Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen
Concrete Labyrinth
by Pete Vack
Photos courtesy and copyright FerrariMedia
Erik Nielsen is traveling.
There must be something about Singapore the cameras just aren’t catching. While the guys at SpeedTV (and a great crew they are), were waxing about the glories of the Singapore Grand Prix on this island nation, what appeared on our Plasma was a concrete labyrinth consisting of myriads of Armco, ungainly fencing hung over miles of concrete barriers, all artificially and cruelly lit by fifteen hundred lights, the result looking more like a modern prison camp than a glamorous race venue. Granted, magnificent Monaco looks much that way during its game day as well, but that doesn’t mean the effect is worth repeating. Ah, well, give me the old Ring circuit any day.
On that subject, we might mention that one of the real ball busting circuits left to the F1 crowd, Spa Francorchamps, has been denied license to hold an F1 race for the next 17 years, due to noise. Not by the FIA, but local authorities. The case is on appeal, but we may have lost one of the few real road courses left. Well, there is always Bahrain.
Singapore was a lousy, boring race, but a hotbed of rumors, changes, broken contracts and gossip about the Renault fiasco. Ferrari wanted out of Kimi’s reported 50 million dollar a year agreement, and thinks that Alonso will cost less and win more. Perhaps. Alonso must come with big purse strings. The Spaniard finished third, after winning (?) the scandal-ridden event last year.
Giancarlo Fisichella
So,
for next year, our star team will oust Raikkonen, pay for Alonso, wait for Massa and in the meantime put a disappointed Fisichella on reserve status, whatever that means–probably bench warming next to Badoer. Massa thinks he can drive in a Go Kart event in Brazil next month, but officially, Ferrari is not booking a timeline for Massa’s return.
Raikkonen, who placed a very uninspired 10th at Singapore, is off to McLaren and will play second fiddle to Hamilton, whose victory through Singapore’s cement tunnels was pretty convincing. That combination should make for great dinner conversation at Woking.
Toyota, with a great second place finish (I’m sorry, there is no such thing as great second place finish) may stay in the racing game yet, but two hours before the race they informed Timo Glock that they would not pick up the option on his contract for 2010. He went on to finish in second anyway, despite the odds that both he and Toyota may be missing from next year’s grids.
Another young charger, Sebastian Vettel, drove an intelligent race, not losing his head when he was charged with a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, all while the Red Bull cars featured brakes with exploding discs. The team pulled the cars out of the race, but for some reason Vettel escaped and managed to finish in fourth, ahead of the Brawn team. The Red Bull brake problems put an end to Weber’s drive and his hopes for a shot at the championship.
Kimi Raikkonen
Button finished fifth ahead of Barrichello, maintaining a points distance over his teammate. He needed that, as Barrichello is the only guy who realistically has a chance to win the title from Button. It would be nice to see Rubens win the championship, but by now it might be too much like those last minute OSCARs Hollywood awards mediocre actors in the twilight of their lives.
Despite narrow corridors and rotting contracts, most of the F1 boys were in good form. During the race, only Adrian Sutil, with ”brainless behavior” spun and caught Nick Heidfeld in the process while frantic course workers scrambled to pick up pieces, running from here to there with nowhere to go.
The Renault fiasco was the talk of the town, and the effects have not yet been fully felt throughout the F1 community. Renault lost face, sponsors, dollars, and their team leader but promises to go forward supporting F1. For that, we can be thankful.
But thank goodness Briatore is gone forever. Now we don’t have to edit our F1 Editor Erik Nielsen’s constant comments about the guy (but Mrs. N. will still have to hear them), obviously as unsavory as Erik had always said he was. Gone and quickly forgotten, especially by Renault.
Stefano Domenicali and Amedeo Felisa
We save our last for Nelson Piquet Jr., who neither placed nor raced at Singapore this year. Whatever the circumstances, it is clear that he willingly agreed to crash a race car (no small shunt, either), putting every other car in the field in jeopardy, risking harm to both himself, his fellow drivers, and spectators alike. His apologies are as shallow as his character. May he join Briaotore, somewhere far away from the madding crowd.
Japan, next week.
Race Results
| 1 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 1h56m06.337s |
| 2 | GLOCK | Toyota | + 9.6s |
| 3 | ALONSO | Renault | + 16.6s |
| 4 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | + 20.2s |
| 5 | BUTTON | Brawn-Mercedes | + 30.0s |
| 6 | BARRICHELLO | Brawn-Mercedes | + 31.8s |
| 7 | KOVALAINEN | McLaren-Mercedes | + 36.1s |
| 8 | KUBICA | BMW Sauber | + 55.0s |
| 9 | NAKAJIMA | Williams-Toyota | + 56.0s |
| 10 | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | + 58.8s |
| 11 | ROSBERG | Williams-Toyota | + 59.7s |
| 12 | TRULLI | Toyota | + 73.0s |
| 13 | FISICHELLA | Ferrari | + 79.8s |
| 14 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | + 93.5s |
| 15 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 14 laps, brakes |
| 16 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 14 laps, gearbox |
| 17 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 16 laps, brakes |
| 18 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 38 laps, accident damage |
| 19 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber | + 42 laps, accident |
| 20 | GROSJEAN | Renault | + 58 laps, brakes |
| Fastest Lap |
ALONSO | Renault | 1m48.240s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | BUTTON | Brawn-Mercedes | 84 Points |
| 2 | BARRICHELLO | Brawn-Mercedes | 69 Points |
| 3 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 59 Points |
| 4 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 51.5 Points |
| 5 | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | 40 Points |
| 6 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 37 Points |
| 7 | ROSBERG | Williams-Toyota | 30.5 Points |
| 8 | ALONSO | Renault | 26 Points |
| 9 | GLOCK | Toyota | 24 Points |
| 10 | TRULLI | Toyota | 22.5 Points |
| 11 | MASSA | Ferrari | 22 Points |
| 12 | KOVALAINEN | McLaren-Mercedes | 22 Points |
| 13 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber | 12 Points |
| 14 | KUBICA | BMW Sauber | 9 Points |
| 15 | FISICHELLA | Ferrari | 8 Points |
| 16 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 5 Points |
| 17 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | 3 Points |
| 18 | BOURDAIS | STR-Ferrari | 2 Points |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | BRAWN-MERCEDES | 153 Points |
| 2 | RBR-RENAULT | 110.5 Points |
| 3 | FERRARI | 62 Points |
| 4 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 59 Points |
| 5 | TOYOTA | 46.5 Points |
| 6 | WILLIAMS-TOYOTA | 30.5 Points |
| 7 | RENAULT | 26 Points |
| 8 | BMW SAUBER | 21 Points |
| 9 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 13 Points |
| 10 | STR-FERRARI | 5 Points |