Singapore: post-race analysis
Must admit I found the
race a bit gruelling. There was a good helping of on-track action,
but from both a title and race bet perspective it seemed things
didn’t quite go right. Ricciardo’s bad start and power problems
prevented him from running second for a long while. If he had, I feel
confident the hedge would’ve been matched. Still, it’s easier to
bet with hindsight. My bad patch continues, but we’ll see how the
next race goes.
Rosberg and Kobayashi
had nightmare formation laps. Rosberg couldn’t even get off the
line and Kobayashi suffered a reliability failure on the formation
lap. Though Rosberg started from the pit lane his car had a terminal
electronic problem which robbed him of any pace, and at the
tragically comic effort at a pit stop he was forced to call it a day.
Off the line Hamilton
retained the lead, Ricciardo bogged down and was passed by both
Vettel and Alonso and Button made up a few places. For a long while
the tedious track saw the gaps increase with relatively little
action. As expected, three stop strategies were the preferred option
for many. Button was having a decent crack at a two stop (I think)
when, late on, his car failed and he had to retire from what was 7th.
Sutil and Perez
collided, eventually costing the Mexican his front wing, which
exploded into a shower of debris which prompted a safety car. This
not only closed up the field, it allowed Alonso (then 2nd,
I think) to pit, and emerge 4th but with the soft [prime]
tyre on. Hamilton, Vettel and Ricciarod ahead of him did not pit, but
the Briton was the only one who had yet to use the soft tyre, meaning
he was the only one who would have to have another pit stop.
Suddenly the race
became rather more interesting. When the safety car finally left (it
remained out so long the sixty-first lap was axed and the race became
sixty laps long) he immediately pulled away but it wasn’t clear if
his supersoft tyres would last long enough for him to pull out the
necessary gap. Alas, it was. He came out in 2nd but
because Vettel’s tyres were so very old passing him was a
formality.
There was altogether
more fighting in the middle of the pack. Vergne was given a five
second penalty for exceeding track limits, but managed a flurry of
late moves to claim 6th, and not only that but to extend
his advantage to such an extent the five second penalty saw him
retain the strong finish for Toro Rosso. Won’t do his efforts to
claim a seat elsewhere next year any harm at all.
Massa was largely
anonymous in the race but drove competently to retain 5th.
Bottas (like Massa) had been running around on tyres about 37 laps
old by the end, but, unlike his older team mate, failed to make them
last. On the last lap or two the Finn slipped from 6th to
11th.
Alonso was 4th,
but may feel irked not to have finished up on the podium. Raikkonen’s
8th was so-so, perhaps a shade disappointing.
Perez got 7th,
and had a good race, and Hulkenberg had a decent result with 9th.
Not outstanding for the team, but pretty good given where they
started, especially for Perez.
Magnussen claimed 10th.
Interestingly, he complained the drink was of no use to him because
it was so hot it was burning his mouth. Kvyat also complained around
lap 44 that the race was incredibly hard (due to heat/humidity).
Maldonado was 10th
for a while, but slipped back to miss out on a point and retain his
current tally of zero. I don’t spread bet, but do recall his
average was about 66 pre-season (laying it was practically the only
thing Mr. Putney and I agreed upon).
Quite disappointed with
how the bet turned out. After Rosberg suffered his problems I thought
Ricciardo, starting effectively second, had a good shot, but his poor
start and power problems meant it wasn’t to be. I’ve had some
wins due to good luck and it’s unreasonable to expect I’ll never
suffer losses likewise. However, I’ve had a fairly bad patch
recently so I’ll have to try and think about why that might be.
It’s not good for the
title race either.
Hamilton 241
Rosberg 238
Ricciardo 181
Perversely, despite
finishing two spots behind Hamilton, Ricciardo took a step forward.
He was about 70 points behind the leader, now it’s just 60 (the
leader, of course, having changed). It’s still very close between
the Mercedes drivers, and Ricciardo might
have a chance, but I still think it won’t be his year. People
should not write Rosberg off. Leaving aside reliability failures for
Hamilton, which may happen in the next few races, he’s still got a
great shot at the title. I do think Hamilton is the favourite for it
now, alas.
Mercedes
479
Red
Bull 305
Williams
187
Ferrari
178
Force
India 117
McLaren
111
I
think the top four places will be the same at the end of the season.
Top two are pretty much settled. Williams are much faster in a
straight line than Ferrari and this was one of their weakest
circuits. Force India and McLaren is hard to call (Force India
leapfrogged McLaren today).
We’re
off to Japan in a fortnight, to the fantastic Suzuka circuit. A
proper track, not a damned street circuit, so it should be great.
Hopefully, it’ll be green too.
Morris Dancer
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