F1 Night Race

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

I was jogging on 3rd gear along the Siglap Park Connector at around 5.30pm on Sunday, when I overtook 3 Italians (they looked Italians) walking around the Chicane (200m from East Coast Road), one of them holding the chequered flag with the Prancing Horse. I immediately hit the brakes and slowed down to 1st gear and had a short chat with them while coasting on first gear. Told them it was going to rain during the race (knowing that the Maclarens have a better chance of winning in wet conditions than the Ferraris). The 3 Italians disagreed. Then I put up my right fist and rooted for Maclarens, whereupon the boos started issuing out of the Italians' exhausts.  I immediately shifted into 7th gear and scooted out of sight and finished my last lap for the weekend.

Massa messed up. Maclarens won by default. So, what do you think of the first Formula 1 night race last night?

[Rosie]

Really enjoyed it.  I'm not a fan of F1 generally and thought I would be bored stiff, but last night was fab!  I was watching on TV, but with the windows open, I could hear it quite clearly (we're at Tg Rhu).  Singapore at night looked fantastic - it was a stroke of genius to make it a night race here.

Thanks, cmdsea, for the ticket to Sat night.  I think the walkabout tickets are great value.  Although my husband had a grandstand seat, we spent the whole time 'trackside'.  Got a great position on the entrance to the Nat Day parade stand.

Cheque is on its way to SPCA.

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

Well, I thought the real circus was the Ferrari refueling team at the pit stop. Am I dour or what? Or am I living up to my name and being sour?

* * *

Reuters - Wednesday, October 1

MILAN, Sept 30 - Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has poured scorn on Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, saying the "circus" track and the use of the safety car had been humiliating for Formula One.
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Formula One's first night race drew rave reviews from participants and onlookers, including the sport's delighted supremo Bernie Ecclestone, but was one to forget for the Italian team.

Brazilian title contender Felipe Massa had his race ruined by a bungled pit stop while faltering world champion Kimi Raikkonen crashed near the end.

"When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen including the spectacle of the Safety Car," Montezemolo was quoted as saying in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

"All this is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams in the next few weeks."

Singapore saw two safety car interventions, the first of which turned the race upside down and contributed to Spaniard Fernando Alonso's unexpected victory for Renault.

Montezemolo, appointed this month as the first chairman of the Formula One Teams Association, said before the race that street circuits and the lack of overtaking opportunities were not the right way forward for the sport.

Ferrari's failure to score any points in Singapore meant McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, third behind winner Fernando Alonso, extended his championship lead over Massa to seven points with three races left.

Finn Raikkonen is out of contention but Montezemolo still sounded confident.

"We have the best Ferrari, Massa is the best. I expect... Raikkonen to show he is world champion in the remaining races, to help Massa, to race for the good of the team and to finish in front of the McLarens," he said.

The team president also backed the mechanics who gave Massa the green light during a pit stop despite the fuel hose still being attached to the car as he sped away.

"We have extraordinary mechanics who in other occasions have swung results our way. We must stay close to each other because Ferrari are always world champions and are still in the running to win," Montezemolo added.

[cmdsea]

Hi Rosie. Glad you enjoyed it. I got so drunk at Zouk at the friday night practice sessions I really cant remember much of the weekend at all... ;-)

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

Ferrari threaten to quit Formula One over new engine plan

LONDON, Oct 28 — Ferrari warned yesterday that they could quit Formula One if the sport's governing body continues with its plans to slash costs. The famous Italian team, which has been in Formula One since its inauguration in 1950, sent a firm signal to the FIA president, Max Mosley, that his idea of introducing so-called standard engines into the sport would take away their raison d'être for competing in motor racing.

Last week the Ferrari team sporting director, Stefano Domenicali, and Toyota's Formula One vice-president, John Howett, met Mosley to discuss the issue of cost-cutting, which would also help the smaller teams survive. But the issue of standard engines has pushed them too far. Ferrari, in a statement released following a board meeting yesterday, said they "fully agreed with the need for a substantial and necessary reduction of costs".

But the Italian firm said it had "major reservations" over any proposals that would lead to teams using the same engines: "It would deprive Formula One of its whole reason for existing, which is based on competition and technological development. If these elements were to become obsolete, our administrative council [board] reserves the right, after consultation with its partners, to evaluate whether we remain committed to the discipline [of Formula One]."

Ferrari have been historically closely aligned with the FIA and the sport's commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, and it will not have escaped Mosley's attention that they are one of the few Formula One teams who have, in the past, successfully forced the governing body to back down from rule changes with which they disapproved. At the end of 1986 Ferrari forced the FIA to abandon plans to ban V12 engines in favour of V10s.

Howett echoed Ferrari's sentiments yesterday, and said any decision to quit would be down to the company's board in Japan. "I don't think any of the manufacturers want a homogenised engine," said Howett. Mercedes, Honda, Renault and BMW are the other four manufacturers currently involved in Formula One, and it is understood they are of the same mind. — Guardian