[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Anyone else have issues on hotstar with voices when there's engines in audio? Can barely hear the guys for most part!

Same issue. I never had it for any other race.

[motor_breathing]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Leclerc must be disappointed, and he has reasons to be, but the move to pit Seb was to protect him from Max and Hamilton. Such was his outlap pace that he undercut even Leclerc! And in a track like Singapore, overtaking is quite tough and risky as well.

Even I am confident that Ferrari was not favoring Seb. They were trying to protect Charles by forcing mercedes hand in a similar way as in Spa. Only they didn't expect Seb to do a mighty In and Out lap to leapfrog two cars.


In qualifying also I think Seb had the pace to take pole. But pressure is getting on to him and made mistakes in final Q3 lap. Even though he won the race, I don't think a bright future for him in Squderia. They will be better off with some obedient servant like bottas who will aid LEC for future WDC titles. BOT easily had a chance to pass Lewis but was made to do laps of 1:47 so that Lewis isn't overtaken!

[ferrarirules]

Wow!!! What a race!!! Ferrari strategy was brilliant from the word go. To slow the pace down at the beginning to make sure that there was no free pitstops available for the top 6. Thismade the strategists work harder than usual. The point of find a clear bit of track and making sure you have a clean pitstop to come out in that gap is what racing is all about. Seb and Max pitted at the same time. But Seb had enough gap to come out ahead of Hulkenberg but Max didnt. This saved leclerc from being undercut by Max as well

I don't think Seb was favored. It was more about trying to cover for Max and to make Merc show their hand and make Lewis worried about an undercut. But the pace delta on new Hard tyres was much more than old softs that lead to Seb undercutting two cars not one.
Mattia Binotto has explained the same here - https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...IuYgV16x6.html

It was great to see Merc tripping over their strategy for once. They don't do it that often.

All in all a great race!!! Ferrari 1-2 on a track which was not supposed to favor Ferrari. I am not complaining at all. Pretty optimistic about Sochi coming weekend.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

To slow the pace down at the beginning to make sure that there was no free pitstops available for the top 6.

It certainly made the strategies work hard looking for a gap. But I am not sure if it was a deliberate ploy to run slower than possible or it was simply a result of tyre differential caused by softer tyres not lasting longer. Usually there's a safety car in initial laps in Singapore, but this time there wasn't one so everyone was pushing their tyres right form lap 1, and they had to make it last as long as possible and they were playing the waiting game hoping for a safety car.

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

It certainly made the strategies work hard looking for a gap. But I am not sure if it was a deliberate ploy to run slower than possible or it was simply a result of tyre differential caused by softer tyres not lasting longer. Usually there's a safety car in initial laps in Singapore, but this time there wasn't one so everyone was pushing their tyres right form lap 1, and they had to make it last as long as possible and they were playing the waiting game hoping for a safety car.

It was strategy. There was a clear message to Leclerc that his pace was good when Max and Lewis will whining about the slow pace. Then there was a message to Lelerc near lap 15 saying "Mode Race" which meant that he needed to push at race pace.

[motor_breathing]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

It certainly made the strategies work hard looking for a gap. But I am not sure if it was a deliberate ploy to run slower than possible or it was simply a result of tyre differential caused by softer tyres not lasting longer. Usually there's a safety car in initial laps in Singapore, but this time there wasn't one so everyone was pushing their tyres right form lap 1, and they had to make it last as long as possible and they were playing the waiting game hoping for a safety car.

In the fuel load accounted calculation, LEC's lap time was 4 seconds slower than what he could do, so as the field remained bunched up and no one gets a gap to do undercut and fall into. It was ferrari strategy. LEC was always asking to go fast and build a gap, which would have retained his position w.r.t VET. The williams of George Russel at the back of the field was doing better lap time than LEC.

[Jeevith]

I may the voice of decent, but IMHO it was quite a boring race (I actually almost nodded off on more than one occasion).

Literally no overtakes (or attempts for that matter) from the top 6. All the position changes happened during the pits. The only remote application of strategy was Mercedes asking Botas to slow down so Hamilton could stay ahead (else I think Albon would have also passed Hamilton).

Ferrari's undercut doesn't count as it was the safe thing to do (which is why they chose Vettel and not LeClerc....pretty much hedging their bets). It only worked because Mercedes tried staying out longer (which obviously didn't work).

Maybe my experience is relative. Singapore is built up to be an exciting race (but hereto safety cars only came out after the pit stops, thereby making them redundant for the top 6). Also, coming of the back of the Italian GP (which despite not too many overtakes, was kinda on the edge stuff with LeClerc vs Mercedes), Singapore was a bit yawn inducing.

[sgiitk]

A race with three Safety Car incidents! Singapore is not a tight circuit like Monte Carlo. Only the surface is not silky smooth. In many case an enjoyable race.

I am sure the Dutchman (Verstappen) should be picked up by Ferrari or Mercedes>

Also, P3 (and Q) proved my point that 'F' does not go flat out in P1 and P2.

[imidnightmare]

Originally Posted by ferrarirules

It was great to see Merc tripping over their strategy for once. They don't do it that often.

I am delighted Ferrari won - but this part isn't true. Merc have blundered a lot on strategy. Their (far) superior race pace till 3 races ago is what's ensured they've not lost too many on account of these errors.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by imidnightmare

I am delighted Ferrari won - but this part isn't true. Merc have blundered a lot on strategy. Their (far) superior race pace till 3 races ago is what's ensured they've not lost too many on account of these errors.

Sort of true! Mercedes have always had the luxury of both their cars being in the top 3 positions in most occasions in the last 5 years! And when you are in the top 3, your decisions are never that difficult, especially the way the Merc cars build gap to the other in the first few laps. When they do get challenged on race pace, usually RBR comes out on top. For a change Ferrari too made some wise calls in the last 3 races. One was to to get Seb to hold Lewis in Spa, the second was to get Leclerc on the Hard tyres on Monza and the latest being the undercut in Singapore.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by motor_breathing

In the fuel load accounted calculation, LEC's lap time was 4 seconds slower than what he could do, so as the field remained bunched up and no one gets a gap to do undercut and fall into. It was ferrari strategy.

That part was strategy, but I don't think it was something Ferrari invented. Some commentators were talking about it before the race itself. The aim was to stretch the first stint to the maximum, so that they could go to the end on the second set of tires. Front runners wanted to avoid two-stopping as the time penalty for the pit stop is high in Singapore and it's not a very easy track to overtake if you lose track position, even with a tire advantage (as we saw with Hamilton and Max). No one getting a gap to undercut was a result of the go-slow strategy, not the reason for it.

[akunchala]

Attachment 1917815

Had the pleasure of watching the race in person. Was sitting at turn 7 which was by far the hardest breaking corner of the race. It was my first F1 race experience.

Seb drove like a maniac on the out lap immediately after his pit stop and that changed everything in the race.

Loved the way Daniel Ricciardo fought from the back of the field to get to the top 10 before losing his spot in a scuffle with Giovinazzi. This incident happened right in front of where I was seated.

All in all, I was a happy camper considering I was rooting for Ferrari to get the 1st spot on the podium and a it was a bonus that Ferrari got a 1-2.

[ask_017]

Originally Posted by Jeevith

I may the voice of decent, but IMHO it was quite a boring race (I actually almost nodded off on more than one occasion).........Singapore was a bit yawn inducing.

Exactly my thoughts too. Singapore as a race track is very boring. But it has that halo around it for being night race and the visual spectacle that brings with it with the beautiful skylines and lights.

Guardian mentions about Hamilton asking the media if they had been "bored" and described it as "worse than Monaco almost."

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...ore-grand-prix