SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

It's stressful enough when you know you're in for a street circuit. And it's equally bad when you know you're in for a night race.

But a night race on a street circuit??

That was sure to breed some interesting drama.

Sure enough, we were not let down.

Although this race did result in my three favorite drivers standing on the podium, (a fantastic sight, I have to say), they didn't end up in the order that seemed fair. Charles won the last two races with spectacular fights, every inch earning his win. Things were looking great for Charles to get his first three wins and do it in three consecutive weekends, but that's when Ferrari stepped in and remembered their oath to treat Charles like the wingman.

Even though he was the only one to win Ferrari any races before Singapore. And not just one race. Two races. And that doesn't count the, minimum, two other victories he had stolen from him earlier this year in Bahrain (Ferrari's fault) and Austria (Ferrari's fault and also Max is so fantastic).

Yes, Seb should have won for Ferrari in Canada. But after Canadagate 2019, in which the FIA over-penalized Seb for an (admittedly ostentatious) mistake in order to give Mercedes the advantage, the end result was that it just wasn't how things went down. In the end, Canada went to Mercedes, not Ferrari this year.

I cannot believe that, after all Charles has done for Ferrari in his first year there, they're still treating Charles like he's second best. As far as I'm concerned, the Italian Grand Prix cinched it: the Ferrari boys officially went from Vettel and Leclerc to Leclerc and Vettel. And if you need proof of that, then I'd suggest taking a look at any of the images of the post-race celebrations in Italy. Charles became a national hero and ended Ferrari's 9 year dry spell of wins at Monza.

But still, they come to Singapore the week after Charles 2 maiden wins and give Seb the advantage of pitting first in the race, even though Charles was leading. You always pit the leader first, or else you risk the undercut. That's basic race strategy.

Every time I kept shouting what Ferrari needed to do in order to make things right for Charles in the Singapore GP, the most frustrating moment would be when I remembered that there was no reason for him to be in that position in the first place. If they had just treated him like the future champion he is, then he wouldn't have even had to worry about trying to overtake Seb in the second half of the race.

In summary, Charles did everything the team asked him to do and did it without a single error. And what happened? They lost him his win.

Check out my notes on the weekend's sessions below:

Free Practice 1

- they announced Kubica is leaving Williams next year

- Announced in a total surprise to me that Kmags and Grosjean are both staying at Haas next year even though we thought Hulk was going to take one of their seats. Now Hulk still needs a seat but he’s apparently asking for some huge salary 

- Charles car got stuck in 4th gear and when it went pop his head sort of nodded forward cause it slowed down so much and then he made it back to the  pits going slow and turned it off just inside the pit and then they had to roll him back 

- Bottas goes into the wall hard an inexplicably, seemingly because of some oversteer at the previous turn but now he session is red flagged and nobody knows how they’re going to clear the car with about 20 min left. 

- I still can't believe it's a night race. On a street circuit. STRESS 

Free Practice 2

- it’s night for this session! 

- Charles is sitting at the back of his garage waiting and looking cute while Ferrari tries to fix whatever blew up on his car all by itself last session 

- You can see into people’s helmets sometimes, especially Seb 

- Alex Albon ran into a wall but only needs a front wing replacement

- Charles carrying speed through a corner and Lance is dilly dallying there and doesn’t get out of the way and Charles had to swerve and then as he was going by he raised his hand at him like “???????”

- Perez shoved Magnussen into the wall to keep the front position even though it’s practice but also Kmags snuck up there in a weird way and now the incident is noted 

Free Practice 3

- there’s a lot of smoke coming out of the back of Kvyat’s car and they had to bring him back in Alex Albon’s car came back covered in oil from Kvyat 

- Perez hit the wall at turn 22 and knocked his back right tire and now it’s punctured and hanging off. Bits of the wheel on the track. Yellow flag and virtual safety car to clean up the shattered wheel. 

- Hahahah Hamilton spun right out of the pit with fresh tires. 

Qualifying 

- Kvyat confirmed for Toro Rosso again next year 

- In Q1, Sainz reports no power but keeps going fine 

- Lance Stroll scrapes the wall a few times 

- Out in Q1: Kvyat, Stroll, Grosjean, Russell, Kubica

- In Q2, Kimi brushed the wall 

- Out in Q2: Perez, Gio, Gasly, kimi, Kmags  

- CHARLES ON POLE FOR THE THIRD RACE IN A ROW!!!! He did it at the last minute and it was beautiful. Then Ham. Then Seb! Yay Seb! 

Pre-Race 

- there’s a 100% record of safety cars in Singapore so it’s a matter of time

- Charles talked Ant through the Quali lap that got him pole yesterday and it was a great feature 

- 1,600 lights surround this circuit 

- Apparently Daniel was disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement 

- Now there are reports that Charles had a fire up problem right before the start of the formation lap which hopefully will come to nothing

Race 

- Charles flies out front right away and puts an immediate a gap between him and Ham in second and Vettel who is giving Hamilton a really hard time in third

- George Russell drove into Daniel Ricciardo on first lap so damage but has a wing change and then goes back out

- Sainz is in back after first lap for some reason because of some damage and in pits for 42 seconds. Contact with Hulkenburg and managed to carry on but Sainz was the one who came out worse

- Charles now controlling the pace of the pack out front, going slow to conserve tires

- The first twenty laps here are pretty slow and boring because they’re basically just conserving tires 

- On lap 20/61, Ferrari pitted Seb instead of Charles first even though Charles is leading the race 

- Then Charles pitted right after and somehow Seb undercut him which is totally wrong for the team to do

- Hamilton doesn’t pit the next lap like he needed to because they are counting on a safety car and now it let Seb Charles and Max in front 

- Crofty: “This. Is. A. Puzzle.” And that pretty much sums it up. This is all about pit strategy and it’s not like any other race 

- Around lap 25/61, the top three are encountering traffic of Stroll, what a nightmare and might allow Mercedes to catch up to the top three. That’s the Mercedes play. 

- Ferrari severely compromised for pace by Stroll

- BOTTAS ORDERED OVER THE RADIO TO “work for the team” which is just “we need you to stay back to babysit Lewis” and it’s unbelievable to ask him to do this

- Charles has totally lost out by doing exactly what his team asked him to do and it’s screwed him over 

- Vettel accidentally pushes Gasly off the track as he was passing 

- Seb Charles and Max all get past Stroll who hasn’t pitted and that helps them for pace

- In 8 and 9, Riccardo collided with Gio and gave himself a rear puncture and now he has to go in and it puts him right to the back of the field again 

- 36/61 Grosjean pushed Russell into the wall, double yellow waves and the Williams is just in the wall sitting there. Safety car deployed. Russell said about Grosjean: “I shouldn’t be surprised” 

- Lance Stroll collided with Gasly and then Lance Stroll also “just turned into a wall all by himself” and he has to pit with a puncture

- Charles is catching Seb up front and they are allowing them to race

- Lap 43/61 Perez slows to a stop on the track and this is the SECOND safety car now because of a mechanical failure on the racing point 

- A THIRD safety car because of Kimi 

- Lewis trying to get Max at the last minute. As if. 

- Seb wins, Charles in second, Max in third. Ie the best people on a podium of all time. Now I’d only they were in the right order