Singapore Grand Prix – Race

The Italian Grand Prix was yet another Vettel victory – he has the Drivers’ Championship virtually wrapped up.

Grid: SV, MW, JB, LH, FA, FM, NR, MS, AS, PD, SP, RB, PM, SB, BS, JA, KK, VP HK, JT, TG, JD, DR, VL*
*VL had a 5 grid-spot penalty

Everyone at the front is starting on the super-soft (red band) option tyre except PD, who’s starting on the soft (yellow) prime compound.

SV leads everyone away on the formation lap, under the intense lights for this night race
Long wait for the tailenders to take their grid slots

01/61: Slow start from MW; he squeezes LH
NR cuts the first corner
LH struggling to hold off MS … and eventually loses P7

02: SV, JB, FA, MW, FM, NR, MS, LH, AS, PD
Pit-car for NR says “everything’s OK for cutting the corner”
DR cruising back to the pits with a broken front wing; he’s got the medical car right on his tail!
LH is starting to fight back

03: DRS now enabled

04: SV fastest lap 1:54.935
LH squeezes past MS to reclaim P7

05/61: SV, JB, FA, MW, FM, NR, LH, MS, AS, PD
LH closing on the other Mercedes (NR)
Easy pass for LH to take P6

06: BBC report MW can’t use his KERS every lap due to over-heating problems

07: Pit-car from MW reporting “DRS not working very well”

08: LH continues to close on FM

09: Expect the super-soft tyres to start dropping off

10/61: SV, JB, FA, MW, FM, LH, MS, AS, PD, SP
NR pits

11: TG spins – breaks rear suspension on the wall

12: FM and LH pit together; Ferrari release FM just ahead
LH attacking – tags the rear of FM – breaks his front wing and punctures FM’s rear right – stupid move Lewis!
Both LH and FM struggling back to the pits

13: MW pits – prime tyres – rejoins behind FA
No, LH stays out with a broken front wing
FM finally back to the pits – doesn’t look like the flailing tyre caused any damage

14: “Incident involving cars 3 and 6 (LH & FM) under investigation”
LH pits – new nose cone

15/61: SV pits from P1 – prime tyres
JB pits too
AS makes a brave pass down the inside of KK

16: Drive-through penalty for LH for causing a collision
LH serves his penalty
RB struggling to pass VP

17: BBC report Red Bull removed some front wing angle from both SV & MW

19: FA held up behind PD but they’re P4 and P3 respectively so no blue flags

20: SV, JB, FA, MW

21: FM takes P12 from SB

22: LH passes KK for P14
MW sitting on the tail of FA

23: NR pits from P5; rejoins in P9

24: FA locks up into the chicane

25/61: SV, JB, FA, MW, MS, AS, PD, SP, NR, PM; retirements: TG
LH closing on FM; FM twitches and LH slides past to take P12
FM pits

26: FA pits; rejoins in P4

27: PD passes his teammate (AS) for P5

29: NR closing on AS
NR runs wide; SP attacks but NR fights back to keep P7

30/61: SV, JB, MW, FA, PD, AS, NR, SP, MS, LH
MS attacking SP – hits SP – MS airborne and slams into the tyre wall so hard the camera-crane shakes!
No sign of marshals
Safety Car deployed
Still no marshals
Fortunately MS gets himself out of the Mercedes
Still no marshals
Medical car passes the SC
MW pits – very lucky timing
Replay shows NR & SP touch wheels as NR forces he way past to reclaim his position

31[SC]: SV pits, as does JB
MS’ car being removed but they’ll need to check the tyre wall

33[SC]: SC in at the end of this lap
JB has a couple of backmarkers between him and SV
SV drops back and slows everyone down; SC pulls into the pits and SV floors it

34: JB held up as SV disappears into the distance
MW steals P3 from FA

35/61: SV, JB, MW, FA, PD, NR, AS, LH, SP, FM
SV already has a 9 second lead 🙁

37: SV’s lead now 12sec!
Pit-car radio for SV saying they could go to end on current tyres
DRS enabled
LH past AS for P7

38: Incident involving car 16 (KK) under investigation for ignoring blue flags
LH takes P6 from NR

39: LH now up onto the tail of PD … and takes P5

40/61: SV, JB, MW, FA, LH, PD, NR, AS, SP, FM; retirements: TG, MS
Drive-through penalty for KK
Incident involving cars 8 & 17 (NR & SP, back on lap 30) under investigation

43: BBC interview MS – he says SP braked too early for the corner – of course it couldn’t possibly be MS’ fault, could it?
No further action for the NR/SP incident
Incident involving cars 9 & 17 (MS & SP, back on lap 30) will be investigated after the race

45/61: SV, JB, MW, FA, LH, PD, NR, AS, SP, PM

46: Pit-car for LH says he need to pit again
PM pits from P10

48: MW pits from P3 – option (super-soft) tyres – rejoins behind LH

49: JB pits – rejoins in P3
LH struggles to hold off MW … but can’t keep his position
LH pits

50/61: SV, FA, JB, MW, PD, NR, AS, SP, LH
SV pits; Lotus released almost into the side of the Red Bull!
FA pits
LH easily past SP for P8

51: SV, JB, MW, FA, PD, NR, AS, LH, SP, RB
JT slowing – engine blown? – pulls off & retires
LH catching AS … and straight past him

52: LH now catching NR; uses DRS to cleanly take P6

54: Now LH harrying PD for P5 – makes the move look easy
Incident involving car 21 will be investigated after the race – unsafe release

55/61: SV, JB, MW, FA, LH, PD, NR, AS, SP, RB; retirements: TG, MS, JT
Pit-car radio for JB telling him he’s the fastest driver on track

56: JB closing the gap to SV but it’s still just over 8sec

58: JB still closing in but SV has picked up his pace a little
SV catching some traffic … but JB will have to negotiate them too

59: The Williams intra-team battle holds up JB

60/61 = 2 laps left: JA loses the tail, slaps the wall and that Toro Rosso isn’t going any further

61/61 = final lap: FM takes P9 from SP
SV held up by SP?

SV takes the chequered flag but he’s not World Champion just yet – 1 more point to go!
JB over the line for P2

Provisional result: SV, JB, MW, FA, LH, PD, NR (+1 lap), AS, FM, SP, PM, SB, RB, KK (+2), BS, GK, VP, JD, DR (+4), VL, JA (+5)
DNF: JT, MS, TG.

Updates:
MS was reprimanded for his collision with SP (whereas LH got a drive-through penalty)
Lotus were fined €10k for the unsafe release of HK
Renault were fined €7.5k for “failing to inform their driver (BS) of his correct race position”, which led to an avoidable collision.

Next race: Japan, October 7-9.