Ferrari not as competitive in Singapore, says Alonso

25 comments on “Ferrari not as competitive in Singapore, says Alonso”

1. 

   Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
   21st September 2012, 21:53

   All the better for the championship! Hopefully Red Bull can make up for the wretched weekend they had in Monza.
   1. 

      Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
      22nd September 2012, 1:17

      This is nothing new for Alonso, even without the fastest car I would not be surprised if he were to win this GP. And watch out for Hamilton too, his long runs looked particularly good overall. But yeah, it would be great for the championship if both Hamilton and Vettel beat Alonso to cut their deficit!!
2. 

   AAS?
   21st September 2012, 21:56

   Alonso is telling lies to delude others. If he gets his ferrari in the top 4 in quali , then he will use that fast starting ferrari to challenge for the lead before the first corner.
   1. 

      Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
      22nd September 2012, 1:20

      It’s a short run to the corner so there wont be room to make up many places, which is why all the races before have been won from pole, except for ‘crashgate’ ofcourse!
   2. 

      Kingshark (@kingshark)
      22nd September 2012, 6:32

      Lies? I think that’s smarter than giving your fans false hope and then disappointing.

      Ferrari was a crap car in the first four races, ever since Barcelona it’s been decent, but not necessary the best either.
   3. 

      AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
      22nd September 2012, 6:54

      He’s telling the truth in that the Ferrari is unable to match the qualifying pace of Red Bull and McLaren. But you’re right it’s still very possible for him to qualify 4-5 and have a good first lap and race from there.
3. 

   sdtaylor91 (@sdtaylor91)
   21st September 2012, 22:01

   Looking like a great quali battle in prospect for tomorrow between McLaren and Red Bull. q3 between HAM and VET will be epic. I think lewis will just edge it, his car looked so hooked up from the onboards.
4. 

   AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
   21st September 2012, 22:32

   Quite surprising to see Red Bull so high in the speed trap. Not like them at all, even more so considering the type of circuit this is. Sauber are playing it cool too by turning up the downforce (I assume).

   Karthikeyan looks pretty dismal, 24th and 23rd best sector times, at least De La Rosa has a sniff at 20th!
   1. 

      @HoHum (@hohum)
      22nd September 2012, 0:44

      @andrewtanner; It is surprising isn’t it, they are either going for less downforce or Newey has managed to reduce drag elsewhere. I notice that Vettel is using more wing than Webber, but that may change before Q1.
   2. 

      Julian (@julian)
      22nd September 2012, 0:49

      I think the type of circuit has everything to do with their respective place in the speed trap. All the teams have a high downforce setup so it brings them all down to ‘red bull’ level top speeds.
      All though I possibly expect them to be down the order a bit once we get the top speed data for the fastest section of the track.
   3. 

      Nirupam (@nirupam)
      22nd September 2012, 6:36

      @andrewtanner, Actually it is Karthikeyan who had a “sniff” at 20th, not PDLR!!
   4. 

      Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
      22nd September 2012, 8:38

      @ndrewtanner – I think the main reason is because the speed trap is not in the highest speed part of the track, and as Red Bull get good traction out of the corners they are able to get up to speed quicker.
      1. 

         AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
         22nd September 2012, 13:34

         @vettel1 You’re probably right :) Where is it placed?
         1. 

            Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
            22nd September 2012, 19:21

            @andrewtanner – I don’t actually know personally I was just reading Keith’s comment! I’m guessing probably on the start finish straight since I think I saw a speed being measured there during one of the sessions on the on-screen graphics.
5. 

   Atticus (@atticus-2)
   21st September 2012, 22:53

   I think, to be honest, that there is not much difference between the long-run pace of the front runners. Both Mercedes and Grosjean are a bit off, Hamilton and Massa seem to have a bit of an advantage, while Vettel, Webber, Button and Alonso run pretty much the same.

   All this based on the longest stint comparision purely. I read that Massa ran on super-softs on his long-run, while Alonso ran on softs. I don’t know about the tyres on which others set their runs, but that one is favourable for Ferrari: Massa showed some good pace on the super-softs, question is, how quickly he destroys them compared to others. He emphasised high tyre degradation, so that degrades his performance somewhat. And given that Alonso mainly tested new developments, the current state of the setup woek should be pretty much a mess with an improperly balanced car, using rubbers too much, even compared to others. Work to do then, but I think if they can get on the top of that without scrubbing off too much speed, Ferrari’s long-run pace is actually good.

   Too bad it counts for nothing if their one-lap pace is bad, and it seems really bad. Singapore does not favour overtakings, so they could sit in traffic all Sunday with a good long-run pace…

   I’m disappointed.
   1. 

      AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
      22nd September 2012, 6:58

      @atticus-2, I at the moment tyre degradation looks set to play a major role on Sunday, and if Alonso’s is better than his rivals, he could do very well from P5; I don’t see him starting any lower unless his car breaks down again. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the first pit stops around lap 10-11.
   2. 

      Todfod (@todfod)
      22nd September 2012, 8:44

      Singapore does not favour overtakings, so they could sit in traffic all Sunday with a good long-run pace…

      You could have said the same thing about Valencia, yet Fernando got from P11 to P1. I think it’s hard to write off any circuit as unovertakable this year
6. 

   Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
   21st September 2012, 23:01

   Hopefully Lotus picks it up tomorrow in FP3 and Quals, because the cars looked rather sluggish. I realize the track doesn’t suit the car well, but….
7. 

   Aldoid
   21st September 2012, 23:22

   So far it looks like Red Bull & McLaren are the teams to beat (as was expected, tbh) but I think McLaren have the edge. Alonso & Kimi will still be there or thereabouts in the race, but I don’t think the Ferrari or Lotus has the qualy pace to match those two teams. I’m so annoyed that we haven’t really gotten a chance to see just how good the Williams really is… Personally I think it’s at least as good as the Sauber, but between Bruno’s poor driving & Pastor’s amazing ability to throw away points, we may never find out.
8. 

   marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
   21st September 2012, 23:41

   Force India & Williams are going to be high up on Sunday I think. Pole and 1st is surely between Ham and Vet, and maybe Button, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hulk, Di Resta or Maldonado up there too.
9. 

   Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
   22nd September 2012, 0:31

   I can easily see Alonso on podium again. I’d surprised if during the last couple of laps I don’t say to myself “he did it again”.

   I suppose the driver most likely to get the best out of the car on saturday will be Vettel. He seems to love this track, and if the Red Bull responds as well as it did today, he should be on pole with the McLarens quite close behind.
   1. 

      leotef (@leotef)
      22nd September 2012, 6:56

      No offense at all, but I can’t help thinking of the role to be put on MAS during the race. Ferrari is well known in this area of game playing and Marina Bay is one haunting spot for those kinds of plots. Maybe this time to take out HAM and VET altogether? Based on the FP1 and FP2 where it seems Ferrari is bit off the pace of McLaren and Red Bull, and the straining up points gap up to this GP, well the probability of having some weird thing or accidents is rapidly increasing.
10. 

    electrolite (@electrolite)
    22nd September 2012, 0:32

    Damage limitation for Sauber this weekend!

    Force India’s usual late-season resurgence seem to be happening once again. This is definitely a great chance for each of their drivers to try and come into the spotlight at last. Especially concerning potential seats for next year…
    1. 

       bosyber (@bosyber)
       22nd September 2012, 8:27

       Though from those “long” runs @electrolite, it seems Sauber at least can work on getting ahead of Mercedes, who seem to not have found everything that is in those updates as they are slower than Sauber still. FI do indeed look good here, long runs that are as long as anyone’s, with pace not far behind what Hamilton showed. Interesting.
11. 

    AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
    22nd September 2012, 7:11

    I’m a little surprised at how short the long runs were, according to the graphic above. Webber did only three laps in his race simulation? The driver I followed most closely was Hamilton, and indeed the chart corresponds to what I saw. He had good consistent pace for the first 10 laps (including two slow-down laps – or laps where he made a mistake – I only saw the timing). His tyres had also done almost two flying laps in the qualifying simulation, but his starting tyres on Sunday will also have a lap on them (provided nothing strange happens and he does a run in Q3).

    It therefore looks like we can expect Q3 runners to come in as early as lap 10, which would point to a three-stop race. From FP1 the durability of the softs seemed much better, with many drivers setting good times late into the tyres’ life. However, 25 laps on a single set of tyres may be pushing it. An interesting strategy for those able to get into Q3 with two sets of super softs might be to do only a single run, and save a fresh set of options for the last stint on Sunday. I expect Hamilton and Vettel will try to battle it out for pole and do two runs, but Alonso might elect to do a single run, as I don’t see him starting lower than P5, or higher than P3. The same holds, to a lesser extent, for Button and Webber.

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