ZOOM! And its over...
F1 Singapore GP just arrived at the island nation and left, as swift as the cars that zoomed past at the Marina Bay Circuit.
Knowing that I have 3 midterms during that period, (1 after the first practice day and 2 after Race Day) I thought I would just sit in front of my computer screen and occasionally look up on the screen from my work to catch the live action on Channel 5 via NUSCast.
Plan failed.
With so much drama going on, it is hard to concentrate on my work. As such, I only managed to finish two maths questions in 2 hours during Race Day.
Day One:
The excitement was overflowing. It's so nice to see my favourite night sceneries in Singapore show up during the race. Though, the as-bright-as-daytime lighting tends to shadow these iconic landmarks. But still, it is pleasing to watch.
Drivers racing past the old City Hall building.
Day 3: Race Day
Felipe Massa topped qualifying after a superb final lap, ahead of main title rival Lewis Hamilton. Defending World Champion Kimi Raikkonen starts from the third place. Fernando Alonso, who had done well in the practice sessions, was eliminated in the second round of qualifying and so can only start from 15th place.
Massa started well. He was well ahead of Hamilton while the latter was having trouble with Raikkonen who was fast catching up. Plenty of action at the back of the race as well, but I shall not elaborate here.
Massa leading the cars out of the block.
Then disaster struck. Alonso's team mate Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed into the barriers right in front of the Floating Platform crowd. Notable amounts of debris scattered near the area so the safety car had to come out, meaning Massa's lead was reduced to nothing as the 18 cars left (Barrichelo had to retire too for some reason) formed one line as they crawled slowly behind the safety car.
Most of the cars took the opportunity to go into pitstops to replenish their fuel supply. Those who had luckily pitted earlier or decided not to pit yet went into the lead. This was when the most dramatic scene happened.
Massa pitted. So the mechanics refuelled his car, changed his tyres and stuff, then he was shown the green light (literally) to leave the pits, so he shot off. Little did he realise...
...that the fuel hose was still attached to his car and there was a technical problem that caused the green lights to light up. So the force of his car caused the hose to get detached and knocking over the mechanics in the process.
He obviously realised what happened immediately and could only stop at the end of the pits so as not to obstruct the others. Meanwhile Raikkonen's car was just behind him when the accident happened so the mechanics had to tend to Raikkonen first before sprinting down the pit to remove the fuel hose. And it took them quite some time to do it to as the damaged hose is now stubbornly stuck. By the time Massa rejoined the snake of cars, he was last. That practically ruin his title hopes.
British driver David Coulthard almost did the same too later in the race, but fortunately he was stopped almost immediately but still did enough damage to knock down one of his team's mechanics too.
Ironically, it was Piquet's team mate who took full advantage of his misfortune to go into lead after penalties and pitstops made by the new race leaders. Fernando Alonso was lamenting that he lost his biggest chance to end his title drought after the disastrous qualifying, almost couldnt believe his luck. Technically, he had exchanged places with Massa, the latter struggling throughout the race and gave up catching up halfway, just focusing on finishing the race. Still, he managed to cause trouble to other drivers.
Towards the final 10 laps of the race, he crashed into a barrier under the Floating Platform Grandstands, but managed to reversed and continue on after several more cars passed by and the coast was clear. But just as he left, Adrian Sutil came around the corner and was so surprised to find a car almost directly in front of him that he crashed into the same barrier. And he was not as lucky. His engine caught fire or sth and his car was blocking the track. So the safety car came out again.
Nobody was really distracted by this minor accident, except after the safety car left the cars were so close to each other so they try to overtake each other. Kimi Raikkonen tried too hard and ended up crashing into a barrier after failing to recover from a scrappy clearance of one of the most difficult turns of the circuit. Bad day for both Ferraris.
In the end it was Fernando Alonso who held his nerve to be the first ever winner of a night F1 race, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. He still finds it hard to believe though.
Overall...you have to commend the organizers for coming up with such a wonderful show. I am certainly looking forward to it again next year, though I don't think I will be there to watch though. For one, although I admit that the atmosphere is great and all I simply hate crowds. Imagine queueing to get into the grandstands, the crowd, and after the race everybody leaves at the same time. Most taking public transport. Ouch. And of course tickets are freaking pricey. Nah..I will just stick to TV.
Now it is back to Physics and Programming.
Labels: exams, F1
