What did we learn? Well, we learned there is no such animal as a 100 percent reliable car. Millions are spent to produce race cars that will last a minimum of two hours, but even race leader Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) would find that his gearbox decided that 24 laps were enough. Not only did that mean he retired from the Singapore GP with no points, but he will incur a five place grid demotion for the next race in Japan. This rule that components have to last X number of meetings is nonsense. No team is going to send out their driver knowing they have a faulty gearbox. It is enough of a penalty that they do not finish the race. Why then penalize them for the next one as well?
So to the race. Until his retirement, Hamilton was the undisputed leader. Pole by a large margin and running away with the race, until the gearbox problem. Inheriting the lead, The Finger (Vettel, Red Bull) just maintained the position and cruised to the end, bringing him into second in the WDC. He is certainly now within striking distance of the leader Alonso (Ferrari). Vettel’s team mate Webber has really thrown away all his chances in the WDC with a very mediocre race which even ended up with him receiving a 20 second penalty for a clumsy pass on Kobayashi, demoting him to 11th and outside the points.
Third was Mr. Consistency Fernando Alonso (Ferrari). Never within a cooee of challenging for the top step of the podium, but always there. His team mate Massa ‘lucked’ his way into 8th, and 30 seconds behind Alonso. More on Massa later in this article.
Driver of the day (sorry, evening) for me was Paul Di Resta (Force India) who finished in 4th, stayed out of trouble all weekend and deserved his final placing. His team mate Hulkenberg, who excelled in the lower formulae, just seems out of his depth in F1, but his place at Force India has been guaranteed by Vijay Mallya.
On a street circuit such as Monaco and Singapore, any over-driving soon shows up. Number one over-driver of the weekend was undoubtedly Bruno Senna (Williams). His driving showed the desperation of a driver knowing that his seat will be sold to someone else for 2013. Goodbye Bruno, you have an illustrious name, but that’s not enough, I am afraid.
Other drivers lining up at the exit door for 2012 include Kobayashi (Sauber) who has not shown any of the banzai of previous years, and has been sadly shown up by team mate Perez. Next to him at the off-ramp is Massa (Ferrari) who has just not been anywhere near his team mate Alonso. Towering over the diminutive Sauber and Ferrari drivers (they are both dwarves) is Michael Schumacher (Mercedes). Still the most illustrious driver in the history of the sport, but now too many crashes amongst the good laps reminiscent of the old days. Time for Michael to call it quits. The hapless Russian Petrov will also have to walk the plank at Caterham. The rubles have run out, and so has his talent. Goodbye Vitaly. And finally there is Kathikeyan in the HRT. Even national pride giving him sponsorship from Tata, he has to go. The cost of repairs to his car now being greater than the money he brought in. He will be selling suits with a silk shirt next year.
Finally, was it a great race? No, and it never will be, no matter who they have as post-race party people, fireworks and publicists. The track is too narrow, the corners are too close together and the novelty of ‘under lights’ has worn off. However, if you like to see crashes, reserve your seat for 2013.
