After seven races in Central and Eastern Europe, the F1 circus has packed its bags for the last four rounds of the ’08 championship. The Drivers' title looks set to be decided between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton and the Constructors' title between Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren, both of whom look equally shaky.

With the farce of Spa and Hamilton’s subsequent FIA appeal in Paris being thrown out, many were left wondering exactly what is/isn’t an acceptable overtaking manoeuvre in F1 anymore. I just hope the ’09 regulations allow us to step back in time and enjoy more Arnoux /Villeneuve moments, rather than complaints about ”dirty air” and the need to overtake in the pitlane. For the benefit of younger readers: yes those cars were all different, they could get that close to each other, those are sweeping corners and the circuit does go up and down, and no-one was penalised during or after the race.

Whilst several drivers felt the superb new 24 corner, 3.148 mile circuit mixed Monaco and Melbourne with Valencia (and in Coulthard’s case Detroit!), there was unanimous approval for the facilities and the speed of construction. From conception to completion in just 18 months, was it just coincidence that the bitumen surface supplied by Shell replicates that at Fiorano or that the primary floodlighting contractor was Italian?

As the teams were encouraged to maintain their "European biorhythms”, it meant breakfast at 2pm, lunch at 10pm and dinner at 4am – oh and there was the small matter of qualifying to fit in! On a quiet weekend for the FIA, Jarno Trulli incurred their wrath and a US$10k, trying to enter the pit-lane from the wrong direction, resulting from a last corner spin. Massa is undoubtedly the most improved driver in ’08, due in no small part to the coaching and support he continues to receive from Michael Schumacher - the days when he single-handedly tried to bankrupt the Sauber F1 team seem a distant memory. His smooth economical driving style helped him to a stunning pole position by 0.6secs with Hamilton his closest challenger.

The inaugural SingTel Singapore Grand Prix commenced at 7pm local time, when the air temperature was 28deg, the humidity 73% and the pressure on Raikkonen to support team mate Massa immense. As the 5 lights went out, Massa made the best start settling into a very quick, metronomic pace, whilst behind all eyes were on the luckless Alonso, who had clearly been Massa’s closest challenger in qualifying and yet due to a fuel pipe failure, started 15th. Caught at the rear of the “Trulli train” (9th-17th) he was losing almost 5 secs a lap to Massa. Then, his luckless and frankly talent-less team-mate Nelsinho Piquet crashed against the retaining wall on lap 13 and the justified deployment of the Safety Car meant that first refueling stops were taken on lap 17…which is where the race was turned upside down.

The incident came at the perfect time for Alonso, who had already made his first pit-stop. With nothing to lose, Pat Symonds of Renault had taken a punt on there being an early Safety Car in the confined spaces of the concrete-walled circuit. Alonso jumped three cars on the first lap by cutting a chicane, then came the Safety Car. As yet, I have seen no suggestion that Piquet's off, could have been down to team orders, but it's a thought! Nico Rosberg, who having earlier fought his way past Trulli in one of the few passing manoeuvres in the race, then had to pit to re-fuel when the pit-lane was closed or face running out. He was subsequently given a 10 second penalty. Whilst it looked bad for Rosberg, for Massa it was catastrophic.

Scuderia Ferrari had already lost at least one Grand Prix this year due to its unique usage of a semi-automated traffic light system. Felipe Massa duly left his pitbox on the green light, but with his refueling hose still attached! Fortunately he stopped before the end of the pit-lane, whereupon the McLaren mechanics cheered their Scuderia counterparts, as four of them did the 100 yard dash to remove the aforementioned hose. To compound Felipe’s misery, having lurched into the path of Adrian Sutil (again) he was adjudged to have had an unsafe pit exit and was awarded a 10 sec drive through penalty, dropping him to the rear of the field….thank you and good night. This time the fault was down to human error, a mechanic pressing the "Go" button early. The Scuderia reverted to the lollipop system afterwards and I doubt we'll see the traffic lights again.

Red Bull had made a brilliant call, anticipating the first Safety Car and pitting both of their drivers before the pit lane closed. One of ‘08’s most consistent drivers, Mark Webber crashed his car into the retaining wall at turn 14; apparently, his car selected two gears at once. Astonishingly, the team believe it was the result of an an electrical surge generated by static from a tram passing nearby, the same problem having afflicted Bourdais' Toro Rosso in Friday practice! That's a cracking addition to the "Racing Drivers' Book of Excuses".

The Safety Car was deployed again on lap 50 when the frustrated Massa spun and poor Sutil crashed in avoiding him. Jarno Trulli was looking very hot and bothered as he retired and then came an unforced mistake by the hapless Raikkonen with four laps to go. His car ran over kerbs, which pitched it into the wall. This will undoubtedly have caused another TV set to go for a burton at the home of famous telly-trasher President di Montezemolo. He did label the race a "circus" though this wasn't down to the Scuderia's performance. I'm more inclined to Sir Frank Williams' view that that Singapore could potentially be the new jewel in the F1 crown and think that Luca should stop politicking and blaming anyone and everything else for their performance. After all, it was he who renewed Raikkonen's contract less than a month ago.

The winner, Fernando Alonso, drove superbly despite losing the use of his water bottle after four laps, with the highly rated Nico Rosberg 2.9 secs behind, despite his 10 second penalty. Ironically, breaking the rules actually helped him as his early stop enabled him to jump a queue of cars and the imposition of the penalty was so delayed that he was able to make up enough time so as not to lose a place. Lewis Hamilton was a subdued third, clearly playing the percentages game. Timo Glock, Sebastien Vettel and Nick Heidfeld continued to impress with strong performances, whilst the retiring David Coulthard brought it home safely in 7th. Uniquely amongst this website's staff or reporters, I’ve always been a DC fan - articulate, quick and easy on the machinery, he leaves F1 as one of the sports most successful drivers of all time in terms of points scored and also, with fatherhood impending, a few Euros with which to enjoy life….

So the Grand Prix had indeed been “Uniquely Singapore”, as the start-line gantry displayed. A new concept, world class organisation, excellent attendance and plenty of SG Dollars has been spent by the government to showcase this unique city and thanks to the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s rain dance with chillis, without rain.

Massa or Hamilton, McLaren or Ferrari….it's a two horse race. Roll on Japan and let's hope it's a safe one for Italian TVs.


Thanks to:
Ferrari Owners' Club GB North West Area Group members John Hanlon and James Parry who were actually in Singapore and took the final dusky pics, which may help to explain why those who were there raved about it.

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Massa scored a stunning pole

Circus or "Jewel in the Crown"?

The "Trulli Train" was back on track

Safety Car again decided the race, Piquet's Renault is craned away

The Scuderia recover Massa's torn off fuel hose....

....and had to cart it back past the cheering McLaren mechanics

Singapore ambiente

Coulthard ahead of Vettel, here but not at the flag

Kimi flies towards the wall and retirement

Alonso was lucky to be in a position to win, but drove superbly

Massa was the last man still running

click for FIA lap chart

Also....

"That's my boy" Keke congratulates Nico on his second place

Keke scored 3 of his 5 GP wins on street circuits, here at Dallas in '84. Looks familiar?

....and further more

pics by Ferrari Media, FIA, Reuters, XPB, LAT, NFI & Sutton