[Dirtycheat]

this reminds me so much of valencia. Remember what happened there?

massa 6 tenth of a second quicker , impressive

*touch wood*

[Mark]

Imposing Massa on pole in Singapore

Ferrari's Felipe Massa clinched pole position for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix, qualifying quickest under the floodlights for Formula One's first night-time race.

Originally Posted by eurosport.yahoo.com

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, a point ahead of Brazilian Massa in the standings with four races remaining, steered his McLaren to second on the grid with world champion Kimi Raikkonen to start third for Ferrari on Sunday.

It was the fifth pole position of the season for Massa, who also qualified quickest at the Monaco and Valencia street circuits.

Massa's time of one minute 44.801 seconds was a massive 0.664 seconds quicker than Hamilton.

BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica qualified in fourth place while McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was fifth.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso, who had topped the final two practice sessions and looked set to challenge for pole, suffered a huge disappointment when his engine died and he cruised to a halt midway through the second qualifying session.

The Spaniard held his head in his hands in frustration as his chance of a decent grid position evaporated.

But there was joy for the Williams team, who managed to get both their drivers in the top 10 for the first time this season.

Germany's Nico Rosberg will start from ninth on the grid while Japan's Kazuki Nakajima drove an inspired qualifying session to finish 10th, the best grid position of his career.

Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel, the 21-year-old who in Italy two weeks ago became the youngest driver to qualify on pole position before going on to become the youngest winner, qualified seventh.

Hamilton, who scraped into final qualifying by the skin of his teeth after a sub-par second session, said the experience of racing at night was still new to the drivers.

Qualifying got under way at 22:00 local (15:00 BST) in the South East Asia city-state, and Sunday's race begins at 20:00 (13:00 BST).

"Tonight was kind of crazy, quarter past 11 at night right now and I've never been driving at this time before. It is quite unique," said Hamilton.

The 23-year-old Briton acknowledged he was lucky to even make it into the third and final qualifying session after ending on the bubble in 10th place in Q2.

"I just missed my first lap. Unfortunately I didn't have enough fuel to do another lap so I had to come back in," he added.

"When I came back out I got stuck in traffic. It was very, very fortunate I got through."


Singapore GP - Qualifiying

Article Here!




Ferrari back with a douable on the podium of Quals, i'm hoping into a good race today from our pov.

[Dirtycheat]

when i said i wanted to see a repeat of valencia i wasnt aiming it at the pit crew. Why put a green light when you havent finished you bunch of baboons. Massa was flying before that. Next time massa should reverse and run the fuckers over.

How many times has ferrari let him down this year?

Full credit to alonso, almost fully deserved that victory. I hate him but he did good today.

I love the singapore circuit. It looks amazing, singapore itself looks amazing.


p/s just have to give a shout out to my main man raikonen. He nearly had me fooled, i genuinely believed he stopped drinking.

[funkdoctorspock]

Interesting how Massa and Ferrari do the exact same thing in Valencia and it results in a pit drive through + a 10 sec stop, but this time its a drive through. Same situation... hmmmm.

That was quite pleasing. Once that occurred, I knew he wasn't going to get back into the points. Completely one dimensional driver. Oh, him crashing into the wall was amusing too.

I don't know what to make of this road course. I'm big on tracks that have lots of passing opportunities. This course seemed to have only one. Which made it rather boring.

Kind of shocked at the way Kimi and Piquet crashed out.

Lets see how FIA and Ferrari try next to take the championship from Mr. Hamilton.

[Mark]

i didn't see the race, but i'm dissapointed about the race result, from Ferrari's fan point of view.

i'll came up with the review later or tommorow.

[Mark]

Alonso lights up Singapore

Renault driver springs surprise in Formula One's night debut

Fernando Alonso took his first victory of the season in the floodlit Singapore Grand Prix, Formula One's first night race.

The Renault driver's win was scripted by a combination of his aggressive approach and a flexible two-stop strategy that took advantage when the safety car was deployed after team-mate Nelson Piquet Jnr crashed out on lap 15.

Nico Rosberg finished second, just under three seconds behind in the Williams, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took third to extend his lead in the drivers' championship to seven points.

Hamilton's closest rival and pole sitter Felipe Massa led in the early stages before his race was ruined by an incident in the pitlane during while the safety car was out.

Massa was given the green light to leave the pits too early and ended up dragging the fuel hose away with him, knocking some of his Ferrari crew out of the way in the process.

The Brazilian stopped and waited for assistance and, after his mechanics had caught up and struggled to remove the hose, rejoined at the back of the field. He eventually finished out of the points in 13th.

The day very much belonged to Alonso, who started from 15th on the grid after fuel feed problems hampered his qualifying campaign.

The Spaniard, a two-time world champion during his first spell at Renault, endured a difficult single season at McLaren before rejoining the French manufacturers for 2008. The win is the 20th of his Formula One career but first since Monza last year.


Rosberg penalised


Rosberg led the race and BMW's Robert Kubica was fourth after the first round of stops, but both were subsequently penalised with stop-go penalties for pitting under safety car conditions before clearance was given, although they had been forced into those stops due to lack of fuel.

By delaying taking the sanction, Rosberg was able to spend a few laps at the front and then, even after his penalty, emerged only just behind Alonso.

Red Bull's Mark Webber was running in second place, just a second behind Alonso when he lost seventh gear on lap 30, forcing his retirement.

Force India's Adrian Sutil hit a barrier and blocked turn 18 on lap 52, prompting the safety car's second appearance.

That brought the whole field back together to completely negate the 23.5-second lead that Alonso had built.

On the resumption of racing, Alonso once again moved clear at the front and was thereafter untroubled on his way to the chequered flag.

Ferrari's miserable race had been completed when Kimi Raikkonen, who was running fifth at the time, crashed out with just four laps remaining.

The Finn launched from the second kerb on turn 10 and was unable to recover sufficiently before ploughing into the wall.

Toyota's Timo Glock finished fourth, while Sebastian Vettel followed up his Italian Grand Prix victory with a fifth place in his Toro Rosso.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld ended sixth, Red Bull's David Coulthard took seventh and Kazuki Nakajima of Williams finished eighth.


Review Here!

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX images - Sunday at Marina Bay | MORE HERE!


Singapore Grand Prix atmosphere | MORE HERE!

After 14 races the Drivers and Teams Standings are:


DRIVERS:







TEAMS:

[edioseffer]

Seems Massa will suffer the same as Hamilton last year. Too bad long time brazil dont have a champion.

[JamesRoyale]

it will be interesting to see if ferrari go back to the old lollipop system next year.

and surely no one would pick the automated one ferrari used this year, even though it can be slightly faster i doesnt seem worth it.

[funkdoctorspock]

For me personally, F1 in the past 3 years has been one calamity after the other.

From Ferarri and FIA being in bed together, to Bernie holding track organizers hostage for more money, to track officials lacking common sense, to Max Mosley shaming the sport with his personal life and his ridiculous objectives.

Now this...

The organisers of the Canadian GP are angry after learning through the media that the race had been dropped and have yet to be told why.

On Tuesday the FIA announced that Formula One would not be stopping off in Montreal next season, however, failed to give a reason for the race's axing.

Added to that they also failed to tell the organisers that it had been scrapped, with the Montreal bosses having to find out via the media.

"The organisers of the Canadian Grand Prix have learned through the media of the Canadian Grand Prix's removal from the 2009 Formula One championship calendar," the Canadian GP organisers said in a statement.

"Consequently, no comments will be issued before speaking with the interested parties, Formula One Management and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile."

However, according to CNN the reason for the axing is believed to be "contractual problems" between Circuit Gilles Villeneuve officials and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Barring a sabbatical in 1987, brought on by a dispute between local organisers and F1 over sponsorship, the Canadian GP has been held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve every year since 1978.

Source

One of the most profitable races of F1 axed from the calender because good ole Bernie and company found more money elsewhere.

Lets keep in mind that Montreal was a favourite among drivers, teams and fans!!!

Always sold out and always provided great racing/drama.

So the most eastern race now is in Brazil, which fortunate for them is locked up until '15. Everything else is in Europe/Asia/Austrailia.

Well done Bernie and crew. Way to put the icing on the cake on this season.

Oh, and just for you dirtycheat. Have a read...

Juan Pablo Montoya raced against Felipe Massa in Formula One for four years and it was plenty of time for him to form an assessment of the ability of Lewis Hamilton's rival for this year's world title.

Montoya, a former Williams and McLaren driver now racing in the American Nascar series, was asked recently whether Massa had the talent to be world champion.

"Next question," he said. "We'll skip that one."

Montoya's evasiveness reflected an apparently widespread belief that it would somehow not be quite right if Massa eroded Hamilton's useful but far from commanding seven-point advantage in the three remaining Grands Prix and won this year's drivers' title.

The general perception of the Brazilian throughout F1 is pretty straightforward - he's quick, but a bit wild and unpredictable, and too lacking in consistency and all-round qualities to be considered truly out of the top drawer.

But how fair is that assessment?

Juan Pablo Montoya raced against Felipe Massa in Formula One for four years and it was plenty of time for him to form an assessment of the ability of Lewis Hamilton's rival for this year's world title.

Montoya, a former Williams and McLaren driver now racing in the American Nascar series, was asked recently whether Massa had the talent to be world champion.

"Next question," he said. "We'll skip that one."

Montoya's evasiveness reflected an apparently widespread belief that it would somehow not be quite right if Massa eroded Hamilton's useful but far from commanding seven-point advantage in the three remaining Grands Prix and won this year's drivers' title.

The general perception of the Brazilian throughout F1 is pretty straightforward - he's quick, but a bit wild and unpredictable, and too lacking in consistency and all-round qualities to be considered truly out of the top drawer.

But how fair is that assessment?

One man in a better position to judge than most is Honda team principal Ross Brawn, who was technical director at Ferrari during Massa's first season as a race driver for the team in 2006, as well as when he was their test driver in 2003.

"I think he would be a worthy world champion," said Brawn. "There is no issue there.

"He has been a bit of a slow grower, really, in that he was quite reckless and made a lot of mistakes early in his career but he was always very quick.
"I think he would be a worthy world champion," said Brawn. "There is no issue there.

"He has been a bit of a slow grower, really, in that he was quite reckless and made a lot of mistakes early in his career but he was always very quick.

"In the year I worked with him at Ferrari, we had our ups and downs during the year but I think he has performed extremely well. Felipe has come on a long way."

The question, though, is how far? Does Massa yet deserve a place among the sport's elite or is he merely a very good F1 driver who has found himself in the best car and made the most of his chance?

Massa's supporters are quick to point out how much he has improved since he joined Ferrari, how he has often outpaced world champion Kimi Raikkonen this year and - apparently most persuasively - how he beat seven-time champion Michael Schumacher fair and square a couple of times when they were team-mates in 2006.

But it is debatable just how valid those arguments are.

Massa has indeed improved since he joined Ferrari - but he remains inconsistent. The man who drove to sublime victories in Turkey and Bahrain this year is the same one who spun an embarrassing five times in the wet in the course of the British Grand Prix.

The comparison with Raikkonen is clouded by the Finn's mystifyingly plummeting form, which has left it far from clear whether the world champion remains the defining yardstick he has been in the past.

And despite Raikkonen's troubles, there have been races where what is considered the natural order of things has been restored and he has been clearly ahead of Massa.

But it is the Schumacher comparison that is most voiced in Massa's defence - and which simply does not stand up to analysis.

Massa won two races in 2006, in both of which the great German was still running at the finish. However, it is not true to say - as some do - that Massa was ever quicker than Schumacher - or even anywhere near him.

In Turkey, Massa qualified on pole, with Schumacher alongside him on the front row. But Schumacher was carrying eight laps' more fuel in his car, worth nearly a second in terms of lap-time deficit - and was still on course to beat Massa had he not made a mistake on his qualifying lap.

The heavier fuel load meant Schumacher would have easily beaten Massa in the race. But an awkwardly timed safety car meant Schumacher was queued behind Massa in the pits and the delay left him stuck behind Fernando Alonso's Renault, where he stayed for the rest of the race.

The only other time Massa beat Schumacher was in Brazil, when Schumacher qualified in 10th position as a result of an engine failure and then suffered a puncture early in the race.

Of course, it is no shame to be outpaced by Schumacher in the same car but it is other aspects of Massa's F1 career that many of his critics cannot get past.

This is the guy who was outqualified by an average of 0.221 seconds by Nick Heidfeld in his debut season for Sauber in 2002 - and by about 0.5secs by Giancarlo Fisichella in his next F1 season, 2004.

Heidfeld and Fisichella are good drivers but they are not on the same level as someone like Schumacher, Alonso or Hamilton.

In Massa's defence, he was inexperienced when he came up against them but then so was Alonso when the Spaniard destroyed Jarno Trulli - who is arguably faster than both Heidfeld and Fisichella - at Renault in 2003.

Massa has driven to some impressive victories - but, excluding the ones he inherited in France and Belgium this year, all but one of his 10 wins have come when he has started from pole position, and the other was when he took the lead off the start-line.

He looks less comfortable beginning a race from anywhere else.

And he still leans far more heavily on his race engineer at Ferrari, Rob Smedley, than would be expected of a driver in contention for the world title.

At Monaco this year, for example, Smedley needed to convince Massa that the Ferrari would go through the tricky first corner, Sainte Devote, much faster than he was driving it.

"It took a bit of persuasion, to be honest," revealed Smedley. "I thought we were going to have an off-camera fight but you have to have that relationship.

"It's so tight and it's so close that if the driver doesn't have someone backing him up who he can trust 100% - and that is the key point, there has to be 100% trust - then he is out on his own.

"The sport is so competitive, it's just really not possible to do everything on your own. Monte Carlo was one example you guys (the media) know about. There are many more.

"We have a lot of telemetry and you can see the car underneath him will do something that he sometimes doesn't trust in and it's just a question of pushing him or forcing him to do it."

Despite this need to hold Massa's hand, though, Smedley says he is convinced his man has what it takes to overhaul Hamilton.

"You've got a world champion in the making," he insisted. "He's doing everything right this year. The whole team is behind him and everyone is pushing as hard as we can.

"He keeps delivering and he has to keep delivering if he wants to win the world championship. He knows that, we know that, and we just have to do it."

Should Massa succeed, there will be those who will shake their heads and say he is among F1's less deserving world champions.

But, for Brawn, that would be unfair. Ask him where Massa ranks in F1's current crop and he said: "If he's not at the top, he's very close.

"Felipe has got to show he can drive a team along, that when a team is not quite there he's one of the people who is standing behind it and making it work, in the way that obviously Michael was able to do at Ferrari.

"Even in the bad years Michael was a very strong element in helping to put it right.

"I guess those talents have got to be displayed for Felipe to stand up there with those sort of icons but there's no reason he can't.

"He has been maturing very well over the last couple of years. He has the speed and ability and the other side is coming along very well."

Source

[Dirtycheat]

OMG i never thought i would see the day where a british journalist for a british news group would write something bad or slightly negative/sceptical about someone who is challenging someone british. Thats absurd, what is happening to the world?


Basically I dont agree with something for the sole basis that i read it on the internets or i saw it on tv or a paper. I would much rather watch the race which tells me a lot more and is how it is. Journalists will twist anything up just to get the job done an get paid.


personally, i aint gunna bother arguing his case much more. We both put our pride where our mouths are and touch wood, i wont be the one doing the forfeit. The article doesnt change the bet