TURN IT UP TO 11, SINGAPORE 2023 GP

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

I fell asleep at about my last post, maybe mid race.
Should I watch a replay.

[John]

I fell asleep at about my last post, maybe mid race.
Should I watch a replay.

Last 35 laps, yes.

[Aty]

Max finished at 3/10s of CLAP.

Suzuka race should go back to normal for him. Initially I thought guys left out a few screws when they were assembling his car, but it seems that Perez was suffering from similar issues - lack of balance, understeer, oversteer, and all that good stuff. We might never know what really happened.

[P. Cornelius Scipio]

nice race

Sainz drove very well, totally deserved to win today, dominated his highly regarded team mate throught the week end, I guess that he's more comfortable when he's defending than when he's attacking

Norris had a great race, I hope that he soon gets his first win

Hamilton didn't look very happy, IMHO he should be pleased for finishing 3rd because he didn't seem super competitive today, his experience IMHO helped him

Russell, I feel for him, he truly deserved to be on the podium

Leclerc wasn't sacrificed by his team to slow down the field, he simply didn't have the pace, with the red tyres he had the chance to make a move on Sainz on the opening lap and he didn't, his lack of pace was apparent towards the end of the race, I don't think that he looked after the car, IMHO he had no grip left and really struggled to defend from Verstappen

[Picci]

First of all, a Ferrari win yay!! I was out and took my iPad with me so that I wouldn’t miss the race.

I hate how Singapore GPs always start with slow tyre preservation processions. I thought longer tyre duration on the newer Pirellis would fix this. Clearly I was wrong.

I was sceptical the tyres on Russell and Lewis would last. In the end it wasn’t just the tyre longevity but more about how Lando and Carlos undestood each other.

Most members on this forum know how much I hate DRS but what happened today was one of those situations where an inherently bad thing was used for a great purpose. Sometimes I say I would have preferred the Indy-style push to pass / KERS concept as the lesser evil but that wouldn’t have provided us with the sort of intrigue we had in the last 10 laps

[Ruslan]

Great race actually. This is what F1 should be.

1. Sainz - drove a great race, one of the best of his career (didn't I say that recently about another race of his).Great defensive work.

2. Norris - probably would not have kept second without the help from Sainz, but drove a deserved second place. Never in position to take the lead though.

(3.) Russell - Great charge up the field. But, I suspect by the time he got to Norris, the edge had come off his medium tires and they were not as quick as when they passed Leclerc. Hit a barrier on the last lap, which ended his race, but you know what: he is a race car driver and race car drivers need to race on the last lap regardless.

3. Hamilton - Hamilton was slightly faster than Russell on the open track and was right on his tail at the end. Did get FL.

4. Leclerc - disappointed actually. His time to shine was early in the race when he had soft tires and everyone around him had medium. He got Russell on the start, and then held position behind Sainz. He need to push then, if he was going to have a chance to win. Seems like he didn't try.

Team Split Pit Strategies: One of the things that surprised me is that leading teams did not try to split strategies. For example, in the second half of the race, if they have left Russell out in second and had pitted Hamilton? Ferrari clearly could have benefited from a split strategy, pitting LeClerc about lap 40 and leading Sainz out.

5. Verstappen - did not have a faster car for a change. Still, good passing and a good climb through the field. 5th was the best he could do with that car.

Flex Wings: Red Bull is saying that the FIA new regs were not a big issue, but I cannot really think of any other reason why the Red Bulls were suddenly so slow. They have been faster at every race track this season. I guess we will see if that is the case in Japan next week.

9 - Lawson - good race, but.... Tsunoda has had problems the last two races. We will see how he compares to Tsunoda when Tsunoda is having a good day.

[erwin greven]

Flex Wings: Red Bull is saying that the FIA new regs were not a big issue, but I cannot really think of any other reason why the Red Bulls were suddenly so slow. They have been faster at every race track this season. I guess we will see if that is the case in Japan next week.

They ran the same car as in Zandvoort and Monza. They even ran an old floor. Singapore was marked by RBR as their most difficult track quite early in the season. Slow 90 degree corners.

[Ruslan]

Flex Wings: Red Bull is saying that the FIA new regs were not a big issue, but I cannot really think of any other reason why the Red Bulls were suddenly so slow. They have been faster at every race track this season. I guess we will see if that is the case in Japan next week.

They ran the same car as in Zandvoort and Monza. They even ran an old floor. Singapore was marked by RBR as their most difficult track quite early in the season. Slow 90 degree corners.

That is a factor, but not convinced that this enough to turn them from the dominant car into a small-points scorer. I guess we will know for certain if they show up at Japan with the usual dominant car. If they don't....

Why did FIA have to revise the regulations?

[XcraigX]

It's a small part of me, but the conspiracy theorist inside of me is wondering if the FIA and RBR got together before this race, some money was put on the table, and they both mutally agreed to purposely have a shit race this weekend to stop the viewing figures declining further. Even the idea of staying out on totally worn hards is so opposite of what I would expect. But like I say it is a really small part of me. I mean the FIA wouldn't be a party to race-fixing would they???

I'm starting to believe....


But this was a great race! Ferrari really nailed the strategy this round. All the right calls including sacrificing 1 car to ensure the other wins.

Horay for Sainz! I think Carlos' performance this year is showing LeClerc is good on his day, but maybe not the WDC caliber driver we all used to think he was a few years ago.

Feel bad for Russel and it seems like Lando was greatly helped by forcing Lewis to give the place back at the start (even after the replay it seemed like Lewis was well ahead and in control, before he dove for the shortcut). Giving the place back to Russel for sure, I'm not convinced on Lando. I guess if you benefit from the stewards at times, you have to suffer from them equally at other times.
But overall the Mercedes strategy was a good one. Good use of the extra set of Mediums.

Max made a nice recovery drive and I suspect this 5th is what secures the title for him at the next race (or two?).

Also happy to see Lawson and Magnusen with points today. They drove well.

[DoubleFart]

Max cannot win the title in Suzuka now. Earliest opportunity now is Qatar sprint race.

I believe he is 151 clear, and needs:
180 at Suzuka (Max 177 possible lead)
172 after Qatar Sprint (Max 185 possible lead)
146 after Qatar (Max 211 possible lead)

We all know Max has won it, and if normal service is resumed it'll happen at Qatar.

He's 194 ahead of Lewis right now, and 204 clear of Fernando, so even if the Red Bulls are shit for the rest of the season, he only needs 11 or so points to mathematically rule out any other challenger.

[White six]

A weekend that will transform perceptions of Sainz everywhere, brilliant win

[Star]

Well what a race. See how good these races can be when Verstappen and Red Bull aren't running away with it.

Good start for Ferrari, Hamilton gained two places in my opinion when he went off the track, but only gave one back and he seemed reluctant to even do that. I felt bad for Norris in that situation.

Tsunoda went off the track and that just left the train of cars going round in a frankly dull way I felt. There was no Stroll there to do anything to relieve the tension either, but then good old Logan Sargeant stepped up and crashed his car which livened things up remarkably. The way he drove round the track with the wing underneath it, throwing out bits of carbon across the track was really bad I thought.

Red Bull had to try something and them not pitting under the safety car was about all they could do. It didn't really work out for them as Max couldn't get ahead of Sainz for track position, even if he had managed it, on those old tyres, he was always going to drop backwards down the field. The safety car got Russell and Norris ahead of Leclerc, I am sure he wasn't happy about that, well you wouldn't be, would you?

Going into the pits poor Alonso had a hell of a moment, was that just an error or a piece of Sargeants car under his? It gained him a penalty though.

It was obvious soon after that Red Bull were going to lose out as both their cars got passed quite quickly by several others. Though again, Hamilton took some liberties off the track to pass Perez I felt, it wasn't enough for a penalty clearly.

Ocon, bless his heart, he'd fought so hard to get where he was, that moment he was wheel to wheel with Perez and Alonso, it was amazing they all made it through. When Ocon's car gave up on him, I felt terrible for him, the frustration was obvious and justified.

When Mercedes decided to pit both cars under the virtual safety car the race was on. They gave up track position but knew with the brand new tyres they'd have a huge advantage. Then it was whether or not they could sweep by Norris and Sainz in the way they did by Leclerc, they made it look so easy.

Alonso's day went from bad to worse, after taking his penalty it was an awful stop for him. On a more positive note. Liam Lawson was a start again, he's driving so well in that car. I'd be worried if I was Daniel Ricciardo. I am guessing Lawson will soon be picking up a drive somewhere and it will be well deserved too.

Sainz is a smart cookie isn't he? He knew that his only chance was to back himself up into Norris to give him DRS and use Lando as a barrier to the Mercedes boys. Oh boy did it work too, they threw everything at it, but there was no getting by. Norris couldn't pass Sainz and he was keeping Russell and Hamilton behind both of them, genius!!

I did feel so bad for George Russell on the last lap when he lost it and crashed out. He'd worked so hard and he deserved the podium for me, but it wasn't to be. He was so upset too, I get that.

A great win by Carlos Sainz, he controlled the race and tactically made the right decision to win. Max of course scored points with his 5th place finish, that was about the best he could hope for given his qualifying on this track. Will it be better for him in Japan? I guess we won't have long to find out.

[Aty]

Wolff: Non-Red Bull victory a ‘breath of fresh air’ for F1

Sometimes I worry about Toto for being able to hold only convenient memory.

[Everso Biggyballies]

All a bit late but its the FIA we are talking about. Amusingly it seems that with fault admitted and confirmation that Max should have been penalised, the whole incident has now been erased from the records books. As far as the FIA are concerned the records now show there was no incident! The good part of that is that the invisible incident can therefore not be used as a precedent for future investigations.

FIA admits to Verstappen F1 Singapore GP penalty mistake

The FIA has admitted to Formula 1 teams that the controversial decision to give a reprimand to Max Verstappen for an impeding incident in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying was a mistake.

It has confirmed that Max should have received the standard three-place grid penalty for one of his two impeding offences, which would have dropped him from 11th to 14th on the final grid.

The FIA has also promised that the Singapore decisions will not be used as precedent and will in effect be erased from the database of past incidents that stewards refer to when making calls.

Verstappen was the subject of three impeding investigations in Singapore, including one for getting in the way of Yuki Tsunoda on the track, another for blocking Logan Sargeant, and a third for waiting at the end of the pitlane with a queue of cars behind him when trying to create a gap.

In the event he escaped sanction for the Sargeant incident and received reprimands for holding up Tsunoda and for waiting in the pitlane.

The fact that he hadn’t received a radio message regarding Tsunoda was regarded as mitigating circumstances, and the team was fined €5000.

The decisions came as a surprise to rival teams and drivers as qualifying impeding incidents have traditionally led to grid penalties, with several team representatives visiting the stewards to discuss the matter.

Max himself expected to receive at least one grid penalty, and he took full responsibility for the Tsunoda incident.




Pierre Gasly, who received two three-place impeding penalties in Spain, was one of many who were left confused by the outcome.

“I’ve had tough decisions against me, with a six-place penalty in Barcelona this year for impeding, and it was definitely way less than what I’ve seen yesterday,” he said after the Singapore race. “Maybe now this is allowed. I don’t know, I’ll ask.”

Lando Norris was another driver who didn't understand the reprimand decisions.

“I think there should just be harsher penalties for blocking people, because so many people do it," he said in Japan on Thursday. "It ruins your lap it ruins your qualifying, it put Yuki out in qualifying, and he was P1 in Q1.

“Just no one seems to care enough. And it's happened a lot this season, it's happened to me quite a few times, especially with certain teams.”

The subject came up in Friday’s team managers’ meeting in Suzuka, and steward Matteo Perini – who served in Singapore and is providing continuity in Japan – admitted that on review the on-track reprimand decision handed to Verstappen should have been a grid penalty.