Marina Bay Street Circuit

The only night race in the 2009 F1 calendar is set to begin on 27^th September 2009 in Singapore. Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault is the only driver to win a Grand Prix on this track so far. It will be interesting to see if there’s anyone who can snatch that podium pole away from him this year. Unlike last season, the Marina Bay Street Circuit has been altered and remapped to a certain extent. Turns 1, 2, 3, 13 and 14 have been widened to aid overtaking. Cars will be racing underneath the grandstand at turns 18 and 19. 1500 light projectors, 4 metres apart and 10 metres above the ground, will be installed in all Pit Lanes.

We can expect to see an additional Canon branding on both Brawn GP cars as part of the team’s partnership with Canon Singapore.

In addition, the inaugural F1 Rocks concert will headline the race from 25^th through 27^th at Fort Canning Park. Acts include Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas, ZZ Top, Simple Minds, N*E*R*D, No Doubt, Jacky Cheung and A*Mei.

Marina Bay Street Circuit Stats

Circuit Length: 5.067km

Number of Laps: 61

Brake Wear: High

Average Speed: 175kph

Raikkonen is back!

The slow start for Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in his 2009 campaign seems to have been forgotten already, with four consecutive podiums towards the end of the season. Raikkonen looks to be in better shape than he was when the season started. My guess is, the remaining 4 races of the season will see the Finn pull himself out of the drowsy-slacking-beer-drinking-champ that he is and finish the season in style. He will definitely be on the podium yet again at the Singapore GP.

Drop the bomb!

Just the day before official practice for the weekend's Singapore GP begins, Renault's title sponsor ING said it has terminated its contract "with immediate effect"!

What happens now?

We’ll wait and see! Although my guess is, Renault will still race at Marina Bay with the aid of small-time sponsors. And this might just be the last time we will ever hear of Renault. No issues for Fernando Alonso, he is definitely jumping to another team sooner or later.

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The Force of Force India

Looks like Force India is getting it on ever since the P2 win by Giancarlo Fisichella at the Belgian GP. But after the Italian moved to Ferrari, the race at Monza proved that it was the VJM02 which should be on the receiving end for all credit. This is evident with Adrian Sutil having claimed the fastest lap record on all 3 days of racing – Practice, Qualifying and the Race in Italy. In addition to that, Sutil’s VJM02 had always been within view of Kimi Räikkönen’s KERS-enabled F60. With those points in hand, it seems the top ranking F1 teams now have a new threat to reckon with – the force of the VJM02. Can the VJM02 catch up with Brawn BGP 001? I don’t think so, at least not this season or when under tremendous pressure. But it’s true that we can raise the bar higher and expect more from Force India in the next four Grands Prix.

My congratulatory note to Force India for having made it this far!

Under Pressure – Hamilton

We all know Lewis Hamilton of McLaren does not like being at the back of the F1 race, especially since he had been the champion last year. The papers are filled with – “it was the car that did it, not him”. This only put more pressure on the poor Brit, and this pressure translated into devastating results in most of his Grands Prix this year. First one was at the Monaco GP, then again at European GP qualifying, then the Belgian GP and finally the last lap of the Italian GP. This is the major difference between Hamilton and top-notch-but-losing-drivers such as Fernando Alonso of Renault or Felipe Massa of Ferrari. With no sarcasm intended, the question now is not whether Hamilton will win or not, it doesn’t even matter. The more exciting question is how long can Hamilton last before crashing out again? For Singapore GP, I’d say he’d crash at least once, considering the complicity of the track and the blinding artificial lights to add to that.

Buongiorno! The Italians would surely have jumped out of their siesta this Saturday to witness the rise from dust of the phoenix that Force India has transformed into, over the past two races. Monza, the city of Gothic churches and home to the track that was once home to the superb Alfa Romeo, was a perfect setting for an afternoon of Formula One racing with the drivers ready for a showdown and the ladies bracing the slightly chilly air.

The circuit at Autodromo Nazionale Monza was a much easier ball game as compared to the last race at Belgium. The qualifying saw Force India driver Adrian Sutil show that the exit of Giancarlo Fisichella from the team does not mean that there was no one to fit in his shoes. And fit he did in those shoes. With fastest laps behind him for the practice, Sutil scorched the track with his skill and the much improved car, VJM02. He was poised to grab the pole for the race on Sunday, but for the grit of the Brit, Lewis Hamilton. The Brit swooped in on the time that Sutil had set him and inched to the pole with two-tenths of a second ahead of Sutil.

Of all the teams that are participating in the 2009 Championship, Toro Rosso and Williams were caught enjoying the siesta. Both cars for the teams start at the bottom of the grid on Sunday. Another disappointment on the track on Saturday’s Qualifying was the P2 at Belgium, Giancarlo Fisichella. Seems like the Italian’s dream of racing for Ferrari has been realised, but the feeling has not settled in yet. He still has to find his footing in the team’s car.

What makes the race really exciting is the fact that the top ten cars are separated by just over a second from each other. This is what a real Formula One race is supposed to be like. It could be anybody’ race! Although Hamilton and Sutil are up there on the grid, Kimi Raikkonen in P3 and last year’s Monza Champion Rubens Barrichello in P5 would ensure that the leader-board would not be a reflection of the Qualifying.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel is waiting to strike with vengeance and he has Mark Webber to keep him company for that deadly strike. The cars are so closely placed that betting on just one of them would be way too much to ask for.

I place my money and faith in Sutil, for a change. I see him on the podium, not the Pole. Barrichello will show his magic and occupy the place that he had clinched last year. Hamilton has shown, yet again, that the wounds of the last season are not healed, yet. He would gulp that champagne on the podium on Sunday if things go his way. Who will be the dark horse? Vettel! I see him downing his free supply of Red Bulls and powering ahead to the podium, but in vain. Ciao!

On Raikkonen:

So my prediction was correct! After all, Kimi Raikkonen won the Belgian GP. Some say he got lucky due to the safety car covering the first lap, allowing the Finn to jump from P6 to P1. Others say KERS did it for him, pushing him a fraction of a second ahead of Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella. But at the end of the day, or to put it in a more politically correct manner, at the end of the race, Raikkonen is still the winner, and that, my friend, is all that matters! Congrats Kimi! You deserve it.

On Fisichella:

The veteran Formula One driver is arguably the most surprising of the season. First, he grabbed pole position at the qualifying race, then, he went on to win second place at Spa. To top it off, the Italian did this without a KERS-assisted engine. The phrase “from zero to hero” is the only thing I can think of when Fisi salvaged 8 points for the team which had never scored any championship points since its inception last season. Does Fisi deserve it? Of course! Anyone tough enough to compete with Ferrari has definitely got guts and skill.

The blip:

Now we know what happens when the ordinary ranking is flipped upside down. Particularly when the likes of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton and other strong contenders are shuffled down. A crash ensues! If you consider the radical Spa tracks, this does not come as a surprise. All I would say about the crash is this, I’m glad it happened!

Next stop, Monza!