Singapore GP falls short of high 2014 standard

2014 Singapore Grand Prix

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After one of the best and most closely-fought qualifying sessions of recent seasons, with most of the grid separated by only a couple of seconds and the championship rivals occupying the first two grid slots, an epic night race under the lights of Singapore was on the cards.

Sadly the excitement of qualifying didn’t translate to the race. But although its average score from F1 Fanatics of 6.4 out of ten was on the low side for this season, it ranks as the second-best of the seven Singapore Grands Prix so far.

The prospects of a close fight for the lead took a major blow when Nico Rosberg was struck by Mercedes’ greatest foe this year – unreliability.

After qualifying just seven-thousandths of a second behind Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg had to start from the pits and eventually retired.

The Safety Car added some variety to proceedings, but it stayed out for over 20 minutes which many people thought was excessive given the fairly minor incident which provoked it. When the safety car finally came in we were at last treated to some action, however most of it was down drivers who were nursing old tyres being caught by those who had put on fresh rubber.

Here’s what F1 fans had to say about the Singapore Grand Prix.

Poor track

Singapore provides a stunning backdrop for a race but is the track itself up to scratch? This was a focus of criticism for several viewers after the race.

Horrible race. Always boring. Singapore is an awful circuit, especially for TV viewers. The organisers try to compensate the lack of scenery with ‘pyrotechnical’ effects (lights and fireworks). I hope FIA cancel it very soon.
@Regulus

Not a very good race overall. However, it was quite typical Singapore race, first stint has been boring in most outings.
@Bleu

Like Monaco, it’s not really a racing track. A lot of peripheral glitz, but the circuit just isn’t conducive to racing action, the only excitement comes from crashes and inevitable Safety Cars.

Okay, there’s the skill of avoiding the walls, but when you compare to the amount of racing we’ve seen this year on more open circuits, I think one Monaco-like circuit is more than enough. F1 certainly shouldn’t be thinking of adding more, but since when has Bernie Ecclestone followed any logic other than money in his pocket…
David BR2

This track is simply uninteresting and frankly, the length of it is the only reason there’s any challenge. If it wasn’t for Suzuka and Interlagos, the last part of the season really does have the poorest tracks and, often, races.
@Npf1

It might be a great time for the attendees but as far as racing this track is just a dismal excuse for a real race track, by its very nature it makes for a train ride for most of the cars and drivers. Unless your car is extra-fast you probably won’t pass anyone. The ‘Monaco of the east’ does not do it for me.
@Racernorriski

Lengthy Safety Car

The Safety Car was summoned after Sergio Perez broke his front wing while trying to overtake Adrian Sutil. It held up the race for seven laps, and as a result the Singapore Grand Prix was stopped one lap short of the planned distance.

That long Safety Car got a little boring and then letting the backmarkers through and waiting for them takes too long.
Ay Ce

I was watching the race, seated at the Padang straight. Incidentally, also the exact spot where Perez’s wing decided to disintegrate.

For the people who were saying the Safety Car period, was too long, I have to say it was required. Lots of bits of carbon fibre were spread all over, and the marshals stationed there did the best they could.
@Goondu86

Conflicting views

There were a lot of fans that enjoyed the race but the mass of critical views dragged the overall score down.

I enjoyed it. Perhaps more for what could have happened than what actually happened, but I was watching very carefully this time. It was an eventful race especially with Rosberg’s troubles. We didn’t get to see his potential for a single lap but Hamilton didn’t run away, Vettel held off Ricciardo, strategies mixed up and the Safety Car made the end very good.

Perhaps the battle I was most sad not to see was Vettel-Ricciardo-Alonso at the end, while at the same time Bottas’ defensive driving kept me enthralled. It seemed like something was happening all the time, so a high score is deserved in my opinion.
@Fixy

It was ok, I guess. Not something close to previous races but it had a couple of battles, a good finish and some interesting strategies. It also gave more drama to what is a great championship battle. I was expecting more action for the lead though, especially after a fantastic qualifying session.
@Dimitris-1395

Worst race in a while, and I have previously enjoyed this two-hour endurance race. Rosberg’s non-start pretty much ruined the race. Then it was just cars going round with at least three second gaps for 30 laps, a competition caution, and repeat.

The Safety Car ruined some of the strategies, and Mercedes’ pace ruined the excitement for the lead. And once again, it was impossible to overtake without a huge difference in the tyres.
@Kaiie

After the Safety Car it became much more interesting and the last few laps were generally great to watch. The battle for sixth especially. It’s a shame there were no overtakes for the first five positions (except for pit stop passes).
@rigi

Terrible race. Even the drivers on the podium looked bored.

Just watched the highlights, and even they were too long. The formation lap was more exciting than all of the rest of the race put together.
@Hairs

Maybe we have been spoilt with the quality of races we have had this season but overall it didn’t seem that good with most of the action coming at the end and that was only because some cars were on fresh rubber and some were struggling with old tyres.

Rosberg’s car problems meant we didn’t get to see an on track battle between the two Mercedes drivers, but it does mean the championship battle is effectively reset now.
@Pja

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26 comments on “Singapore GP falls short of high 2014 standard”

  1. It was okay. Would have been better if Rosberg was still involved, if Red Bull were closer to Mercedes on race pace, or if Vettel had gotten pole,like he suspected he could have, but I didn’t find it boring.

    1. Would have been better if, all of the above, AND held on another track.

  2. I didn’t think it was that bad, there was at least some excitement with Hamilton having to build a gap, Alonso and the Red Bulls in close company and the guys on fresh tyres coming through at the end.

    It might have helped I only saw the highlights though (something that usually limits my enjoyment), so I missed most of the safety car period.

    1. @george, some people say test cricket is boring but it looks very exciting on the evening news.

  3. A fair rating in my opinion. FOM coverage could’ve been better. All the mid-pack action seemed to be replays.

  4. It wasn’t the best race ever, but it wasn’t that bad. But I guess what let people down was the prospect of a close battle between the championship contenders failling to materialize right before the start.

  5. Why was the 2010 Singapore race rated that highly?

    1. Had to wiki it…there was lots of small dramas between several pairs of drivers, there was a safety car, and there was a see-saw battle with FA and SV, with FA pipping SV by 3/10ths in the end as they had to fight their way through traffic in the remaining laps. Generally lots of action. But I’ll assume you knew that and still don’t get why the rating.

      1. Sounds like the Tifosi loved it and the fans of Red Bulls blue eyed boy also loved it.

  6. It was good. Probably would score higher if Ros could actually race. For me, if I were to choose between Monaco and Singapore while ignoring the historical value, I would choose Singapore.

  7. What stood out the most for me was the poor coverage of the race. It seemed they focused too much on random shots and missed the action on track quite a bit.

  8. Singapore is one of the races I’d be happy to see dropped from the calendar as it adds nothing to the sport other than some photo opportunities of the cars looking good under the spotlights, which could be replicated at every other circuit by putting some spotlights in the parc ferme area.

    City street circuits just don’t work for F1, even Monaco is more about what’s happening off the track than on it and the quality of racing is generally poor. If it wasn’t for the history and glamour it would be an easy decision to drop Monaco and as Singapore lacks both it’s only really the money that keeps it on the calendar with its most memorable moment to date being the worst case of cheating I’ve ever seen in F1.

    I’m not against F1 visiting new countries, I just wish they’d do the job properly and build a decent track rather than throwing up some barriers and a pit & paddock in the middle of a city, it’s possible to build a decent street circuit in a park (Albert Park is awesome) but a load of 90 degree corners and chicanes in the city is the recipe for a boring race and no amount of razmataz makes up for that.

    1. I disagree I think Singapore is a good circuit, One of my favorites on the calender among the newer venues.

      Its a good challenge for the drivers both physically & I’ve enjoyed most of the events held there thus far. Yes this years race wasn’t brilliant but there was still some good, close racing & a fair amount of overtaking so I was kept entertained for most of it.

      Thinking back though I’ve actually enjoyed most of the Singapore Gp’s, Been some good racing somewhere through the field going on in all of them except the 1st in 2008.

      Looking forward to next years Singapore Gp & many more after that on this same challenging circuit :)

      1. I disagree with PeterG.

        1. I disagree with HoHum, see.

          1. We agree to disagree, I agree with @beneboy

  9. Terrible race. Even the drivers on the podium looked bored.

    I think that may have been dehydration-induced, rather than boredom ;)

    1. Good point, I read somewhere Kvyat suffered the most from dehydration.

  10. I’m slightly surprised the race got the rating it did, even statistically it was a bad showing compared to a couple other years but I’m more surprising that a bad season has more impact on the scoring than a better season in terms of show. The only way I can justify this being the 2nd best ever Singapore GP is because it makes the championship tighter and more favourable to a lot of fans, and we fans there’s a lot of love in F1 fans, and sometimes often the ratings reveal it, and to be fair that’s okay it’s normal people have preferences over the interest of F1 itself, I’m digressing now but I think that’s part of the reason the ratings are poor this season, there’s little of both Ferrari and McLaren to be seen.

  11. It was not bad, but not too exciting.

  12. Interesting to see the three Far East tracks stinking out the table. Hope Suzuka can balance things out.

  13. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
    29th September 2014, 10:09

    I’m surprised to see the track take so much blame, I’ve always liked it: low grip, little run-off and some high curbs makes it quite a challenge. And while it’s never going to be the easiest track to overtake on, we did see quite a lot of overtaking!

    1. +1 Well said!

  14. Agree about the ridiculous length of the safety car. disagree completely with the detractors of the circuit(or detractors of street cicrcuits in general, especially Monaco). To watch drivers dance the cars in between concrete walls where the slightest mistake means you’re out of for the day is one of the greatest spectacles on earth. And each overtake there is worth 5 in Abu-Dreary or Shangsmog. We got quite a few of those this year, I reckon. And this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEWztobMWD8 2012 overtake by Massa on Senna is IMO one of the best overtakes in F1 ever

    1. For the safety car, I really think they should make the back markers go through the pits, stop at the exit with a red light (until the lead lap cars have passed) and then rejoin. Give them the lap for free! Then the safety car can come straight in the next lap.

  15. I found it quite boring. I had to record it and actually fast forwarded parts of the race. It’s too long, the track itself is uninspired and if the race was dropped from the calendar I don’t think we’d lose much.

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