I have what I describe as a ‘vintage’ TV. Its fair to say that others call it ‘old, crappy and it doesn’t even have telextext’, but the Singapore race even looks good on my old Sony box (although widescreen means big black areas at the top and bottom, so I have to go in-between, or I can’t read the positions). And, as a special treat this year, Seb had a sparkly helmet! There is something about a night race though – it just seems that extra bit magical.
Petrov probably didn’t find much magical in qualifying though – a slightly-faster lap by his new team-mate Senna saw him drop out in Q1. Kobayashi went flying in Q2, bringing out the red flag whilst bits of Sauber were scraped off the sky, and Hamilton sent out an early warning for a stormy race ahead, by failing to get out in time for a final run and copping a puncture.
Yet again, the rain failed to arrive on race day (I won’t be doing that naked rain dance in the street again) and as the red lights went out, Seb once again pressed the ‘win easily’ button on his steering wheel and relaxed as he pulled neatly into the lead, pursued forlornly by Button and Alonso. Lewis dropped to 7th – was that thunder?
Lewis nipped past Schumi on Lap 4 then Rosberg on Lap 5, by which time Seb was already 5 seconds ahead of Jenson.
Webber continued his trend of making Alonso look a tad stupid by nailing him again for 3rd on Lap 10, before the thunderstorm that is Lewis Hamilton finally broke a few laps later, unleashing its wrath upon Massa (who Lewis had already royally annoyed in qualifying). Hamilton’s front wing punctured Massa’s rear tyre, whilst the hapless wing found itself liberally distributed about the track. Lewis gained himself a drive-thru penalty, whilst Massa struggled to recover from the time lost whilst limping back to the pits.
Seb (remember him?) had a 15 second lead by Lap 23, but that was undone on lap 30 when Schumi got a bit too close to Sergio, with no obvious place to go. Much like Webber last year, the slower car lifted earlier for the corner that his pursuer... and Michael got a closer look at the lights around the track than he was expecting.
The ensuing safety car did nothing to alter the lead, but Webber once again nobbled Alonso for 3rd straight away when it retired to the pits. Hamilton put in a startling run, overtaking Sutil, Rosberg and di Resta on his way to 5th, whilst Kobayashi bagged a drive-thru for ignoring blue flags, before late pit-stops allowed Webber to jump Hamilton and Seb to have his only scary moment of the race when a Lotus was released into his path – handily, he had that much spare capacity, he was looking at their pit lights and realised it was happening. Damn, he’s good.
Jenson reeled Vettel in over the last 10 laps, but the 1.7 second gap between them at the finish belied the fact that Vettel made it all look remarkably easy. Again.
On the bright side, pointyfinger didn’t wrap up the championship. On the distinctly gloomy side, only Jenson can now challenge him for the title – assuming he wins all the remaining races and Seb doesn’t score any points. Congratulations then, Mr Vettel...
Did you catch the footage of Massa accosting Hamilton post-race? Look it up on the BBC F1 website if you didn’t – sarcasm used in the finest way. Easy Felipe baby.
(Continuing the CD A-Z, this report was brought to you by a-ha's live album "How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head". Damn good it is too.)
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