Hamilton slams Singapore chicane

2010 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton says the changes made to the kerbs at the Singapore Sling chicane have made the corner worse than before:

I think the changes made to the track have made it worse – and the chicane is now very tricky.

You approach it at 170mph – and if something goes wrong, and you hit one of those kerbs, then you could have a nasty accident.
Lewis Hamilton

The turn ten chicane has proved controversial since the first year F1 raced at the Singapore track, when the race organisers having to make overnight changes to its kerbs.

Adrian Sutil damaged his Force India when his car flew into the air after hitting the kerbs in second practice.

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    38 comments on “Hamilton slams Singapore chicane”

    1. I never really understood why, on such a slow circuit, they really needed to have a chicane there. And I seem to recall that they even tightened it last year to make it slower, or was that another corner? Just make it a normal corner, why does a new circuit need chicanes, actually, if they can just change the course a bit? Sure, street circuit, but here that chicane wasn’t present in the original road, I’m sure.

      1. They inserted the chicane to slow drivers down and prevent anyone going side-by-side on Anderson Bridge – for safety reasons.

        1. Still, though, that’s hardly a justification for such a crappy makeshift chicane.

          Two things about this. 1- is having cars side by side on the Anderson Bridge really that big an issue. And 2- what is the likelihood of a modern F1 car actually making an overtaking move in that area?

          1. what is the likelihood of a modern F1 car actually making an overtaking move in that area?

            The Anderson Bridge or the entire track? Either way the answer’s probably the same…

            I can see why they put the chicane there but it’s a bit of a poor solution. They could have avoided the problem and trimmed the somewhat excessive length of the lap by turning left at turn eight but I bet they wanted to go over the Anderson bridge and past some of the buildings around there for aesthetic reasons.

      2. despite all that. is the chicane different for hamilton than for others? can he ask the fia to do an mclaren chicane?

    2. They made it even worse by adding 1 inch on the highered kerb which is on each chicance… acts more like a ramp now rather than putting drivers offcourse like the bumps prevouisly

    3. Did they learn nothing from Monza 2009? Monza learned from Monza 2009…

      1. The Monza kerbs changed right back after friday though. The same high kerbs were there for qualifying and the race.

    4. as i said, it’s the worst corner in the whole calendar…

      it’s just a car breaker corner; it’s not about driver talent, it’s about luck.

      The whole concept of that corner is seriously wrong.

    5. I presume this is the one with the 3 bits of raised curve? It looked to me as though they were going in a straight line through this section anyway so the squiggly lines marking the course were pointless.

    6. see here,

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyCxhFyDxII

      That is a ridiculous chicane. The should just get rid of the the chicane and just have left turn and straight line to the bridge.

    7. “it’s just a car breaker corner; it’s not about driver talent, it’s about luck.”

      I don’t get all the fuss here. If you think your going to crash on it, then take it slower.

      It’s just another piece of track to me that has to be negotiated without crashing, it’s just that it’s a trickier bit of track than most others. What are we trying to do to F1?

      1. When looking at it, i think it would be a lot better off if they could have a normal corner.
        Then again, i suppose there is no room at all for run off, so they did this to slow the cars down, only the cars keep crashing.

        But you are right, why not have this hard to manage piece of track, it does add to the skill needed to get through.

      2. It’s like they decided to throw an autocross (gymkhana/autoX) section onto a proper road circuit; it just doesn’t fit with the flow. Great circuits are about flow…

      3. the fact is that there’s only one line in that corner, if you miss it, you’re launch in the air and you go straight into the wall…

        it’s not a corner, you go half the corner on the tarmac and half of it in the air.

        What if it’s raining too? it’s a lot harder to get it right then, with the spray adn the light. It’s not just about going slowly

        1. Well don’t miss the line then. It’s a challenge.

      4. I agree with John here. It’s claimed Fisi and Kimi as its victims, but neither complained about the corner. It didn’t even take any victims last year, IIRC.

        Sutil isn’t exactly the role model of keeping your wits about you here. Remember him taking out Heidfeld last year?

        This actually reminds me of Turns 1-3 in Adelaide – it had a very similar configuration. No one criticized that.

        1. It’s nothing like the Senna Chicane. It’s L-R-L, but stupidly tight with thin and high kerbs.

    8. Amazing: They just fined Sutil because he drove half a lap with a front wheel hanging off.

      Didn´t he crash because of that corner?

    9. Isn’t that the one Raikkonen jumped and went straight into the wall?

      1. Yea, that’s the one that took him out back in ’08.

      2. You make it sound so dramatic… He took a curve a bit hard, then the next curve sent him skidding and his right front wheel kissed the wall, and broke.

        Nothing spectacular at all.

    10. That chicane does seem a bit silly. I’m not sure whether Chandok was being serious when he said it should just be a fast swooping left hander, but I agree with him!

    11. Turn 10?, thats Tortoise corner right?

      1. Lolz Meerkat, but I guess those turtles must come from the Galapagos Island ….. or not? ;-)

    12. I actually love this chicane on games but on games there isn’t the issue of driver safety. It does seem like a challenge though so part of me likes it

      1. well in F1 2010, for example, the chicane’s curbs aren’t a real problem. You can cut them completely without any real loss of control, and the only issue is not cutting them too much that your lap gets cancelled.

    13. The main reason for the chicane, as I understand, is that there’s absolutely no run-off area at the corner. Right behind the walls where Kimi crashed are our old parliament house, Victoria Concert Hall and Victoria Theatre, and they don’t want cars coming close to these conserved buildings at 250km/h.

      I’m not sure how they can work around that, pretty sure the chicanes have to stay, unless the track layout is changed. There’s talk of changing it next year, but not this corner though..

    14. Its a joke of a chicane and looks even more ridiculous when viewed from above. At least it has potential to bring out the new safety car livery.

      1. They put the newly acquired global partner UBS logo on that 3 things. So when viewed from top, UBS got exposure. Not sure whether that’s a good thing. The message seems to be UBS makes you crash! hee hee

    15. I swear, some of the drivers are being complete pansies. First Nick Heidfeld whinges about the bumps, now Lewis Hamilton is complaining about a corner. What do they expect, to race on a drag strip as smooth as a billiards table?

      You approach it at 170mph – and if something goes wrong, and you hit one of those kerbs, then you could have a nasty accident.

      The same can be said for any corner with a kerb, Lewis. If your brakes go and you hit a kerb, you’re a passenger and it’s going to be ugly whether if Singapore, the chicanes at Monza, the run-off outside the first turn at Catalunya; anywhere.

      1. The difference is that these things are on both sides of the line.

        I think people shouldn’t whine about the Monza chicanes (they really are NOT dangerous), but in this case the chicane is a menace.

    16. US Williams Fan
      25th September 2010, 3:23

      Slightly mis-leading headline……

      I was like “when did Lewis crash in practice? should I not pick him as one of my drivers to be successful in Singapore?”

      1. HounslowBusGarage
        25th September 2010, 7:59

        I think the value of HAM’s comments are that he *didn’t* crash in practice. He negotiated the turn successfully every lap but still thinks it’s too dangerous and very badly designed.
        Cars trying to negotiate that turn one at a time is dangerous enough. Three or four together in the early laps . . .

        1. Indeed, usually the drivers (and teams) only complain that the track or rules are ridiculous AFTER they have failed sticking to it.

          Much better if they actually think things through ahead of time.

    17. If this years race isn’t too much of action then I think the organizers needs to come up with some good design for 2011 & further, as this is a track where you can see a lots of action due to the time it takes but I doubt it will provide us with good on track racing.

      1. Drivers says that the circuits are too safe & they just get enough racing, now there is a place in Singapore where the drivers are challenged he is complaining. I am afraid but I think Hamilton is fearing the WC more then the corners as he is very aggressive driver & may lose his car there.

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