 targets and bringing more updates to this final quartet of races.
When a world championship winning team and a world championship winning driver find themselves on the seventh row of the grid in thirteenth spot, as is the case for Kimi Raikkonen, then the situation is obviously very difficult. Giancarlo Fisichella was honest enough to admit that today, he felt as though the car was driving him, rather than the other way round, as he qualified in eighteenth place.
The Singapore track is proving to be as difficult as ever to tame, as can be seen by the number of cars spinning or brushing the barriers. In fact, this afternoon’s top ten shoot was red flagged with 26 seconds of the session remaining, after Rubens Barrichello had a big crash, from which he emerged thankfully without injury. Fastest at that time and therefore taking pole position, as the session did not resume, was Lewis Hamilton for McLaren-Mercedes. Starting alongside him for tomorrow’s 61 lap Singapore Grand Prix will be Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull-Renault. Row 2 is made up of the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who came second here last year and in fourth spot, the other Red Bull of Mark Webber. Officially, Rubens Barrichello qualified fifth fastest before his accident, but a gearbox change means he will drop five places on the grid tomorrow. This means the top six is rounded off by Fernando Alonso in the Renault and the Toyota of Timo Glock.
Last year’s inaugural Singapore Grand Prix was a marathon, lasting one hour and fifty seven minutes, partly due to a couple of lengthy Safety Car periods, one of them the subject of so much controversy over the past few weeks. The unforgiving nature of the track means that there has to be a strong chance of seeing the field form up at some stage of the race behind the Safety Car. As is always the case on a street circuit, overtaking is very difficult, so Kimi and Giancarlo will once again be hoping to play their startline Joker, in the form of KERS, to dispense with at least a few rivals in the first few hundred metres. In the incredibly hot and humid conditions, reliability will play a crucial role, as will driver fitness. However, given the nature of the track, luck might well play its part and it seems that Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro might need some to at least pick up a few points, before setting off for Japan.
Life is getting tougher for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, as all design and development energies back in Maranello are being focussed on the 2010 car, leaving the F60 exposed to attack from other cars from teams that are still pursuing 2009 targets and bringing more updates to this final quartet of races.
When a world championship winning team and a world championship winning driver find themselves on the seventh row of the grid in thirteenth spot, as is the case for Kimi Raikkonen, then the situation is obviously very difficult. Giancarlo Fisichella was honest enough to admit that today, he felt as though the car was driving him, rather than the other way round, as he qualified in eighteenth place.
The Singapore track is proving to be as difficult as ever to tame, as can be seen by the number of cars spinning or brushing the barriers. In fact, this afternoon’s top ten shoot was red flagged with 26 seconds of the session remaining, after Rubens Barrichello had a big crash, from which he emerged thankfully without injury. Fastest at that time and therefore taking pole position, as the session did not resume, was Lewis Hamilton for McLaren-Mercedes. Starting alongside him for tomorrow’s 61 lap Singapore Grand Prix will be Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull-Renault. Row 2 is made up of the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who came second here last year and in fourth spot, the other Red Bull of Mark Webber. Officially, Rubens Barrichello qualified fifth fastest before his accident, but a gearbox change means he will drop five places on the grid tomorrow. This means the top six is rounded off by Fernando Alonso in the Renault and the Toyota of Timo Glock.
Last year’s inaugural Singapore Grand Prix was a marathon, lasting one hour and fifty seven minutes, partly due to a couple of lengthy Safety Car periods, one of them the subject of so much controversy over the past few weeks. The unforgiving nature of the track means that there has to be a strong chance of seeing the field form up at some stage of the race behind the Safety Car. As is always the case on a street circuit, overtaking is very difficult, so Kimi and Giancarlo will once again be hoping to play their startline Joker, in the form of KERS, to dispense with at least a few rivals in the first few hundred metres. In the incredibly hot and humid conditions, reliability will play a crucial role, as will driver fitness. However, given the nature of the track, luck might well play its part and it seems that Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro might need some to at least pick up a few points, before setting off for Japan.
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