New on RaceFans
- Alonso “nearly lost the car” on lap that secured third on grid
- Aston Martin protest qualifying results over Sainz’s crash
- Red Bull ‘working even better’ thanks to changes after sprint race – Verstappen
- Verstappen takes Red Bull’s 100th pole as Perez completes front row lock out
- 2024 Chinese Grand Prix grid
- Hamilton lost ‘over half a second’ with turn 14 error which caused Q1 exit
- Alonso handed 10-second penalty for Sainz clash despite retiring from sprint race
- 2024 Chinese Grand Prix sprint race and qualifying day in pictures
- Leclerc expects “clear the air” talks with Sainz after sprint race clash
- Verstappen pleased with strong Red Bull pace after “hectic” sprint race start
Hello everyone and welcome back to RaceFans Live for day two of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend!
Today is the first time I tried the updated F1 App on Android. Some good, some bad, and some very bad changes.
One good. We can synchronize the time sheet display with the live F1 stream.
Very bad, I can only see five drivers time!!!! Awful.
another good – that “tab” that you can bring up (bottom right, the grey bar) to see all the radio messages we had, and audio commentary volume/mute.
Another good is all the driver’s radio talk.
Palmer making a lot of sense on FP3 commentary for my #F1 app there, both with his feelings about the Russel vs Ocon to Williams and that yellow line/kerbs/wall and Whiting not being for zero-tolerance (so, what’s that yellow line then; and why not next to kerbstone so drivers feel kerbs, know they are about to cross off track)
Will be interesting to analyse at the end whether anyone thinks under normal circumstances that soft could be useful in the race.
That last lap from Bottas suggests the top at the least has quite a bit in hand still.
That lap from Sirotkin is great to look at.
Max laying it into his engine there. From what we heard of the issues he is having today, I can understand it, but, not sure this frustration helps (might be that .05s he’s behind on RIC?)
eh, that action with Ericsson was clearly showing his frustration too. Ericsson wasn’t all that conveniently placed, but to then force both of them to cut the corner? Max really needs to fix his frustration before qualifying.
My pole time and pole position-predictions: 1:37.400 and Vettel.
I think Kimi ;)
Hopefully Max engine stops braking on its own during qualy.
For a steet circuit it’s pretty awesome!
Any chance of rain?
I didn’t think so.
I reckon Seb will take pole by quite some margin. He is a beast around this track.
T22 is certainly Wall of Champions
Nice Dan
Bottas really struggling in the last couple of corners. Mercedes doesn’t behave as well in sector 3 I think.
Dropping time in S1 as well
Grosjean looking strong. Could Haas be ahead of Merc? What do you think?
That was risky from Merc. What where they thinking in Haas and didn’t allow KMag to go out?
He had a second run already but must have blown it
I hope Mercedes don’t mess up their communication and ruin Bottas’s run again.
Ack Kevin. Ffs
Magnussen out this early into the session already. I didn’t see that coming.
Especially with Romain right in the mix. Driver error?
Possibly.
Says he just didn’t have the grip
Hamilton will be all fired up for this next part of qualifying. I predict he will go to Pos.1.
Giunter is gold, no nonsense team boss.
What did he say?
I am on Sky, asking about driver line up “you will know in two weeks ” He calls it as he sees it.
Max, wow!!
Ok
Max and Ric showing Red Bull not a lost cause.
Red and Silver have Party Time though
@keithcollantine – your thoughts for pole time mate?? They are quick!!
I originally predicted 1:37.400, but now I think it’s going to be either in the mid-1m36s or perhaps even in the low-36s.
Boys quick today Jere!!! 🏎
I went with 1:37.05 but might not be optimistic enough :)
The first-ever Q3 appearance for Haas on this venue.
Impressive, and well done!
WRC-sound from Ricciardo’s Renault PU, LOL.
Wow!
What did that come from?
What a time!
Where did that come from?
Wow, that is a hell of a first run from Lewis.
Amazing laps by Hamilton and Verstappen
.Yep, indeed. Bit of a surprise, the current situation. But interesting.
This will be mega!!!
Hamilton cut a corner somewhere? :/
GOOD LORD LEWIS. OMG
OMG max and Lewis
Wow sour Vettel! Again blaming and rude at the team/crew!
F1TV Pro just went black. :(
What country are you on ??
I immediately reloaded, got it back just after HAM set that provisional pole, and completely missed VER’s lap too. But is back now. Am in Berlin, DE
In.
Grumpy Seb back?
Well, I am a bit surprised that Ferrari/Seb are apparently not yet certain how to best do that out/preparation lap.
An even greater improvement in ultimate lap time on last season than around Circuit de Catalunya that got resurfaced before this season’s race weekend.
Vettel’s attitude and anger will get the best of him this weekend! He wants some kind of tow I guess but the way he demands lap time/position!
Bah Anti-climatic final set of laps!
Well, seeing no one improve for various mistakes to me was quite a bit of suspense, rather than anti-climactic.
Vettel lost it on the hairpin after the Anderson bridge where he locked up.
Epic! As a Ferrari Fan I am disappointed but what a lap by Lewis!
Ditto
Yep, and what’s the first thing he does after getting out of the car…acknowledge the fans in the stands.
@I was rooting for Kimi and will do ’til the end of the season.
They are the best fans afterall
Please give Max a car he can battle Lewis soon. What a magnificent qualy from these 2 guys
Now tomorrow ham needs to keep calm and cruise without Max doing some Verstappen first corner :)
Disappointed but what can you say? Class from Lewis
It is gonna be interesting tomorrow at the start. Seb and Max behind Lewis. Spicy!
Hopefully neither of them especially Seb won’t do anything silly.
Fingers crossed :) Sen and Max near eachother…. we know what happened last time around… hopefully max doesn’t pull Verstappen move past first corner
And again horrible coverage
How come?
Last run i saw nothing. Just Kimi’s meh lap. And Hamilton’s aborted lap time. And Toto’s face expression.
What coverage do you have?
Indeed Max was driving the wheel of that Red Bull and nothing!
Martin Brundle is right, as usual, Seb can only blame himself if he loses this championship with that car 😡
Give him the boot and get Nando back
Not sure they will do that.
I can dream
I guess “that car” isn’t the benchmark as many touted after Belgium after all.
“The car” should be the benchmark, if the drivers perform. Unfortunately Seb is making too many errors and Lewis is not- he is just on it!!
Vettel +Verstap = Crash
The crash kid and Crashtappen.
Hopefully Seb or Max keep it clean and no hunky dorky move decides championship
Well, seeing no one improve for various mistakes to me was quite a bit of suspense, rather than anti-climactic.
Damn soon =/=app :) autocorrect
I did not get to see the Qualy….Which tires was Lewis running on in Q3?
So more or less anyone was running the hypers in Q3; and interestingly, perhaps Ferrari were the ones to not get those tyres properly switched on.
I did not get to see Qualifying. What tire was Lewis running on. Hyper’s, Ultra’s?
the whole top 10 will start the race on hypers, the ultra’s were well over a second slower, so too slow even for the Ferrari’s to get to Q3 with (they tried) – Mercedes used ultra’s in Q1 to save hypers, Hamilton only was 14th there, but it worked.
My top-5 predicitons (set before qualifying without expecting Hamilton to take pole): 1. Vettel, 2. Raikkonen, 3. Ricciardo, 4. Verstappen, 5. Hamilton.
Wow, Sky seem to have found a way to get genuine emotions and remarks out of Horner
LOL.
They just showed a split screen head to head of the Q3 laps of Lewis and Max in Dutch tv. Lewis wins 0.45 on the straights with engine power. So Max really did a very very good lap
We saw other analysis saying (AMuS?) that too, I’d take that as ‘he/his car won .15 on lewis in the corners’ it is not said that was only Max doing only. Clearly the Red Bull has been great at this sort of tracks for years. Not wanting to take away from him doing a super job yesterday, but from what I saw, he wasn’t flawless (but he needed to fight for it perhaps?), while Hamilton was more or less faultless in his car – a different sort of great lap, but neither a lesser effort to me.
Max says he still has drivability issues with his PU he needs to “drive around”
Can you imagine Max’s engine breaking down during the race? Hehe.
Yes.
Let’s hope for an exciting race! Forza Ferrari!!
I’m predicting 5 cars out or damaged on the first lap
Safety car is certain at some point in the race.
Awww Ocon
Nice one Seb!
Shame for Ocon.
Vettel drives around max like he’s not there
Trusted Max would back off. Risky but worked.
Pure horsepower nothing else
Plus slipstreaming.
Ferrari is running >10k quicker on that part of the track
Good driving in those first few corners from both Vettel and Verstappen, and quick action there from Vettel to get that move done, in time before the SC
Looking forward to Seb vs Lewis in the restart.
Vey poor start from Max, a shame. Great overtake from Vettel, biding his time and then striking.
So as already feared, Max having trouble with that engine behind the SC.
My god, what have they done to the F1 app?! Is there any way to access the live timing screen anymore, the one that used to be on the website for free?
I am afraid no.
Vettel faster than everyone in sector 3. Max in S2. Seb and Lewis pretty much equal in S1.
It’s hard to follow each other, and causes extra tire deg. Drivers want to try to follow more closely and pressure the car in front, but engineers keep reminding them to save the tires. Hope the people pro high deg tires are enjoying the race.
Anyone got F1TV server crash?
I have. The app is still working, however.
I can’t even login anymore.
Same.
I have had no commentary today. Yesterday it was sporadic and vanished never to return every time a team radio came up. I have closed the app and am concentrating on the TV. Useless app!
Vettel is quicker without drs than Max with drs
Can we please get them some proper tyres, These pirelli high Deg tyres are utter nonsense!
Let them push harder and lean on them a bit more because this is utter crap as highdeg tyres always have been and always will be!!!
Rain
Slight drizzle in sector 2.
Is it raining?
Tyre management has begun
3.5+ seconds faster. Just shows how slow there having to drive on these awful tyres.
Did Ferrari try to make an undercut through Perez? Even if Vettel drove 4sec faster than Hamiltons inlap Perez would block the undercut. Have they lost their mind…
Verstappen doesnt mind Ferraris brain melt…
I think Ferrari got their strategy wrong. VET coming out behind Perez was a mistake.
Ferrari needs new strategists.
Website free Live Timing working okay on my laptop. Need to refresh occasionally, that’s all.
+1
Great undercut, Max!
That was an overcut not undercut. While it worked for him, Kimi and Ric are in trouble by going too deep.
To not get stuck behind F1-B is the very basic requirement for the first pit stop.
What is Ferrari doing to Vettel. Does he even have confidence in his team strategists anymore?
Sometimes I think that Vettel is the only reason Ferrari is still in the championship hunt. Their strategists are awful.
Well the championshiphunt is getting smaller and smaller and Vettels mistakes hasnt helped alot.
He has done no mistakes today. Overtook Max, kept good pace behind Lewis until the pit stop.
No but he has done mistakes in the championship hunt.
Surely they understand he needs to focus on the car. Frustrations aren’t going to help his pace and tyre management. This is crazy. Bottas might get on the podium
Bottas will get to the podium. Vettel is the only one from the top 6 who has to stop again. That’ll throw him right back to sixth place.
“You were again too late.” Vettel not a happy camper.
Man, grumpy Vettel back again; the stress of trying to manage the team from his car getting to him.
He has just been given the worst strategy of the top 6, no wonder he is grumpy. For all the criticism he has been under, this time the team as failed him massively.
How is it possible Seb isn’t able to attack Max when he’s on 2 compounds softer tyres
This is F1, you don’t attack the car in front to save tires.
They won’t last.
Same reason why SS had less wear than S in monza. These tyres are crazy.
Castrated horses strategy of not bringing softs has bitten them in rearside already.
You know Ferrari’s strategists are bad when even us fans at home watching just on TV can recognize terrible strategies more so than a team of engineers with bucketloads of data.
Honestly what was Ferrari thinking about the ultras?
Is it because Ferrari haven’t done much running on softs?
Probably. That situation really hurt them in Italy with Kimi in the race. Maybe they feared the same here.
Yeah. Still, I think it’s made it an interesting year, if not individual races, as what works for Merc doesn’t work for Ferrari and vice versa.
Seems like Merc are getting a better grip if their car at this point of the season, much the same as last year.
I wish I could FF this race and get it over already…
They put softs on Kimi’s car!!! What the hell is going on at Ferrari!! Vettel is the one who is supposed to get the smarter strategy!!!
Who is going to tell Vettel Kimi got the better tire? I feel for that guy.
What happened to Grosjean??
Who knows, he suddenly started to drop 2sec each lap.
Around the time Vettel did his “undercut”
Yeah he was running top 10, K Mag up to 12th..
As a Hamilton fan, I am enjoying the implosion of the Ferrari strategists.
((High Five))
Will rain save ferrari and bless Red bull?
Only light drizzle expected. Could make the track a little greasy but don’t think it would affect the running order.
Hamilton is a rain master…
Well at this point Vettel is defending vs Bottas and not attacking vs Hamilton.
Do you think they are taking Ric deep to put on the ultras and overcut Vettel when he inevitably pits?
undercut*
At this point Vettel is a net 6th place if things stay as they are (no SC’s or rain).
So Vettel will be 6th?
Brilliant strategy
Most likely, yes, unless he musters about 45 laps out of those ultras (which he admitted earlier he wouldn’t be able to).
Come on someone crash so things get spicy by having a SC car.
you want a safety car to save the Ferrari bacon! Cause Vettel’s is burnt right now.
+++
We didn’t get the Ericsson crash yet
Perez’s race is getting well and truly screwed by Sirotkin. The frustration is very visible. I feel a crash coming on…
That is some pretty pathetic whining from Perez.
After screwing up Vettels race himself, karma in bad strategycalls :)
Ferrari is in the force india?
Perez looking like he’ll be causing the next SC in not too long …
Hes gonna be so happy to find Stroll in front of him after overtaking Sirotkin.
LOL
He was partner in the first…
That’s karma for pushing your teammate to the wall.
He did a total Seb…
The Perez action we all were waiting for
Serves Perez right!
Lol, then Hulkenburg shows him how it’s done straight after.
Good job Checo.
He could at least have gone into the wall…
LOLOLOL Perez imploded!
what just happened reminds me of the AI in the F1 2018 game.
The AI is modeled after real F1 drivers according to Codemasters.
we just saw more of it from grosjean and sirotkin!
That was sensational racing.
From Hulk’s on board cam.
Bosyber! +
Perez, what a numpty, non-existent race craft there. Hope he gets clobbered with a penalty for that.
Not that a penalty is gonna change anything
3-race DQ will do.
Yeh a lifetime ban will also do but somehow i doubt it.
Come on Max!
lol wth
what is all this fighting in blue flags??
Wow Max almost benefited perfectly
Well Sirotkin really is helping this race get more interesting, isn’t he!
Drive-through penalty for Perez.
100% correct
Well, Lewis was worried about cold tyres, that must’ve warmed them up nicely….
Finally, Perez and Sirotkin is back together again.
I don’t think Vettel is gonna pit. Is that even possible?
No
Probably nurse his tyres to the end and limit the damage Ferrari caused Sith have a strategy.
If he has to pit, then he can say goodbye to any good points. It could close the door on his chances for WDC.
Bit of a gamble, could lose a lot of points if his Pirellis go pop
I think the gamble is worth it. Bottas hasn’t started attacking him as yet. Should start soon though.
Perez just made this a three stop race. Interesting strategy form FI :)/
From FI :)*
Does ERI need to pit for a different compound or already did?
He hasn’t stopped yet.
thank you
ERI & VAN still to pit
Yes, he does.
Looks like Alonso could get an F1 class B win today.
Does Ferrari think they can do a one stop with Seb? They’d be crazy to do that
Well Ferrari and Vettel have a long track record of extending stints to far.
He is fine, he is just cruising since his pit stop, committed to save tires and save the podium. The other option is to finish sixth on new tires. Easy decision.
ALO FLAP
Haha Grosjean gets a penalty for blue flags.
You know everyone is managing tires when Formula 1-B sets the fastest lap.
Fastest lap Alonso.. Wow!
Shows how much of a taxirace this is.
We need to change the rules. The stewards should have to consider whether a tight battle between 2 cars at the back should briefly take precedence over the leaders lapping them (if those leaders are not also in a wheel to wheel battle). Free Romain Grosjean!
Yep, in this case they were RACING, like in Sports Cars, the leaders should deal with it..
Sirotkin is having a great race, theres no points for a Williams but hes having the biggest share of action on the track.
Top five are just coasting. RIC is going for it.
Sirotkin trying to show that he’s Max Verstappen. But failing miserably.
Give him a break, he’s driven a fine race today. For the first time, mind.
A fine race? In what definition of the word has his race been “fine”.
He has kept faster cars behind him for half the race which admittedly has costed him his position in the race but it has been a joy to watch. One of the few cars out there that has raced today.
Mashiat, you forget that Sirotkin had done the same number of pitstops as those he was holding behind. If he’d had a safety car, he had the chance to hold that position till the end of the race, as it’s tough to overtake here.
Simply dead tires and damaged car.
What is Bottas doing?
Losing 1sec a lap and blaming it on blueflags….
Sirotkin for driver of the day, for making the race a bit more interesting (now again, causing HAM to lose time – oh, and now VER, so no difference).
A one minute gap between 6th and 7th… 11 cars lapped, hmmm…
Memories of Monaco… Wonder if the drivers will be as forthright about it
More boring Singapore ever?
Bottas making Lewis look really good at tire management.
Top 3 makes Bottas look bad
Vettel’s tyres have gone off yet he’s nowhere near to take advantage. Poor weekend from Bottas.
I was thinking that as well. He, Bottas, has been poor for some time now.
Lewis is really good at tyre management.
What a snoozefest
So, safe to say stopping early didn’t help anyone; Alonso definitely right yesterday to be happy with p11 and free tyre choice.
Very much true.
It’s a snoozefest!
I see a discussion about how long that blue-flag interval needs to be (ie. not 1.2 please, signed Bottas, and Perez :p)
discussion: in the next drivers briefing, I mean. Don’t think many others will care :)
If you are having trouble passing lapped cars when you are supposed to put pressure on Vettel your best action would be to stay silent about it, and hpe noone notice it.
Yeah, wonder if Wolff is thinking of reasons to put Ocon in that car :-p
Wolff dont have the balls to place Ocon in that car, in his own words…
The only good moments in the race are:
Vettel overtaking Max, Sirotkin and Perez collide and Max reovertakes Vettel. That’s it.
Depending on your perspective, Ferrari screwing up Vettel’s stretegy was also epic.
Regardless of perspective, it was catastrophically epic.
I like to see Sauber finishing in front of Haas.
A race that has no real strategy at play; no on the limit racing; no real overtaking!
It’s a race of tire conservation and makes the championship even more difficult!
The strategy was what got Vettel stuck – he should probably not have stopped that early, and also not for ultra’s, and then he might be ahead of Verstappen, or who knows even fighting for the win with Hamilton.
*No strategy from Ferrari
So they’re running in a procession the same order they started.. Wolves one up…
So, is this controversial: Raikkonen doing a better race than Vettel, though Ferrari hasn’t been able to give it’s drivers much of a fighting chance.
In what way did Raikkonen do a better race?
You could argue he only got close to Bottas due to him getting himself stuck behind Hulk, but still, he at least got the opportunity to try, and didn’t make a mistake, kept the pressure up on Bottas. Agree it was mainly Ferrari just not really being there as a team, thus hampering their drivers from early on.
Ferrari gave a donkey of a strategy to Vettel, so from his first stop on he really had his hands tied. Not sure what he could have done better, especially after he managed to pass Verstappen on the track.
Special congrats to Vettel. Mega fog at managing those tyres.
Special congrats to Vettel. Mega job at managing those tyres.
Agreed. I believe the slow pace helped him tremendously as well.
DOTD: Alonso with honorable mention to Sirotkin.
+1
Verstappen…
Simply boring, how many tracks with short straights are remaining? Close racing just isn’t possible on tracks like these…
Only Suzuka.
Sochi still to come, that will be a snoozefest
Forgot about that one. Last year I don’t think we had a single overtake.
Interested how this race would play out with Vettel starting on Ultras as he wanted.
It seems Ferrari and Vettel didn’t speak the same language this weekend.
The least amount of race-retirees in this venue’s history so far.
How long is Vettel’s contract with Ferrari?
Had to quit watching the race once a penalty was given to HASS for blue flag infraction. HASS was in a battle for position and was expected to just give up all that work to let the leaders by. Sorry to say that is part of racing. That is what makes it exciting. It will bunch up the field, but that’s the beauty of it all. It gives the television fans something to watch. I can’t stand a driver who cries like a Lil bit.. because he is scared that he can’t win without the help of the stewards. HASS isn’t getting a fair shake in FL and I wouldn’t blame them for not coming back for next seson. It is hard enough to watch a non competition. But when the stewards are making it impossible for any type of overtaking they are going to lose fans. I’m sorry to say that there are more exciting forms of racing for people to spend their valuable time watching.
Totally a bad call against HAAS