2019 challenge Discussion thread: Singapore

I can see Vettel with a poor grid slot; beaten again by LeClerc, over driving and binning it in the race.

Nah, he'll be sitting at the side of the track behind a crash (and, he hopes, bullet) proof barrier while marshals scoop up thousands of bits of shattered Ferrari (2 of), Red Bull (1 of), Toro Rosso (1 of) and Renault (maybe both of them as well) and he'll be hoping he can get out of the circuit without being tracked down by anyone from Ferrari

I'll be at the paddock all weekend at the invite of Porsche (who are running the Carrera Cup races before the main event). I'll try to give a wave...

Goddamn, this Leclerc boy is on fire!

Listening to this on Radio 5 really not the same!

Looks like Mercedes once again mess up on strategy and snatch defeat, or 4th place, from the jaws of victory or 2nd place

So then, the Ferrari can work on low downforce circuits, on high downforce circuits, and they are making great strategy calls. It’s all a bit late now championship-wise, but next year’s regulations are just a continuation of the regulations for this season. Ferrari could be very good in 2020.

I think a few things can be done for the Singapore GP. Firstly, they need to make the pitlane limit faster. 60 kph is pathetically slow, it makes a two-stop strategy a lose-lose everytime. Secondly, a few corners can be deleted. The track just has too many corners; even in cars with less turbulence overtaking would still be very difficult. And because it was so difficult to pass today, nobody wanted to get back in any traffic with a pitstop. So at the front there was a follow-the-leader situation, it didn’t make for great viewing.

My solution would be to continue straight at the current turn 16, then turn right at the current turn 20. That lengthened straight would be great for passing. I would also make turn 1 tighter to make it a harder braking area, to also help following another car for the DRS zone between turns 5 and 6. 

For me, this is the third race in a row where Mercedes have made errors with the timings of their pitstops. They had a gap with Hamilton, but Vettel beat them to it. Once they saw that, they hoped to run him longer to have fresher tyres. Then Leclerc and Verstappen jumped Hamilton, and by that stage the race was lost – 7 laps fresher tyres was not going to make the difference required to overtake. Once Mercedes missed the opportunity, they pursued a different philosophy, but they held onto it for too long.

Leclerc v Vettel was strange. It’s usually the lead car that has the first call for pitstops. They knew how important fresh tyres were on the outlap. Leclerc probably regrets managing his tyres to that degree, because he did that to compress the field so that his competitors would fall into traffic with undercutting pitstops. It worked, except for one competitor. Little did he know that his teammate was going to leapfrog him.

Grosjean had another crash. Why Haas felt the need to retain Grosjean for 2020, answers on a postcard. Clumsy, silly incident that a driver of his experience should have been able to avoid.

Merc completely screwed that one and Valteri had to slow to assist Lewis which did nobody any favours in the long run. Ferrari did the job they needed to and brilliantly too, Charles did too good a job slowing the pack and for once Seb grabbed the chance with both hands. Bloody well don to him and Ferrari. Renault well what might have been and what was... Shame. Very nice drive from Norris too. Crashjean should not have been retained, as has been suggested before he is well past his sell by date. Just how much money does he bring to the team?