2016 Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay, 16-18 September

[f1316]

What's interesting is that, despite dominant pole, despite win, Mercedes were still not able to completely nail setup around here - in that one of the cars was fine but the other wasn't. That's less than normal where both cars are significantly ahead.

In saying that, it's not that dissimilar to Ferrari in 2015 where they got a 1 and 3, and Kimi said he wasn't that happy with the setup.

I guess that's just the nature of this circuit (which is why it's good).

[Fulcrum]

The point I've been (trying) to make is Ferrari had scope to protect or enhance Raikkonen's position at multiple points during the race, but they did nothing to proactively do so.

Having passed Hamilton on track, they could have committed to a longer second stint, meaning a more viable 2-stop strategy was on the cards. Alternatively, they could have committed far earlier to a 3-stop, bypassing the need to run on the Soft tyre. Instead, they simply reacted to the others, too late, effectively relegating Raikkonen to 4th on an extremely sub-optimal strategy with respect to its allocation of tyre usage relative to stint length and driving requirements. Even while Hamilton was catching they had scope to do something - commit to another stop earlier than Hamilton.

Prior to the pass itself, it was extremely frustrating watching Ferrari just sitting there. I know Raikkonen managed to pass Hamilton, but what expectation did Ferrari actually have of this taking place? Hamilton was slower, but not demonstrably so. Without Hamilton making a mistake, Raikkonen had virtually no chance of passing. Hamilton isn't the sort to make mistakes with any regularity. While we never saw it happen, I fully expected to see Mercedes bringing Hamilton in, only to observe Ferrari bringing Kimi in a lap later; a status quo approach.

The most confusing aspect of all, Raikkonen effectively had a free pass to try anything. 4th was the worst position available to him, and it appears Ferrari did everything in their power to secure it. Something slightly more creative had greater scope to generate 3rd without jeopardising 4th.

All of the above left me wondering whether the strategy team was completely focused on Vettel, and if this distracted from their ability to manage Kimi's race effectively? Subsequent to that thought, do they have the technical capability to focus on a multi-modal outcome and maximisation of more than one driver outcome?

[Paul]

It almost looked like Ferrari closed their eyes and hoped for the best when pitting Raikkonen after Hamilton. In the same situation Mercedes watched the gap and left the decision (correct) to leave Rosberg out until the last possible moment.

[Vasconia]

It was one of those strategic races that can be fun to watch.

Rosberg did an amazing job and he showed that the can manage tense situations.
Lewis was nowhere in comparison to Nico this weekend. There will be better races for him. Its curious to see how this third stop caused a litte "chaos" that could have costed the race to Nico...
Ricciardo was amazing, those last laps were pretty epic to watch!

McLaren was sad to watch, I mean it was supposed that this race was good for the car, but it was Alonso who did an awesome race!.

Am I the only who is happy for Kvyat?. His defense against Max was excellent, he is out of TR and he needs to deliver in order to achieve a seat for 2017. And Max complaining, the same one who one year before and in the same track ignored the team orders, come on...

Ferrari, oh Ferrari.... the guy behind the strategic decisions should be fired ASAP. The worst part is that they dont admit the mistake they made....

[basti313]

McLaren was sad to watch, I mean it was supposed that this race was good for the car, but it was Alonso who did an awesome race!.

Did he? Looking at the race, with both FIs taken out at the beginning and the faster Torro with a damaged car....the final position is nothing special. They kept the car well out of traffic, had a leading position at the beginning.
I do not like how Alonso gave the position to Vestappen. Seeing how Kvyat was able to defend with a higher pace difference, I would have thought he would at least give him a little fight. But letting Ves take the inside line without any real attempt to avoid that I do not see what I should call "awesome".

[AMG.Tzan]

Classic Rosberg luck...no brake or tire problems...just one more lap and maybe we could have got a pass from Dani! There's no explanation to Rosberg's form this year! His luck is just unbelievable...it's got to be his year!

i think you did not own any car or have never driven a car in your life or for sure did not watch the race.

Be fair when someone does a better job , i am not a fan of him but he did all right things yesterday and managed everything well.
please refrain from armchair analysis and keep fanboyism in check. Enough ham/alo/vettel fans in this forum. we need more racing fans. before you jump on me i must admit that i must tell you that i am not a Rosberg fan.

I do own a car, yes i drive it and yes i did watch the race from start to finish! You just saw only one of my comments that's why you say that! Just see what i said in the other comments a bit after this one and you will understand what i am talking about! Also i'm a huge Formula 1 fan and the thing i most care about is people enjoying it instead of saying to me "oh MotoGP is the best"!! So before you jump on me like i am a 15 year old that watched F1 for the first time, just go on and check more of my comments!

[FoxHound]

It appears you also don't have a good notion of what 250 meters look like... And here i thought Foxes were suppoused to be clever.

So you can use sarcasm, but a stupid fox can't? I'll try again as I'm an optimist.

You are stating that speed, at Singapore, with (short ass) meter straight, is solid evidence of who has more horsepower?
( )

Hamilton himself said he was cruising once he saw he wouldn't catch Rosberg, i guess you don't believe him

Well Rosberg said he was cruising at the end because he knew Ricciardo's tyres were dropping off. Let's believe Hamilton in Monza, but not Rosberg in Singapore.

And no, because your logic is quite illogical so i can't say i ever employed it for real.

I've asked you to elaborate on speed relating to power at Singapore. And I get chassis championship cake for being illogical, or something.
Quit with this wonderful sarcasm, it's clearly your forte but it doesnt help you answer my question.

[f1316]

It almost looked like Ferrari closed their eyes and hoped for the best when pitting Raikkonen after Hamilton. In the same situation Mercedes watched the gap and left the decision (correct) to leave Rosberg out until the last possible moment.

Agree with this and fulcrum' spots.

Interestingly though, if he hadn't pitted, I very much doubt Ricciardo would have either - as they would have lost track position- and, with Ricciardo's third stint having started earlier and Kimi already gaining/having shown slightly better tyre life, he might possibly have had a run at him before the end.

It's how Ferrari's strategies have been all season - very lacklustre. Actually I think this more than anything else has marked the difference between this season and last; they seemed to make all the right calls in 2015 and, if they'd done so this year would probably have 2 or 3 wins. I suppose the difference is that last year there was no pressure - it was trying to put Mercedes under pressure but with no one coming up behind (or often just in front) - which makes it easier to be bold.

[turbof1]

Classic Rosberg luck...no brake or tire problems...just one more lap and maybe we could have got a pass from Dani! There's no explanation to Rosberg's form this year! His luck is just unbelievable...it's got to be his year!

i think you did not own any car or have never driven a car in your life or for sure did not watch the race.

Be fair when someone does a better job , i am not a fan of him but he did all right things yesterday and managed everything well.
please refrain from armchair analysis and keep fanboyism in check. Enough ham/alo/vettel fans in this forum. we need more racing fans. before you jump on me i must admit that i must tell you that i am not a Rosberg fan.

I do own a car, yes i drive it and yes i did watch the race from start to finish! You just saw only one of my comments that's why you say that! Just see what i said in the other comments a bit after this one and you will understand what i am talking about! Also i'm a huge Formula 1 fan and the thing i most care about is people enjoying it instead of saying to me "oh MotoGP is the best"!! So before you jump on me like i am a 15 year old that watched F1 for the first time, just go on and check more of my comments!

It wasn't luck that made Rosberg won the race - he simply was better all weekend. He had a good start, and did not once put a foot wrong. If he'd lost the race because Ricciardo was on new tyres, it ultimately would have been caused by Mercedes themselves by pitting Hamilton and triggering a chain of events which led to Ricciardo getting a free stop.

And for the record: he had the same brake "problems" as Hamilton. Or rather: had to deal with the same management. The reason why he had no brake or tyre issues, was because he managed those properly.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

-I am sure Dietrich M would have loved the outcome of Verstappen's race, after seeing an out of favorToro Rosso driver ruining another good result for the Senior Team. It was worth seeing Marko's bland face while it was all unfolding.
-Good job from Mercedes in giving a stupid strategy for Lewis, despite knowing he had no pace and bolting a set of Softs on the first stop, where Ricciardo was given an SS from his team. Were they afraid that Lewis might have got an advantage over Nico? Lewis himself complained about not giving SS. In the end they did gave him a 3 stopper to avoid further embarrassment.
-Ferrari. They will remain Ferrari forever. Great job from Vettel there, a faultless drive on his favorite circuit. Should thank Kvyat this time for holding up Verstappen.

[AMG.Tzan]

i think you did not own any car or have never driven a car in your life or for sure did not watch the race.

Be fair when someone does a better job , i am not a fan of him but he did all right things yesterday and managed everything well.
please refrain from armchair analysis and keep fanboyism in check. Enough ham/alo/vettel fans in this forum. we need more racing fans. before you jump on me i must admit that i must tell you that i am not a Rosberg fan.

I do own a car, yes i drive it and yes i did watch the race from start to finish! You just saw only one of my comments that's why you say that! Just see what i said in the other comments a bit after this one and you will understand what i am talking about! Also i'm a huge Formula 1 fan and the thing i most care about is people enjoying it instead of saying to me "oh MotoGP is the best"!! So before you jump on me like i am a 15 year old that watched F1 for the first time, just go on and check more of my comments!

It wasn't luck that made Rosberg won the race - he simply was better all weekend. He had a good start, and did not once put a foot wrong. If he'd lost the race because Ricciardo was on new tyres, it ultimately would have been caused by Mercedes themselves by pitting Hamilton and triggering a chain of events which led to Ricciardo getting a free stop.

And for the record: he had the same brake "problems" as Hamilton. Or rather: had to deal with the same management. The reason why he had no brake or tyre issues, was because he managed those properly.

Yeah he was superior the whole weekend like Baku! The whole luck thing i am refering to is luck the whole year (engine problems and so on). Let's just hope that Ham will get back into it and the championship has a bit of drama to the end!

[Juzh]

You are stating that speed, at Singapore, with it's 250 meter straight, is solid evidence of who has more horsepower?
Tell me Sevach, other than exquisite sarcasm, are you versed in traction, drag and corner speed?

I don't know if you're joking or just gone completely off the rails.

I'll just repost those links with actual numbers in them, something you've failed to provide in all your posts:
http://www.fia.com/file/47763/download?token=WntHAqoT
http://www.fia.com/file/47762/download?token=_KQRR18z


Singapore speed traps in particular highlighted how much more power mercedes has EXACTLY for the reason you yourself are citing. Even on the short straights of singapore mercedes PU was still able to destroy every other PU. It didn't need a kilometer long straight to stretch it's muscles, those short bursts were enough to leave others far behind already. This further cements the fact they have a lot more peak power than even ferrari do.

As for all the drag and stuff. A car 5s off the pace was highest speed trap (wehrelin 314,5). A car with a semi-good overall balance was 3rd fastest (massa 313,8), whereas mercedes with probably the best or at least equal best corner exit is not topping the charts. Is mercedes a draggy car now? This whole argument is moot.

But just the matter of fact that on all 3 high speed traps on this circuit mercedes powered cars are top 8 out 8, top 7 out 8 and top 8 out 8 should tell you everything you need to know.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

It wasn't luck that made Rosberg won the race - he simply was better all weekend. He had a good start, and did not once put a foot wrong. If he'd lost the race because Ricciardo was on new tyres, it ultimately would have been caused by Mercedes themselves by pitting Hamilton and triggering a chain of events which led to Ricciardo getting a free stop.

You are missing the context here. Luck in relative situation to Lewis. Nico is lucky that ALL THE PROBLEMS are happening to Lewis this year. Nothing Strange I guess.
-Lewis has a great Friday in Canada and Baku and suddenly on Saturday his car is nowhere (not so much in Canada though).
-He has a great FP1 in Singapore and suddenly, there was a silly Hydraulic issue. Kudos to Mercedes team.
-Clutch problems hamper Lewis in Australia, Bahrain, Spain, Canada and Italy.
-Let's not even talk about other failures.

And for the record: he had the same brake "problems" as Hamilton. Or rather: had to deal with the same management. The reason why he had no brake or tyre issues, was because he managed those properly.

Really? It's one thing to remain in free air and manage and it's another to be stuck behind another car AND still manage.

[sosic2121]

It wasn't luck that made Rosberg won the race - he simply was better all weekend. He had a good start, and did not once put a foot wrong. If he'd lost the race because Ricciardo was on new tyres, it ultimately would have been caused by Mercedes themselves by pitting Hamilton and triggering a chain of events which led to Ricciardo getting a free stop.

And for the record: he had the same brake "problems" as Hamilton. Or rather: had to deal with the same management. The reason why he had no brake or tyre issues, was because he managed those properly.

While Hamilton is more aggressive, and he's better at it than Rosberg, it seems Rosberg understands the car better. We have seen this couple of times.
I have noticed also often Rosberg can "find" more performance between Q2 and Q3,but actually I think he is just trying to save his race tires.
IMO there are many things Ros does better than Ham.

[turbof1]

It wasn't luck that made Rosberg won the race - he simply was better all weekend. He had a good start, and did not once put a foot wrong. If he'd lost the race because Ricciardo was on new tyres, it ultimately would have been caused by Mercedes themselves by pitting Hamilton and triggering a chain of events which led to Ricciardo getting a free stop.

You are missing the context here. Luck in relative situation to Lewis. Nico is lucky that ALL THE PROBLEMS are happening to Lewis this year. Nothing Strange I guess.
-Lewis has a great Friday in Canada and Baku and suddenly on Saturday his car is nowhere (not so much in Canada though).
-He has a great FP1 in Singapore and suddenly, there was a silly Hydraulic issue. Kudos to Mercedes team.
-Let's not even talk about other failures.

And for the record: he had the same brake "problems" as Hamilton. Or rather: had to deal with the same management. The reason why he had no brake or tyre issues, was because he managed those properly.

Really? It's one thing to remain in free air and manage and it's another to be stuck behind another car AND still manage.

I really do not want to extrapolate an entire unfinished season of good luck/bad luck over the course of one race, just to demean the effort Rosberg put in for this race. All I am saying is Rosberg did a good and clean job this race, without the involvement of luck [in this particular race].

Really? It's one thing to remain in free air and manage and it's another to be stuck behind another car AND still manage.

And he still did a good job nonetheless. Instead of trying to compare everything with Hamilton over and over again, and trying to find each time arguments to belittle Rosberg's effort [in this particular race], is it really that hard to say "Rosberg did not put a foot wrong this race. Good for him." My own comment btw was not to compare the performances of Hamilton and Rosberg, but rather to point out he had similar "problems"as Hamilton. Wolff did say so post-race that brake cooling has been compromised for better overall performance, which required more lift and coast from both drivers throughout the race. It's not like Rosberg could just brake as hard as he could each time.

You know just as well I btw critizised Rosberg for his mistakes in the past. I put criticism where's due, but also praise where is due.

[
Yeah he was superior the whole weekend like Baku! The whole luck thing i am refering to is luck the whole year (engine problems and so on). Let's just hope that Ham will get back into it and the championship has a bit of drama to the end!

In that regard you are correct. I also hope we'll get a sensational climax in Abu Dhabi.