2008 Singapore Grand Prix

All you want to know about 2008 Singapore Grand Prix

Flag of Singapore  2008 Singapore Grand Prix
Race details
Race 15 of 18 in the 2008 Formula One season.
Marina Bay Street Circuit
Marina Bay Street Circuit
Date September 28 2008
Official name 2008 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix
Location Marina Bay, Singapore
Course Street Circuit
5.067 km (3.148 mi)
Distance 61 laps, 309.087 km (192 mi)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Flag of Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari
Time 1:44.801
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
Time 1:45.599 on lap 14
Podium
First Flag of Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
Second Flag of Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
Third Flag of the United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, formally known as the 2008 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, was the fifteenth race of the 2008 Formula One season and the first Singapore Grand Prix to be part of the Formula One World Championship. It is was held from 26–28 September at the newly built street circuit on the Marina Bay, Singapore.

It was the first ever Formula One race held at night and the 800th Formula One World Championship race overall. It was held at one of two new circuits in 2008, the other being at the 2008 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain.

The race, which was contested over 61 laps, was won by Fernando Alonso for the Renault team from 15th on the grid. Nico Rosberg claimed second in his Williams followed by Driver's Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton, driving for McLaren. The race extended Hamilton's lead in the Driver's standings to 7 points over rival Felipe Massa.

The last Singapore Grand Prix was held as a Formula Libre event in 1973, and won by Australian Vern Schuppan in a March.

Contents

Report

Practice

The controversial Turn 10 chicane kerbs

Hamilton set the fastest time in the first practice session on 26 September. He was followed by Ferraris of Massa and Räikkönen and Hamilton's teammate Kovalainen. Red Bull's Mark Webber suffered a crash on Turn 18 barriers, damaging his front suspension. A number of drivers faced problems in final turn of the track, including Honda's Rubens Barrichello who crashed backwards into barriers. Toyota's Jarno Trulli also spun on this turn and made his way into the pits by driving in the wrong direction. Trulli was fined €10,000 for his misconduct.[1][2]

Renault's Fernando Alonso was fastest in the second practice session, displacing Hamilton to second position with his final flying lap. The two were followed by Kovalainen, Massa and Nico Rosberg. In a close incident, Toro Rosso's Sébastien Bourdais almost ran into Nick Heidfeld of BMW Sauber as he exited from the pit lane into the first turn. In other incidents, Timo Glock lost his front wing on crashing into wall on Turn 7, Giancarlo Fisichella faced gearbox problems and Massa mistakenly took a wrong turn towards the escape road off the track.[3][4]

Alonso was also the fastest man on the track in the final practice session, with Hamilton and Massa second and third respectively. Multiple drivers faced problems with bumps on the track, narrowly avoiding accidents. Fisichella rammed his Force India VJM01 hard into the barriers when it flew off the kerbs on Turn 10 chicane. The accident caused front wing and suspension damages.[5][6]

Qualifying

Räikkönen topped the first qualifying session, ahead of Kovalainen and Hamilton. Nelson Piquet Jr., Sébastien Bourdais, Rubens Barrichello, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella were those who were eliminated in this session. Fisichella could not record a time during the session after he crashed into barriers at Turn 3 due to a punctured tyre, thus was 20th and last.[7] Barrichello was impeded during his second lap run by Nick Heidfeld and abandoned his lap to enter pits. Both Heidfeld and Barrichello were penalised for their maneuvers: Heidfeld was dropped three grids for blocking and Barrichello was fined €10,000 for unsafe pit lane entry, without using the deceleration zone.[8]

Just before the race

The second qualifying session was led by Felipe Massa, with Kovalainen and Räikkönen in second and third place. Alonso, despite his performance during practice sessions, was eliminated early in this session when his car suffered a fuel feed problem.[9] The others who missed the top ten were Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button and both Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard. Hamilton barely managed to reach the third session, after a driving mistake during his penultimate lap run.[7]

Massa took the pole position in the final session, with Hamilton, Räikkönen and Kubica completing first two rows of the grid. Massa secured his position by clocking lap time six-tenths faster than Hamilton, describing it as his best qualifying result of the season.[7] Kovalainen, managing fifth position, rued his tyre selections in the final session.[10] Heidfeld, Vettel and Glock scored sixth, seventh and eighth positions, with Williams drivers Rosberg and Nakajima were ninth and tenth.[11]

Race

Ferrari mechanics work on Felipe Massa's car during the safety car period while teammate Kimi Räikkönen waits behind him. The Brazilian was released with the fuel hose still attached to his car and nearly collided with Adrian Sutil.

The race began at 20:00 local time. At the start Massa, on pole position, championship rival Hamilton and Räikkönen all got through the first sequence of corners safely and retained their positions. Kubica and Kovalainen made contact at Turn 3, causing Kovalainen to lose two places to Glock and Vettel. Heidfeld and Alonso cut the first corner but they did not receive any penalty. Massa began to edge away from Hamilton, who in turn was moving away from Räikkönen. Jarno Trulli had begun the race on a heavy fuel load, and soon was holding up a number of cars with Williams' Nico Rosberg immediately behind him. It was not until the seventh lap that Rosberg finally passed the Trulli's Toyota, and soon Nakajima and Alonso came through as well.

At the front of the pack, Massa had built up a lead of over three seconds to Hamilton within the first ten laps, with Räikkönen a further seven seconds behind him. On lap twelve, Alonso was the first driver came into the pits. He switched his super-soft tyres for the soft compound tyres and rejoined at the back of the field. This was soon to play into the Renault driver's hands, as teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. hit the wall after losing control of his car at Turn 17 on lap fourteen, prompting the safety car to be deployed. With very little fuel left, Rosberg, Kubica and Rubens Barrichello had no choice but to pit despite the pit lane being closed. Barrichello's Honda then had a mechanical failure and became the second retirement of the race. After all the cars were behind the safety car, the pit lane was opened and nearly all the drivers pitted.

Despite qualifying down in fifteenth, Fernando Alonso took full advantage of pitting before the safety car period and his rivals' misfortunes, to take victory at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix.

With both Räikkönen behind him and the lead to contest with Hamilton, Ferrari accidentally released Massa prematurely with the fuel hose still attached to the car. Like in Valencia, the Brazilian was also released into the path of Adrian Sutil, who had to take action to avoid the Ferrari. Massa went the full length of the pitlane before stopping just before the exit. In the time it took the mechanics to run down the pitlane and remove the hose from the car, he had lost track position and was now at the back of the field. Because they had pitted, or were on one stop strategies and thus were not due in yet, a number of cars competing in the midfield prior to the safety car were leading the field. At the front were Rosberg, Trulli, Fisichella, Kubica, Alonso, Webber and Coulthard.

Rosberg started to pull away from the heavily fuelled Trulli and Fisichella with the Force India driver holding up most of the field behind him. During the next few laps, Felipe Massa was given a drive through penalty for an unsafe release from the pits opposed to the fine he received after a similar incident at the European Grand Prix. Rosberg and Kubica were given 10 second stop-go penalties for refuelling while the pitlane was closed. The Ferrari driver was the first of the trio to serve his penalty and rejoined the track in the same position in came in, last. Kubica was the second, coming into the pits in fourth and rejoining the race behind Massa. After building a lead of over fifteen seconds to Trulli, Rosberg served his penalty a lap later and rejoined the circuit in fourth behind Alonso. Jarno Trulli was now leading the race.

The podium, (left to right): Rosberg celebrates his best Grand Prix finish to date, Alonso takes the top step of the podium for the first time since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix exactly a year before, while Hamilton takes third to extend his lead over Massa in the Drivers' Championship.

A lap later, Fisichella came in from second to make his first pit stop, moving Alonso into second and Rosberg into third. Trulli led the race for a further four more laps before making his one and only stop of the night, giving the lead to Alonso. He soon pulled away from Rosberg who pitted from second on lap 41, rejoining in seventh. Alonso made his final stop a lap later and rejoined ahead of second and third place Coulthard and Hamilton. The same lap, the McLaren overtook the Red Bull at turn seven and both cars pitted at the end of the lap.

45 laps in to the race, Alonso led Timo Glock by just over six seconds and Rosberg by a further eleven seconds in third. The Toyota driver pitted two laps later, coming out in fifth. Four laps later, teammate Trulli began to slow down and soon retired after a mechanical failure. On the same lap, Räikkönen made his second and final stop of the race and rejoined in fifth. A lap later, Massa spun at Turn 18 and lightly tapped the tyre wall, Sutil also fell victim to the same corner, coming off worse than the Ferrari and broke his front suspension. He became the fifth retirement of the night.

The incident brought out the second safety car period of the race. With ten laps remaining, Alonso, Rosberg and Hamilton occupied the podium positions with Glock, Räikkönen, Vettel, Heidfeld and Coulthard making up the remaining spots in the top eight. After two laps, the safety car withdrew from the circuit with the Renault pulling away from the field. Rosberg was coming under pressure from Hamilton, who was looking to capitalize on Massa being out of the points. Three laps to go and while chasing Glock, Räikkönen bounced off the kerbs at the Turn 10 chicane and crashed into the barriers, promoting Nakajima into the points. Alonso maintained his lead over Rosberg and took his first win for Renault since his return to the team from McLaren. Rosberg took second and Hamilton settled for third. Massa finished in 13th place, and the points deficit between himself and Hamilton increased to seven points, improving Hamilton's chances of taking the Driver's Championship. With team-mate Räikkönen failing to finish, this was the first time the Ferrari team had failed to score any points in a race since the 2006 Australian Grand Prix.

Post-race

Fernado Alonso credited his success to the team's strategy and bit of luck. He said that the team chose a two-stop strategy with a short initial stint as opposed to a one-stop strategy, considering the difficulties of overtaking on the track and possibility of brake problems.[12] Nico Rosberg was pleased with his career best result,[12] although he recalled when he thought his efforts for a good finish might have been in vain after being given a stop-and-go penalty. He mentioned that he had to come in for the pit stops on the same lap that the safety car came out, and admitted that he was annoyed with the penalty.[13] Hamilton said that he tried to get close to Rosberg towards the final laps, after the second safety car period. However, seeing that overtaking was extremely risky, he decided against it, considering that neither of the Ferraris was going to score.[12]

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said that the reason for Massa's pit incident was not the electronic signalling system but a human error. He defended the electronic system saying that the system saves any reaction time for the driver as opposed to a standard "lollipop" system, and considering it was a human error, the incident may have happened with a lollipop as well.[14]

Toyota filed a protest against Toro Rosso for releasing Sebastian Vettel in Timo Glock's path during first pit stop.[15] The stewards however rejected Toyota's plea.[16]

Reactions

The international media and most of the F1 fraternity were united in lavishing accolades on the Republic, after a successful staging of the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix. Fears which were previously expressed about the weather, visibility and narrow nature of the circuit itself all proved unfounded. Organisation of the event itself was widely deemed to be impeccable as the ushering, transport, and security services all ran like clockwork. However, the drivers did complain about how bumpy the track was, particularly off the racing line, which made overtaking difficult on a street circuit hemmed in by barriers.[17]

Sports supremo and Formula One's commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone heralded the Singapore Grand Prix as the "new jewel in the Formula One sports crown", a phrase often used to describe the Monaco Grand Prix circuit.[18][19] He described Singapore as an example to follow and would make people reconsider their opinions of Asia.[20]

“ For years I've been saying go East, not West. When you think about it, most parts of Asia where people have visited, they sort of put everything in one basket - 'Singapore is the same as India, Malaysia and Thailand'. That's how they feel because they don't know any better. Hopefully this will open people's eyes and they'll say, my God, Singapore really is alive and well. ”

— F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone[21]

Several other prominent Formula One personalities were quoted as saying,

“ The guys here have done an absolutely unbelievable job. The effort that has gone into this circuit in the last 12 months is nothing short of phenomenal. I think of the spectacle of a night race, but not only have we got a night race, we have also got a great circuit, a really challenging circuit. They have just raised the bar considerably for a new circuit and the spectacle of racing at night in a big city such as Singapore is really exciting. ”

— Red Bull racing team principal, Christian Horner[20]
“ It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of Formula One. That is the most accurate thing to say. They have great weather, a very good track and the grandstands packed. I think there is a lot of enthusiasm out there. ”

— Williams team boss, Sir Frank Williams[22]
“ It is not just a new experience, it is a real big step in the history of grand prix racing because it has been done so well. Everything has been proven now and we can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world - either to bring to Europe the race at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular. ”

— McLaren Group chairman, Ron Dennis[23]
“ I think it is a big, big step forward for Formula One. The pictures, the atmosphere is really one of a kind and this gives a completely new experience to all the viewers worldwide but also to the spectators. That is very positive and the whole scenery I think is unreal. It is like in a movie and I think it is a big, big step. I think Bernie pushed very hard, so thanks to him. ”

—Mercedes Motorsport chief, Norbert Haug[24]
“ The most impressive thing for me is what an amazing job they have done here in Singapore to prepare the circuit. I cannot particularly fault it. I think they did a tremendous job, so I feel everyone deserves a real pat on the back because it is really impressive." ”

— McLaren F1 Driver, Lewis Hamilton[20]
“ Of course, when you race on a track that would work better as a circus rink or something along those lines, anything can happen, because the real show was put on yesterday by the safety car. This is humiliating for the F1 world. During the next few weeks, I would like discuss this with all the other teams. ”

— Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo[25]

Locally, Sunday's F1 night race on MediaCorp TV Channel 5 drew more viewers than the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in the previous month, becoming the highest-rated programme for the year. The average ratings for Sunday’s race were 17.8 per cent, or 789,000 viewers, as compared to 17.3 per cent (765,000 viewers) for the opening of the Beijing Games. The world’s inaugural F1 race under floodlights is reported to have been watched by an estimated global TV audience of about 400 million.[26]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Name Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 2 Flag of Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:44.519 1:44.014 1:44.801 1
2 22 Flag of the United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:44.501 1:44.932 1:45.465 2
3 1 Flag of Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:44.282 1:44.232 1:45.617 3
4 4 Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:44.740 1:44.519 1:45.779 4
5 23 Flag of Finland Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:44.311 1:44.207 1:45.873 5
6 3 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:45.548 1:44.520 1:45.964 9[1]
7 15 Flag of Germany Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:45.042 1:44.261 1:46.244 6
8 12 Flag of Germany Timo Glock Toyota 1:45.184 1:44.441 1:46.328 7
9 7 Flag of Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:45.103 1:44.429 1:46.611 8
10 8 Flag of Japan Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:45.127 1:44.826 1:47.547 10
11 11 Flag of Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:45.642 1:45.038 11
12 16 Flag of the United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 1:45.660 1:45.133 12
13 10 Flag of Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:45.493 1:45.212 13
14 9 Flag of the United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:46.028 1:45.298 14
15 5 Flag of Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:44.971 no time 15
16 6 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 1:46.037 16
17 14 Flag of France Sébastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:46.389 17
18 17 Flag of Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:46.583 18
19 20 Flag of Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:47.940 19
20 21 Flag of Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari no time 20[2]
  • ^  Nick Heidfeld penalised three grid position for impeding Rubens Barrichello during first qualifying session.[8]
  • ^  Giancarlo Fisichella started the race from the pitlane.[27]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Flag of Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 61 1:57:16.304 15 10
2 7 Flag of Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 61 +2.957 8 8
3 22 Flag of the United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 61 +5.917 2 6
4 12 Flag of Germany Timo Glock Toyota 61 +8.155 7 5
5 15 Flag of Germany Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 61 +10.268 6 4
6 3 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 61 +11.101 9 3
7 9 Flag of the United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 61 +16.387 14 2
8 8 Flag of Japan Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 61 +18.489 10 1
9 16 Flag of the United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 61 +19.885 12
10 23 Flag of Finland Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 61 +26.902 5
11 4 Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 61 +27.975 4
12 14 Flag of France Sébastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 61 +29.432 17
13 2 Flag of Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 61 +35.170 1
14 21 Flag of Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 61 +43.571 20
15 1 Flag of Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 Accident 3
Ret 11 Flag of Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 50 Hydraulics 11
Ret 20 Flag of Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 49 Accident 19
Ret 10 Flag of Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 29 Gearbox 13
Ret 17 Flag of Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 14 Mechanical 18
Ret 6 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 13 Accident 16

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Lewis Hamilton 84
2 Felipe Massa 77
3 Robert Kubica 64
4 Kimi Räikkönen 57
5 Nick Heidfeld 56
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 McLaren–Mercedes 135
2 Ferrari 134
3 BMW Sauber 120
4 Renault 51
5 Toyota 46

References

  1. ^ Matt Beer (2008-09-26). "Hamilton tops first ever night practice". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
  2. ^ "Practice One - Hamilton fastest in first-ever night session". Formula1.com (2008-09-26). Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
  3. ^ Matt Beer (2008-09-26). "Alonso quickest in second practice". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
  4. ^ "Practice Two - Alonso at the 11th hour". Formula1.com (2008-09-26). Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
  5. ^ Matt Beer (2008-09-27). "Alonso tops final practice in Singapore". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
  6. ^ "Final practice - Alonso sets Saturday pace in Singapore". Formula1.com (2008-09-27). Retrieved on 2008-09-27.
  7. ^ a b c "Qualifying - selected driver quotes". Formula1.com (2008-09-27). Retrieved on 2008-09-28.
  8. ^ a b "Heidfeld dropped, Barrichello fined after pit-entry confusion". Formula1.com (2008-09-27). Retrieved on 2008-09-28.
  9. ^ Matt Beer (2008-09-27). "Massa storms to Singapore GP pole". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-28.
  10. ^ "Singapore Saturday quotes: McLaren". Autosport.com (2008-09-27). Retrieved on 2008-09-28.
  11. ^ "Massa storms to first floodlit pole in Singapore". Formula1.com (2008-09-27). Retrieved on 2008-09-28.
  12. ^ a b c "FIA post-race press conference - Singapore". Formula1.com (2008-09-28). Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
  13. ^ Jonathan Noble, Pablo Elizalde (2008-09-28). "Rosberg thought penalty had ruined race". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
  14. ^ Jonathan Noble (2008-09-28). "Q & A with Stefano Domenicali". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
  15. ^ Jonathan Noble (2008-09-28). "Toyota lodge protest against Toro Rosso". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
  16. ^ Jonathan Noble (2008-09-28). "Stewards reject Toyota's protest". Autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
  17. ^ "BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Ferrari furious over Singapore GP". News.bbc.co.uk (September 30, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  18. ^ "Clear as day - everyone's an F1 winner with night racing, especially Fernando Alonso - Sportingo". Sportingo.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  19. ^ "Breaking News". Straitstimes.com (September 28, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  20. ^ a b c "Praise rings loudly for Singapore GP - Latest F1 news, stories, articles and photos for Singapore on MSN Singapore Sport". Sport.sg.msn.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  21. ^ "Breaking News". Straitstimes.com (September 28, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  22. ^ "Singapore big winner in F1 night race | ABS-CBN News Online Beta". Abs-cbnnews.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  23. ^ http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.singapore/browse_thread/thread/eeb7c7c9b5a7a176/473e75647eab382a?lnk=raot
  24. ^ Posted by admin on 30 Sep 2008 33 views. "Quotes from bigshots on Singapore F1 GP | Singapore F1". Singaporegp.org. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  25. ^ "Montezemolo sends a shock  "Ferrari is still the best" - Gazzetta dello Sport". English.gazzetta.it. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  26. ^ "TODAYonline". Todayonline.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.
  27. ^ "Fisichella to start from pitlane", Autosport.com (2008-09-28). Retrieved on 28 September 2008. 

External links

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