It was a memorable race for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix - full of drama and excitement. The rain clouds that threatened to put a damper on the first ever night race in the history of Formula 1 failed to materialise and it was ideal racing conditions throughout the race. The usual suspects of Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen occupied the first three grid positions at the start.
After the formalities of the driver’s parade, the national anthem and so on, it was time to get down to the business of racing as the cars were flagged off for their final warm up lap. The anticipation was fever pitched all over the massively full grandstands and when the five red lights illuminated and then went off, a dream became a reality as the Singapore Grand Prix got underway.
Massa made a good start and all the cars made it safely through the first set of chicanes at the end of the start-finish straight although Heikki Kovalainen got bumped hard by another car in the mess after the chicane.
It was business as usual as Massa led Hamilton during the early stages of the race. After yesterday’s spectacular last-ditched successful attempt at grabbing pole from Hamilton, Massa was determined to gain an advantage in the drivers’ points standings over the Briton. But his strategy was rudely thrown out the window by a crashing Nelson Piquet Jr. on lap 15. Out came the safety car and with Alonso already pitted prior to the crash, he managed to stay out on track during the yellow flags, overtaking everybody who were diving into the pits and into 1st place from 15th! What luck!
The man who had written off his own chances after mechanical failure during the qualifying landed him a spot way down the grid, suddenly found himself in the lead. He could scarcely believe his luck. Ironically it was thanks to his team-mate for his good fortune.
The drama got more intense during the safety car period. Reubens Barrichello stalled on the Esplanade bridge. He sportingly tried to give a lucky fan his racing glove, but the wind caught it as he was attempting to throw it over and it landed in the Singapore River. He had this incredulous and funny look on him as he sheepishly walked away from his glove floating away on the river.
The biggest drama of the night happened in the pits as Massa came in for his stop. Oh man …. the Ferrari team should really get rid of that stupid pit signal lights above the driver. The indicator lights which would normally tell the driver when it was safe to drive off after his pit stop, failed. With the fuel nozzle still attached to Massa’s car, the lights suddenly turned green. Massa floored the accelerator and all hell broke loose as the Ferrari yanked the fuel line off from the feeder, taking with it a mechanic. He wasn’t injured but was taken to the medical centre as a precaution.
It was a hilarious sight seeing the Ferrari driving down the pit lane with the fuel line still attached, Massa ducked right in front of a McLaren coming in for a stop, before the Brazilian stopped his car. A whole posse of Ferrari mechanics ran to retrieve the fuel line, but by this time, Massa had dropped way down the order into last place. The man must have been kicking himself for the bad luck, which to be fair, wasn’t his fault at all.
Another safety car incident happened towards the end of the race as Massa’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, dove into the corner at the notorious turn 10 too hard and fast, bouncing his car over the high kerbs and losing control of his Ferrari before crashing into the barriers. It signalled a tense moment for Alonso when the green lights appeared again as he brilliantly fought off the charging Rosberg and Hamilton for the final 8-9 laps before jubilantly crossing the line and taking the chequered flag for Renault’s first win of an otherwise disappointing season.
I could hardly believe the end of a brilliant race. There were a couple of excellent overtaking maneuvers, crashes, pit lane incidents and two contrasting luck for Alonso and Massa. On the whole it was a good first race for Singapore, although I was hoping for a Hamilton win. Today’s no points scored for Ferrari means that Hamilton extends his lead on Massa going into the Japanese Grand Prix in a couple of weeks. I’m predicting a tough time for Hamilton on a circuit where Ferrari have been dominant over the years. Let’s hope the Ferrari mechanics get their act together (and bring back the lollipop man) before Japan.
Here are some post-race quotes:
“This is a fantastic result – my first podium of the season; my first victory and I’m very happy, although I think it will take several days for me to realise what we have achieved. Wining a Grand Prix here just seemed to be impossible because we missed our chance yesterday in qualifying, but we were very fortunate today and it’s a superb result for the team. We chose a very aggressive strategy and we had a bit of luck, but we had the pace and the car was fantastic throughout the weekend.” - Fernando Alonso
“I don’t think anybody does not appreciate the success of the concept of racing at night. The only negative comment I’ve heard throughout the weekend from any member of our team was that the circuit is a bit bumpy, but everyone adapts to that and it is easy to rectify for next year. The really impressive thing relates to the lighting. There are very few places that don’t look even better at night because they are beautifully lit and it is the same of this city. When you see the shots of the city and the way they have brought the whole atmosphere of Singapore into the event, it is just a phenomenal spectacle.” - Ron Dennis
