Alvin's Formula One Blog

This article was written by James Allen with the input of JA on F1 technical adviser Mark Gillan, former Williams F1 team chief operations engineer in order to analyse and understand what made Vettel so untouchable in Singapore and whether we should just pack up and go fishing instead for the rest of the season. This issue was blown up recently when former team owner Giancarlo Minardi who was at the race questioned Vettel's engine sounds as he was going round. "From my suite, I chose some mainstays as a reference point in order to monitor and compare the drivers' way of driving. I was impressed by Vettel's neat way of driving on that stretch of the track. He was able to drive all that stretch without making any corrections, unlike all his rivals (also his team-mate). On the same stretch, Sebastian was able to [accelerate] 50 metres before any other driver, Webber included. The thing that surprised me the most was the engine's output sound. Besides speeding up...

This is an excellent analysis done by Matt Somefield of Pitpass about the Singapore GP. To read the full article proceed HERE . Under the bright lights of the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore the teams encountered the polar opposite of the demands of the last round at Monza. This high downforce configuration street circuit puts huge demands on both the cars and drivers as they struggle to overcome the heat. Several revisions have been made to the track to improve safety with the largest coming in the form of an altered turn 10. Dubbed the Singapore Sling, the chicane that used to reside at T10 was replaced by a simple left-hander, much to the delight of the many drivers who have been airborne through there over the last few years. Simulations ahead of the Grand Prix by the teams was seeing an increase in apex speeds of around 40kmh, this would help to lower lap times by at least a second and help to get the race distance under the designated two hours. To read the full a...

Vettel won again, what did you think? And not only did he win it, he had spare pace with the ability to pull away 1 to 1.5 seconds per lap from everybody else. The pace of the RB9 was MONSTROUS, it was obscenely ridiculous. Actually, there was no race in Singapore last weekend, it was just a cruise to collect even more points to guarantee a fourth world title for Vettel. Behind him was a scrap, for whatever scraps that was left on the table. Alonso lost even more points to Vettel even though he finished second. Although there were a lot of good overtaking and fights behind, it was just a show. It is not a race when the victory was sealed on lap 2. Vettel had a 4.1 second gap to Rosberg on lap 2. What does that tell you? Even the safety car coming out didn't help much, Rosberg totally failing to do anything at the restart. Actually the race was set by qualifying already when Vettel took a strategy gamble on Saturday, opting not to do a final run to save a new set of supersoft ...

This article was expertly written by James Allen and explains why the Singapore GP has been very successful since day 1 and I completely agree. For the complete article proceed HERE . Why has Singapore quickly become one of F1′s most important and successful races, where events in places like Korea and India have floundered? Of course the charisma of the night race and the economic location of the event, in the business gateway to Asia are significant factors. But the reason why it works so well is the business model for organising the event. And it’s one other F1 races and aspiring hosts would do well to emulate. The key to it is a public/private model; a 60-40 split between the Singapore government and a private company owned by entrepreneur Ong Beng Seng, whose property, hotels and lifestyle business also extends to operating Ferrari dealerships in Singapore and Shanghai. Ong was the first to bring Haagen Dazs ice cream to Asia and is one of Singapore’s main concert promoter...

The Singapore Grand Prix is a motor race on the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The event takes place in Singapore on the Marina Bay Street Circuit and was the inaugural F1 night race and the first street circuit in Asia. Spaniard Fernando Alonso won the first edition of the grand prix, driving for the Renault F1 team although that win was tainted by the unexplained crashing of team mate Piquet Jr. The Singapore Grand Prix will remain on the F1 calendar through at least 2017, after race organizers signed a contract extension with Formula One Management on the eve of the 2012 event. Starting at 8pm (local time), two hours after darkness has fallen over the city-state, the Singapore Grand Prix is the only night race on the 2013 Formula 1 calendar. To enable visibility, the 5.073km Marina Bay circuit is lit up by 1,500 halogen lamps, giving a luminosity of 3,000 lux – as bright as daylight. The track is the second street circuit of the year, following on from Mo...