Monday, October 5, 2009

F1: The Bright lights of Singapore - 2009 Edition

And then there were Three left fighting for the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship: BRAWN GP’s Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello vs. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who although mathematically alive, seems to be a veritable long-shot for this years F1 Driver’s Crown.

And I must say with my outing to Maryhill last week, it all seems like a blur… As Y’all know that Old saying It musta been fun, as another year’s time has already passed since scribblin’ my last GP Report…

Thus after returning, I sat down and gorged my eyeballs upon 6hrs of Formula One coverage from Singapore, (kinda like what I’ve done whilst poundin’ meese nucel’s away on ze keeboards today…) which unfortunately for me is a night race and therefore very difficult to see…

Even if ‘Hobbo (David Hobbs) ‘N Varsha waxed on eloquently about the amazing skylight and fantastic backdrop it provided, rambling on about the monstrous Flyer Ferris wheel, which reminded me of the mammoth Ferris wheel upon the River Thames… Or playing golf at night on a lit course, which seems a tad bit carried away to Mwah…

And thus I really don’t recall it being an overly dramatic event, since even after the reputed course improvements; it seems it was very difficult to pass upon, as the young “Louise JAGUAR” Hamilton simply rocketed off into the nightlight, leaving everyone behind, even if he had difficulties with his KERS system.

Although it was entertaining to hear about the RIDICULOUS ticket prices, with Bob Varsha claiming a GA (Gen. Admission) stub would set you back $175, with a Grandstand seat up along the Pit Lane/Front Straight costing up to $1,300, while if you were ultra sheik and seeking the ultimate ticket, then admission into the Paddock Club would only set you back a cool $8k for the weekend. (All amounts USD)

And its funny how my allegiances keep shifting, as I began the race by hollering for Nico Rosberg to get ‘JAGUAR, as he seemed “owed” a win after having been cheated out of his debut Grand Prix victory one year ago… Then I marveled at how hilarious it would be for Fernando to take the victor’s laurels after the dreaded shenanigans of Crash Gate, but rightly so, it wasn’t to be… After the weekend had begun quite eerily with Romain Grosjean crashing his Renault in the exact same spot that Nelson Piquet Jr. had done one year earlier…

And I’d forgotten about those most bizarre technical failures that the Red Bull & Scuderia Toro Rosso cars had suffered last year; when Red Bull claimed that Mark Webber’s mysterious gear boxes trying to select two gears at the same instantaneous moment were triggered by an electrical surge caused by the passing of an underground subway train…

Red Bull moves to avoid gearbox issue

Meanwhile, Rosberg’s race was effectively ruined when he managed to slither across the blend line while leaving Pit Lane on his first pit stop, being given a Stop – Go penalty, of which Red Bull’s ‘ZEBB, a.k.a. Sebastian Vettel would incur for speeding in Pit Lane… While Webber ‘N Co. may not have suffered electrical gremlins this year, but certainly the same could not be said for both Red Bull & Toro rosso’s brake failures, with the Aussies exploding on track after the Team Engineer’s had sent him on his way after a pit stop revealed massive amounts of black carbon smoke funneling out of the brake discs… No, they’re Ok Mark, trust us Mate!

And thus, Hamilton scored his second victory of the season, with Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso taking the final two podium spots respectively.

Meanwhile current point’s leader ‘JENSE finally managed to stop the bleeding by finishing ahead of teammate Rubino for the first time in a considerable while, as the two BRAWN GP drivers finished 5-6 respectively.

Race Drive of Singapore
I’ve been kicking around various header’s for my new race item of which I couldn’t come up with anything overly clever, having started my Drive of the Race theme with the Italian GP and Vitantonnio Luzzi’s glorious return to F1. As this will now serve as my inspiration for returning to my belated Grand Prix reports…

Although some may argue that his drive was somewhat artificially aided by the mandatory allowing of his passage ahead of Mark Webber, nevertheless, I found Timo Glock’s performance to be quite impressive as he finished ahead of everyone except race winner Hamilton.

Top 3 - Qualifying
Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Second: Sebastian Vettel
Third: Nico Rosberg

Race Results
Winner: L. Hamilton; 2nd: T. Glock; 3rd: F. Alonso; 4th: S. Vettel;
5th: J. Button; 6th: R. Barrichello; 7th: H. Kovalainen; 8th: R. Kubica.