Rate the race: 2015 Singapore Grand Prix

2015 Singapore Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Singapore Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (5%)
  • 9 (6%)
  • 8 (20%)
  • 7 (29%)
  • 6 (18%)
  • 5 (8%)
  • 4 (5%)
  • 3 (4%)
  • 2 (1%)
  • 1 (3%)

Total Voters: 630

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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See the results for past seasons here:

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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219 comments on “Rate the race: 2015 Singapore Grand Prix”

  1. 8/10. +1 just for not having another Mercedes walkover. Bring on Suzuka!

    1. But it was a Ferrari walkover instead, how is that any better, as a neutral?

      1. Much, much better. It’s just a change. During the Red Bull domination years, a McLaren/Ferrari/Mercedes/Lotus walkover was just much more enjoyable because it’s something different. Same thing, but just different.

        1. I don’t really see what makes it more enjoyable, but to each their own.

      2. Because it’s a different team.

        Also, at 3 seconds to the Red Bull of Ricciardo it’s hardly a walkover.

      3. Also, just ask the fans. Vettel was booed on the podium here two years ago. Same man, same podium, same venue, same fans; different reaction.

        1. That’s more just that he is more likeable these days, neither Mercedes driver has been booed just for winning.

          1. That’s more just that he is more likeable these days

            Wrong.

            neither Mercedes driver has been booed just for winning.

            Yet. Though it’s slowly starting, there were boos against Hamilton in Monza. Sadly.

          2. How am I ‘wrong’? You just linked to an opinion piece, it’s no more right than mine.

          3. Opinions can be wrong. And yours is. I linked you because it does the explaining foe me, and saves me time. If you want to ignore it, it’s your problem. That doesn’t make you any less wrong, though.

          4. great to here that hamilton was booed in monza! very happy! :) :)

          5. I disagree, opinions cannot be wrong. However, by contravening facts you are no longer stating an opinion.

          6. I’ve always found Vettel to be one of the more likeable drivers, along with Button. He seems like a decent, fun bloke.

          7. @jules-winfield Today he said after he finished racing he wants be an engineer! ROFL And he wants to travel :D He’s a hilariously “normal” bloke.

          8. because now he doesn’t have the best car.

            He just proved to the world he can do it in any other car.

          9. @sameercader Why all the hatred towards Lewis (a two-time WDC, nonetheless)? I can only imagine it’s some form of bitterness manifesting from the fact that you don’t consider him worthy of the best car, or that his direct competition is weak. Vettel had the best car (by a country mile) in 2011 and 2013 and did his best in it against a over-the-hill, good but not great talent. Sure, Vettel was booed at some races in 2013 (I’d say people were more likely booing the results and only indirectly him), but that wasn’t right either. Please stop trying to bring hooliganism into the fanbase of Vettel, it doesn’t do it justice. Booing should be reserved (in sports) for unsportive acts.

          10. Vettel is a better driver than Hamilton. To win in a lesser car was impressive.

          11. So much irony. Didn’t we say the same about Hamilton when that red bull was crazy quick.

            For what its worth, I think Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso are all equally good.

      4. F1 fans are very fickle

      5. It wasn’t a walkover. How was it a walkover? Vettel had the pace, but Red Bull had a similar pace and a better deg. First stint, Vettel tried to open a gap and control, but they had worse deg than Ricciardo, so he started losing time. Second time around, he was deliberately slow and went about it in a completely different way. It was brilliant to watch. It was visibly strategic. And not to mention the fact that he had an amazing opening with 3 secs ahead by the end of lap 1, and another amazing lap in 2nd stint when he gave up managing and opened up a 2 sec gap in 1 lap. That was gobsmacking! It was like what happened before in Red Bull at Marina Bay.
        And lots of starts, restarts. It was by no means an uneventful boring race. Especially considering it was a street circuit, it was brilliant! Maybe not as eventful as Hungary, but a lot more interesting then Monaco! And more than half of the other races this season.
        It was better than Silverstone.

    2. It doesn’t matter the colour of the car when it’s a pole, lead every lap, win. Of course we are able to appreciate the effort that has gone in to preparing the car to perform well in the race weekend and respect the driver for fulfilling its potential and getting all the performance out of it but just because the result is a break from the usual dominance, it shouldn’t necessarily automatically translate into a high race rating.

      1. Well, it does matter a bit for me, some variation, but it isn’t much better – the top 3-5 places were hardly in doubt for much of the race. Still, behind that we had some good actions, RIC did try, Kimi made no mistakes, and VET was just racing very very good, so I think it was a bit above okay – gave it a 7/10.

      2. It does, however, matter a lot when a driver gets pole, leads every lap and wins not due to having dominant car, but due to his own sheer brilliance. When his teammate in equal machinery only manages a distant third over 17 sec behind, and that’s after two safety cars. That makes a huge contrast to the last race, where a driver in a dominant car gets the only upgraded Merc PU in the field, which makes his dominance ridiculous, then cruises to victory, then gets voted DOTW somehow and receives all kinds of praise and Senna comparisons. Nope, Vettel’s performance today was nothing less than extraordinary and it alone elevated today’s race far above usual Merc-dominated snoozefests.

        1. your funny, either you were not watching or didnt notice Vettel holding up Riccardo so Kimi could have a shot at passing Riccardo, which he couldnt do, then Vettel just took off into the distance as if catch me if you can for 3 or 4 laps which in turn let be free of DRS and save his engine/tires/fuel/brakes to finish the race..

          anyway Max did a far better job than anyone he will be the driver with the most votes….

          1. Except Max didn’t give his Carlos’ place back at the end.

          2. @lethalnz

            Vettel only slowed his pace to save his tyres and cover an eventual, more optimistical pitstop strategy (1 stop less) by Red Bull. Unfortunately for Ricciardo, that didn’t work out because the VSC/SC has been deployed twice and stayed on the track for quite a while.

            Saying Vettel did that “so Kimi could have a shot at passing Ricciardo” is laughable.

        2. Well said and agree 100%. Vettel drove superbly through the weekend. His best Q3 time after already winning the pole for starters but it was the way in which he managed the race that made it at least a 7 for me. First, he sprinted away to establish a lead and hold there, thereby giving him the option of altering race strategy to match the better tyre-conserving Red Bulls. As it happened, the two safety cars put paid to that strategy but Vettel managed the race so well that Ricciardo or anyone else had no chance. The second stint was particularly indicative, when he maintained the gap at around 3.5 seconds for 8 laps before sprinting away again.
          Before anyone starts to “if only” Hamilton, remember that Rosberg, on the same strategy as his teammate, finished 24 seconds behind Vettel despite the 2 safety cars. I know Hamilton has been faster than Rosberg, but certainly not by that much. Had his engine not conked out, Hamilton would have held onto P4 and that is about it.

          1. Lewis would have put the Super Softs on for the last few laps to secure at least a podium finish. He would have put pressure on those in front, probably causing them to lose concentration.
            He’s a born racer and would have pushed hard.
            Rosberg on the other hand lacks the killer instinct.

          2. Dicko, you are imagining things. Why would he risk losing rubber and positions at the end with such high dec from Mercedes? That was a long way to finish for Mercedes.

          3. @dicko

            He would have put pressure on those in front, probably causing them to lose concentration.

            Vettel & Ricciardo stopped saving tyres and bolted roughly when Hamilton had his issues. They had too much pace for either Mercedes today, Raikkonen too.

          4. I thought it was incredible that the pole was 2.6 seconds quicker here than last year (Brundle said the additions added half a sec to the lap times), I think even an on form Mercedes hasn’t been that much faster than last year. That Ferrari, for whatever reason (something in addition to the PU upgrades) has gained a huge amount over the summer break…

        3. “It does, however, matter a lot when a driver gets pole, leads every lap and wins not due to having dominant car”

          Incase you wasn’t paying attention, today, on the day, the Ferrari was the dominant car, by a long shot.

          1. Vettel made the Ferrari look more dominant than it actually is. Just look at Kimi with the same car/strategy… He was nowhere compared to Vettel’s and Ricciardo and only managed to keep P3, because Kvyat was really unlucky with the Safety Cars.

            Overall, the RB was in my opinion, the best car in Singapore. Was the most gentle on tyre deg and very strong in the long stints, in pure race pace.

            When I saw the poor condition of Vettel’s tyres at the end of the race, I just couldn’t believe how he managed to make such strong laps in a demanding street circuit like Singapore is.

            Like Rosberg said on Saturday, Vettel was really “from another planet” this weekend… In a class of his own.

        4. First, I’m not a Hamilton fan. If you want to know, I like Button, Massa and, yes really, Maldonado.
          Second, Vettel drove an outstanding race in Singapore.
          But I liked the drives by Hamilton in Spa and Monza far better. I really thought I was watching Jim Clark again (“jimclark” is still the f1 synonym for “perfection in every way”, isn’t it?) You really didn’t need a second car in the picture to enjoy that, at least I didn’t.

      3. @calum In all fairness though this is about how happy we are with the race (albeit regardless of who we support), not whether or not it’d make a good classic watch, say, in 28 years (Hungary probably would, this…..not so much).

        1. If Vettel ever beats Schumacher’s records, I imagine this weekends pole qualification lap will be reviewed then. Classic Vettel.

    3. Apparently Vettel pulling a 2 second gap over others in Singapore is not just about the car. Now he can go around saying “I bring 2 seconds to Marina Bay”.

    4. How unlucky Kvyat was! WOW.

      Also, what was that? I thought Vettel was 2 sec faster than others at one point :D
      Amazing how he does that again and again. Very annoying and disturbing :P
      WOW though, he lost the grand chelem with a couple of hundreds of a second. Unlucky.

      1. That was painful. The bad luck of Kvyat. It was like Vettel’s 2014 luck or Raikkonen’s 2005 luck or Hamilton’s 2012 luck. Again and again.

    5. I thought Vettel did everything he can so that Raikkonen overtakes Ricciardo. He was hilariously slow. Then in 1 lap he was again pulling a 2 second gap. That reminded me of another time… It looks like he took his 2 seconds to Ferrari.
      Better than Fernando’s 6 tenths? We’ll see :P

    6. Imo, they should make the backmarkers fall back, not let them unlap themselves. Brundle said the same thing just after I thought of it. It’s fairly obvious to me, no?

      1. I agree. The current situation keeps the safety car deployed for too long, and Rossi showed that the system can also be unsafe if it is only half utilized. Mr. Whiting made a mistake today with not allowing Rossi time to unlap himself, even if it did improve “The Show”. He should know that rules are rules, even if they are silly. Rossi eventually put on a clinic of how to get out of the way. I’m thinking that he probably did not enjoy that trail by fire.

        1. Rossi was allowed to unlap himself. The issue I think was that Rossi’s radio was not working and therefore could not be told to unlap himself.

          1. My point is that Whiting dangerously allowed the safety car back in before the unlapping was completed. Rossi’s slowness in doing so should not have been a factor in restarting the race again too soon.

        2. As Prateek mentions the reason the unlap didn’t work was that Rossi’s radio wasn’t working so it took a while before he got informed (pit boards) to go past and then it was too late to make it through the field. He did all he could to try and stay out of the way, but really it showed why we have this rule to keep backmarkers out of the way.

  2. I know that I, for a fact, prefer a quiet evening walk.

  3. Daniel never made a serious attempt, if he did it would be a 10. Very good race. Lewis was looking good before his problem, maybe he would spice things up towards the end if his car did not fail but I liked the race.

    How many wins did Arrivabene promised before the satart of the season?

    1. Just 2 wins. I don’t know if will have a fourth by the end of the season

      1. Great job from Ferrrai. Thumbs up for Marchione for his risky decision to overhaul the F1 team, I just hope they keep improving their PU and chassis and take the fight to Mercedes on a regular basis in 2016. Red Bull with a Ferrari PU would be good to see.

        1. JCost, I would disagree with the sentiment that gives Marchionne all of the credit for the reforms to Ferrari.

          It should be borne in mind that Luca had already started restructuring the team before Marchionne came in, with Luca having already restructured the engine and aerodynamics departments and brought in new staff before Marchionne became involved. If you want to credit the success of the team this season to those reforms, then you have to give Luca at least some of the credit for initiating that reform in the first place.

          1. Yes, Luca deserves some credit because Marchionne did not start it from a blank slate, but he made call of removing who/what was wrong and keeping who/what was good, that’s why I’m giving him that extra credit.

        2. will never happen, do you think RBR would ever be supplied with the latest PU Ferrari would be stupid to, why have RBR beating yourself when you can win without them,
          anyway there will not be a word spoken about how Renaults engine helped Ric into second place, nah it will still be that useless engine….

          1. With a good engine he would be first. Easily! The red bull chassis made the difference at this track, they would have won with merc or ferari power.

          2. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
            20th September 2015, 17:40

            Ferrari need more teams to help them with the fight against Mercedes, and plus they need to have excitement in the sport especially with how dire it has been at times this season.

          3. @kpcart..You know thought that myself, and wondered what kind of performances Red Bull might get up to with Ferrari power. And I’m no technical person, but I do remember reading that some of Red Bull’s chassis strength is down to the tight packaging of the engine, that Adrian demands. I’m not sure that the Ferrari engine will actually allow them that freedom, because well they will be a customer after all. I think Red Bull really are over reacting. I mean they are in position where the engine is developed along side the car, and if they go to Ferrari power I am afraid they will have to design the car around the engine.

          4. Why should Ferrari give an equal engine to Redbull. Engine is designed by Ferrari the same as aero parts it is not Ferrari’s issue if RedBull do not build engines but are forced to give away half their design process, if RedBull want equal engines then Ferrari can claim equal aero from RedBull. Engines are the same as aero parts you should not have to be forced to give your best spec away, that’s why for me the best teams build the lot, others only build half a car. If we reverse the situation imagine some teams had a shared chassis but built their own engines?

  4. I’m in two minds, on the one hand it was a good result for the championship but on the other it was a procession with ill timed safety cars forcing their hands with strategy, robbing us of the battle we anticipated between Ric’s superior tyre wear vs Vet’s pace.

    1. Well put. I mean, the top three clearly drove very well the whole weekend (and ROS,HAM, KVY,BOT, PER, GRO too, as much as they could), so as athletes they did a good job, but the race just didn’t pan out great, so in the end I gave it a 7/10.

    2. “Ric’s superior tyre wear vs Vet’s pace”
      That’s very spot-on for analysis btw.

      1. Vettel knew that Ricciardo, with his superior Red Bull chassis and better tyre wear would be a force to reckon with and planned the race accordingly. His rush in the first few laps would have been to establish and keep a lead of around 5 seconds, thus be in a position to respond depending on which strategy ( 2 or 3 stop) Red Bull used for Ricciardo. But the first safety car put paid to that and both were forced to make pit stops to avoid others taking advantage. By then Vettel would have known how his car performed on the supersofts relative to Ricciardo’s Red Bull and so changed plans for the second stint. This time, instead to streaking away like before, he held the Ozman at bay at around 3 seconds for 8 laps before pulling away again. In the final stint after the second safety car and this time on primes, Vettel bid his time and gradually pulled away towards the end. Ricciardo never really had a chance to overtake despite the modest gap between them in the end.
        Did people see what Vettel’s tyres, especially the front ones, looked at the end of the race? It is a wonder how he kept the car on the track.

        1. It was classic Vettel, sharp and smart. I expect great things of him one day…

  5. Man, McLaren-Honda is just utterly hopeless! Red Bull have got it easy with Renault.

  6. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! - @omarr-pepper (@)
    20th September 2015, 15:12

    Max made it worth watching!!! Seb won and I’m happy, but he won it in “the boring way”.

    1. Agreed, but boy oh boy I really would like to know what he could have done if he had a normal start!

      1. Max…just wow…..just say NO ;))

        DOTW….future multiple world champion….that kid is not normal…..he is an extraordinary talent…..not once in a generation kinda talent…but once in a lifetime

        1. In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed Senna, Prost, Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Alonso and Hamilton, before I witnessed Max. Hardly once in a lifetime.

          He may be very good and a superb overtaker, but to claim him as the second coming of Jesus is a bit premature.

          1. No one wonders about his pace apparently. For all we know he’ll turn out to be a superb overtaker but very slow….

          2. kanan, coming from his performance today there are no doubts about his pace, from me at least.

          3. Jules,

            Please do remember the fact this kid is only 17 years young with only 1 season of Formula experience under his belt.
            Max is showing all the hallmarks needed to be one of the future real greats.

            Hamilton and Alonso are, in my humble opinion, one tier below the likes of Senna and Schumi

            Only god knows how good this young man will become, but to show the world what he can do with so little experience…thats not normal.

            Biggest talent ive seen since the arrival of Ayton

          4. Thank you. I did see Nige as well.

        2. Faster than Mercedes in Q2! Imagine if Audi come in and give him full backing..

          1. Verstappen seems to have all the right stuff.

  7. 6/10. Could have been better, could have been worse.

    1. pretty much that yeah. Shame the SC prevented the RBR cars playing out their (slight) tyre advantage. I don’t think the Mercs could have done much even if they would have great tyres for the last few laps though.

      Some nice moves during the race, but some baffling stewarding too, and the contest for the victory never got off the ground.

      1. Me too, Average+ , some good nonDRS overtaking but ridiculous 2nd. safety car, the fool had left the track before the safety car picked up the leaders, it should have gone straight back in after 1 lap.

  8. 7/10 for me. Could have been higher if that moron hadn’t brought out an ill timed second Safety Car.

    1. i voted 8/10 because the “moron” was entertaining lol

      1. Hey, that’s no way to talk about Maldonado.

  9. ColdFly F1 ( @coldfly ) (@)
    20th September 2015, 15:12

    8/10 I really liked this. Not because somebody else won, but for Singapore (difficult to overtake) it was rather good. some great overtakes by the TR’s and Ericson, and some others I forgot.
    But why o why:
    – VSC for ages and then SC for the next eternity;
    – penalising Hulk vs Massa

    1. @coldfly – It seemed like a racing incident to me. My only guess is because MAS was ahead and did everything he could to get out of the way. But, as the Sky feed mentioned, HUL probably never saw MAS and thus didn’t deserve a penalty.

      1. @hobo Hulk confirmed that he saw Massa, but that he expected Massa to rejoin behind him.

        1. @mashiat – I did not hear that bit. If that is the case then it is a bit sloppy by a driver who should know better, and I could understand a penalty more then.

          And, assuming he knew MAS was even in the area as his engineer should have given him a heads up, it was an aggressive corner position.

          1. the person who gets out of the pits, has a big light that warns him that someone is on the straight. if they come out at the same time, he should give way in my opinion, also hul was before massa at the corner, but he could have run wider and passed him anyway. it was a racing incident, but no way should HUL have been penalized. But the stewards hardly get anything right.

      1. Wonder how Hulk got the penalty for this. He was ahead and Massa coming out of the pits must have been careful when rejoining the line.

        That said, Hulk had plenty on room on the outside for both of them to continue fighting for the place. Maybe he just thought Massa would subdue and leave the space to him.

        Racing incident for me since can’t apportion blame solely on any person.

  10. Pretty dull to be honest, first half of the race REALLY dragged, bit of artificial drama added at times later on but no race for the win. Replace Vettel with Lewis and Daniel with Nico, it’s exactly the same as the rest of the season. I don’t find it more exciting because they’re different cars.

    4/10.

    1. Fellow neutral here, it would be interesting if these results could be cross referenced by how various fans voted against who they support. Maybe we could declare who we support in our profiles and have this data added to our votes?

      1. I would personally ban anyone who voted 10 for a race that clearly was undeserving of it. It would eliminate those people voting 10 just because their team/driver won.

      2. Yes, because everyone’s biased apart from you.

        1. That’s not what I care about! But thanks for making assumptions. What I am far more interested in is over a large number of years with a large dataset, how do fans react to their teams/drivers winning a lot, how do they then react to another team suddenly and unexpectedly winning.

          What I’m trying to get at is that right now, an arbitary score is interesting but less useful than a score in context. Someone in this very thread describes the race as “average” then scores it 7. We all know that an average score is 5.5, but they clearly view 7 as average. This greatly skews the data towards the high scores for this individual, but equally it reduces the resolution of good races – they only have 8, 9 and 10 to distinguish.

          Now imagine that we know for sure that this person is a Super Aguri fan, and of course SA did not participate in this race. By examining all the data we can work out exactly how bad for the sport it is if a team leaves. What if there is a surge of positive scores from everyone who doesn’t suport Merc, we can then have the data to demonstrate that people don’t enjoy dominance – as intuitive as it may seem, it is irrelevant for us to state this without any evidence to support our point of view, indeed we may be surprised at what fans enjoy in our sport.

          TLTR: As Keith is collecting this data anyway and getting a decent turnout reliably every race, it can turn from something interesting into something useful when it comes to analysing what is wrong with the sport.

          And yes, the moment you support something or become a fan, you are declaring a bias, which is not only fine, but fun. I choose not to right now mostly because I have found it far more fun to follow the sport this way. If you choose to do things differently to me, you are not doing it wrong, it’s ok!

          1. @racectrl it would be interesting to ignore 1’s and 10’s from the results to take out the extreme reactions, personally I don’t think any race is a 1 or 2 anyway but that’s just opinion.

            Monaco stood out for me this year as one that received alot of protest votes and the same with Russia last year.

            I think the results are overall accurate though as they take into account all opinions every time. When I vote a 7 is average because I vote on whether it has everything I want from a race.

            A 1 to me would be if it was cancelled (terrible) while a 10 wouldn’t have to be the best race ever just everything I want from a race (perfect).

          2. @glynh – That’s fine but do remember that your scoring system is personal to you and makes sense only to you. Professional reviewers put a lot of personality and opinion into reviews because they know that that is all they are doing, giving a personal opinion and implanting their personality gives the reader context for it.

            There is no right or wrong way to score, which means two things – either we have to know you, know that you never score 10’s, know that you treat 7 as average and know your personal preferences. You may love DRM (easy… easy… just a made up example) and thus score races with a ton of DRM enabled overtakes very highly and making you reviews non sensical to someone who hates DRM and doesn’t understand the context of your reviews.

            The other way to make your score make sense is as a single data point in a large collection of data – exactly what Keith does here. It doesn’t matter that you score with your own pecadillos, because everyone is and it’s the wider dataset that holds meaning, not individual points. I, for example do not subscribe to the idea that scores are absolute. If I score a race a 7, firstly, I treat 5.5 as average so for me, this was a good race, probably verging on great. Secondly, I am not saying that this race is the equal of every other race I scored a 7 on.

            For reference I say that a 10 is the finest example of a race the current formula can provide, the race for the next formula to try to beat. While nothing in life is perfect, this race came so close to the ideal as one can get. Such a score is not given lightly (and over the years I can think of maybe five races I would give this score to) and is reserved for true pinnacles of the sport. A pinnacle can be relative – another race may come along that beats it but for now this is the race all other races should strive to be.

            A 1 is not only a bad race but an offensively bad race. Typically, but not always something so bad that I cannot watch even a fraction of it. The race doesn’t have to be broken beyond redemption, it can be intellectually insulting (Indionapolis 05), morally bankrupt beyond all redemption (Austria 02). Either way, any good times had in the race are so utterly overshadowed by the bad, they are rendered irrelevant. Again, I think over the years I can only think of about 5 races I would score this low.

            But this is merely my opinions, and it is perfectly fine to have your own scoring system.

    2. I gave a point more because if was something other than Mercedes winning. Otherwise yes, pretty dull – without TR boys and Maldonado it would have been real snorefest.

    3. I’m curious about your scores for other GPs. Did you give a 4 or less for Monza, Canada, China, Spain, Monaco, Austria too? Because more or less, this was a better race than probably all of them.

  11. 6/10.

    Watched the whole thing but the only reason it was as close as it was (and it wasn’t) was because of an idiot on the track.

    Will be hard to not vote VES DOTW as well. I assume most people will vote VET or maybe RIC, but I think that is as useless as voting HAM on most weekends. The best cars with good drivers winning without being challenged is hardly DOTW material, imo.

    1. Credit to Rossi where it is due. No radio for half of the race, brought the car home ahead of his teammate, not too bad for his first ever F1 race!

    2. Finished 1.5 sec ahead of 2nd. Really unchallenged yeah….

  12. A solid 8/10. A few boring bits here and there but the action did more than make up for it! And the race itself is always a spectacle :D What a race! Avanti!

  13. Pretty decent race, a shame we didn’t get to see the Mercedes cars have a chance to try their strategy as intended.

    Vettel was faultless all weekend. He’s become a master at leading from the front and obviously hasn’t forgotten how to do it.

    Great racing by Verstappen in what I think was his most controlled and mature race. If Sainz indeed let Verstappen pass earlier on due to a tyre advantage (as Brundle suggested) it’s poor form not to return the favor at the end as Ricciardo did in Monaco – but I’d like to hear the full story.

    Good start for Rossi too. He seemed to be messing it up a bit when he was supposed to unlap himself – but apparently his radio was out, making his performance slightly more impressive.

    1. I just read that Franz Tost has said to the media that Max made the right call here. The team was in the wrong (they were thinking Sainz was quicker but in the end this was not the case, also, we must remember that we hear those messages much later than they are given).

  14. 5 – One of the lowest scores I’ve ever given. Even though the Mercs were out of form and others had a chance (good) there were no battles anywhere near the front (bad). Faster cars such as Kvyat had no chance to get past the slower ones in front. And perhaps worst of all, just when Ric was starting to get some pace on at the end of the SuperSofts stints and putting some pressure on Vet we had safety cars. Very frustrating.

    1. What are you talking here.

      SC closes the gap. If Ricciardo can overtake, he would have overtook him after SC in. It was Vettel who managed to pull away from him.

      1. Ric was looking after his tyres better than Vet and was starting to close the gap which might have forced Vet into pitting early to maintain his place or going too long. Unfortunately we never found out :(

        1. Bitter much?

        2. Ricciardo had better tyre deg, so he was mainly going for an undercut, not for an on-track overtake, because Vettel had better pace. Would that be any more exciting for you? I guess if only you prefer one driver over the other.

    2. Do you give a 5 to every Singapore GP? Before the weekend the drivers were saying it’s impossible to overtake here, this was no different to normal, I thought even without overtaking all the incidents and drama elevated it a few, the cars also looked awesome with drivers fighting the torque and bumps in the road all the time. The worst thing is when you have a race with no overtaking on a traditional circuit because there isn’t anything to redeem those races (no safety car and none of the street circuit benefits).

  15. I don’t really know how to rate this race. I don’t think a number can describe it. Maybe the sentence, “Quite bizarre” would describe it best.
    Still was entertaining though.

    1. It was a fairly entertaining race. Especially considering that it was a street circuit, it was good. But “quite bizarre” is a better description for some reason I cannot quite put my finger on :D No pun intended btw.

  16. Your average race, with some neutrals and stray person. 7/10

    Also, Verstappen’s a mad man.

    1. Maldonado is a mad man. Verstappen is right on the limit.

    2. @illustrious The Flying Dutchman.

  17. Also I do wonder if Crofty needs specs. He was looking at the screen with the guy clearly walking down the track for a good 10 seconds and couldn’t figure out what the flags were for, only when Vettel came on the radio did he notice him.

    1. Maybe he was maybe looking at another screen trying to figure out what the yellows were for?

      At a guess i’d say he was looking at the gps tracker to find a stopped car.

      1. LOL. Was that man wearing shorts? This was one that literally woke me up in the race, as my tv got turned off for a few seconds, then when I turned it back up, I found “Safety CAR”. I tried to find out why, then there was nothing strange. Next seconds, I scanned down the F1 live timing, it said: Vettel: “There is a man on the track.”
        How can these guys get in the track??? And even more, that’s on the other side of the grandstands I think…

        1. Of course I can’t find the photo anymore, but someone at the track tweeted a picture of a hole in the fence right next to a hole in the Armco, with not a marshal or even a photographer in sight. Looked easy enough to access the track from a place like that.

  18. 7 the first 40 laps were dreadful after the final Safety car, the race really came alive, when they finally started racing and STOPPED SAVING TYRES AND FUEL!

    1. Agreed, this race shows clearly what’s wrong with F1

  19. Until that first safety car came out it was dragging, everyone knew a safety car would happen and were being cautious so that they could benefit rather than being the cause of it.

    After that we had some interest going on, Verstappen provided most of it. Kimi and Rosberg were just nowhere, I think we lost our only chance at proper action with Hamilton’s retirement.

    1. Hamilton with supersofts was only as fast as Vettel with softs. I don’t know what everybody was expecting him to do at the last stint….

      1. But before his car failed, Lewis on softs was slightly faster than Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Kvyat all on super softs, I reckon the front trio was probably managing their tyres at some degree but their strategy was risky, particularly for Kimi.

  20. There wasn’t a genuine overtake in the top six and the VSC/SC periods robbed us off any strategy games. Midfield provided good entertainment however.

    1. For me the SC period came just at the wrong time and went on for too long. Killed the race, strategy wise.

  21. I gave it a 5. Nothing happened at the front, little bit of action in the mid-pack and I nearly fell asleep during the 2nd safety car.

  22. One of the worst Singaporean GP’s ever. Anti-climatic season, anti-climatic racing today, small issues spoiled the racing. Many retirements. It’s still a great event, track changes removed one opportunity of racing.
    The stewards defiled F1, again. Massa’s favouritism needs to stop. First Hamilton at Singapore, then Perez at Montreal and finally today Hulk again at Singapore. Button should have been penalized.

  23. A clear 1 from me. Couldn’t care less like some here that the Merc dominance was broken. This was a shockingly awful race in every respect. Worst ever Singapore GP(the rigged 2008 notwithstanding) and one of the most boring races since the Shumacherrari snoozefests

  24. I hated this GP, given score of 3:
    * Stupid person causing safety car.
    * Ham Retired early
    * McLaren retired with the same problem
    * Sainz over-braked himself and pushed the other driver out of the track and himself. Not only was he not given a warning, he wasn’t even told to give the position back. In comparison, Ham was given a drive through for this in Hungary. Yes, there was no collision here but that’s thanks to Gro for being aware of the situation.
    * Very few overtakes, and none at the front.
    * No variety in strategies, thanks to safety cars
    * This silly ‘unlapped cars may now overtake’ rule has to go. Not only they released Verstappen and he was going around at faster rate than Vettel did pre safety car, how safe is that? but then they put Manor car third causing chaos as everyone else was trying to get through them.

    1. Why was Hamilton able to converse with his team to try and solve his problem? Isn’t that banned? He should receive a penalty for this. It had nothing to do with safety and everything to do with desperation to save his points. Merc breaking the rules again.

      1. absolutely he should, 5 place grid penalty for suzuka i guess thats suitable

    2. You may have hated the race, but you obviously found it interesting.

    3. Sainz should have definitely been ordered to give the place back, at very least.

  25. Average. The race crucially suffered from its lenght, a lack of different strategies caused by safety cars, and generally a lack of excitement, as the gap between all the frontrunners either stagnated or grew to a couple of seconds after every safety car.
    Speaking of safety cars: I can’t stand the rule that allows lapped cars to un-lap themselves, especially when it’s applied so inconsistently. It could be so much easier and quicker if lapped cars were made to wait in the pit lane instead.
    Anyways, a 5 from me. The only reason for a higher rating would be someone else than Mercedes winning, but that’s a petty reason.

  26. I wonder if people will be as outraged over Max Verstappen ignoring team orders as they were when Vettel did the same back at Malaysia 2013?

    Somehow I doubt it.

    1. That wasn’t remotely the same thing.
      Malaysia 2013, that was Vettel snatching P1 from Webber after the latter had been told to slow down, expecting his team mate to do the same, because he wouldn’t have slowed if he had known that Vettel would try to take advantage of him.

      Verstappen ignoring team orders today was pretty much the same thing as Massa ignoring orders im Malaysia 2013, when Bottas wanted to catch the car in front of them. That’s maybe something that angers the team, but the chances of catching Pérez were slight, so from a sporting point of view, Verstappen did nothing wrong.

      1. @nse No it’d be like the RBR switch failing at Monaco….which was different to MAS-and-BOT.

        1. @davidnotcoulthard
          How so?
          The Williams and Toro Rosso situations were identical: Driver on fresher tyres stuck behind team mate, who is in turn stuck behind a slower car. Team tells leading team mate to let stuck team mate past, to have a better chance of overtaking the slower car. Driver on older tyres rejects team order, the positions are kept until the finish line.

          The Red Bull maneuvre in Monaco took place in a similar situation, but with many laps to go, so there was the possibility of switching back if nothing comes of it.

          1. @nase Arrgh…my bad – I thought VES had been let past by SAI.. sorry.

      2. @nase Vettel also did nothing wrong. Webber didn’t save fuel like Vettel. Webber didn’t save tyres in Q2 like Vettel did. Webber even saw Vettel coming as he left the pits and raced him for a lap, but still got passed. Mark didn’t have the pace, that’s all.

        1. That’s simply not true.

          1. ..How so, I guess?

          2. @nase What part isn’t true?

            The tyres Vettel saved (and eventually passed Webber on)?

            With Pirelli expecting three pit stops per car during the race, the desire to save as much fresh rubber as possible was uppermost in the minds of many drivers during qualifying.

            Red Bull took it to the greatest lengths, Vettel using a single set of mediums in Q1 and Q2. Webber attempted to do likewise but had to resort to using a second fresh set.

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/23/2013-malaysian-grand-prix-prerace-analysis/

            The fuel Vettel saved?

            “Mark and Seb were on opposing strategies they were running different tyres at different points in time. After that final stop of course fuel consumption between the two cars had been slightly different, Mark’s had been slightly higher than Sebastian’s so he was in a slightly more fuel saving mode than Sebastian.”

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/29/horner-vettel-webber-malaysia-team-orders-2013/

      3. That’s the 3rd team order I’ve heard from Malaysia 2013. I’ve never heard that Bottas was also given one.

        1. Sorry, 2014.

  27. To be honest the Mercedes surprise plus the ‘dominance’ from Ferrari made this race a must-watch, but given the standards of this season it was a boring race, despite the second half with the strange safety car plus the action at the restart, and the always spectacular drive by Verstappen, it deserves a 6.

    1. Given the standards of this season it was a very entertaining race. It was one of the bests following Hungary-Malaysia-Silverstone. And I’d put this one ahead of Silverstone.

  28. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    20th September 2015, 15:25

    9/10. For me, the race was really exciting. It was exciting with STR and Sauber against Lotus, and the bit-of-exciting part was that Ricciardo might catch up to Vettel.

    About STR trying to catch up to Pérez, Verstappen could have the chance to overtale Pérez in the last laps. For the whole race, I felt very, very delighted with Vettel winning the race and Räikkönen securing Ferrari a double podium finish.

    1. Don’t mean to be rude but how can something that ‘might’ happen be exciting, if it doesn’t happen and never truly looked like it would? Vettel was clearly controlling the pace all race, I never once thought he would be caught unless his tyres went off the cliff.

      1. “how can something that ‘might’ happen be exciting, if it doesn’t happen and never truly looked like it would?”
        If it happened or had no chance of happening, it wouldn’t be exciting. It’s the probability of it happening that’s exciting. You get excited wondering “is it gonna happen”. That’s just generally how “excitement” works.

        1. Well said. Agree. I’m always excited by the potential prospect that Hamilton’s engine might fail.

  29. AAAAGH! I hate Eddie Jordan. He’s really, really bad at podium interviews. Cuts off the drivers, makes bad jokes, asks dumb questions, just terrible.

    1. Lol the joke about kimi’s practice starts was awkward

      1. Yes… Raikkonen was “having fun” — not “lying.” There’s obviously a difference between Irish and Finnish humour.

  30. I’m actually looking forward to more Vettel/Ricciardo battles in future. I think we could be in for some really great battles if RBR get Ferrari engines.

    1. How are they gonna battle then? If one of them has both better engine and better chassis with better aero??

  31. I don’t blame that guy for going for a stroll. Another profoundly uninteresting race. 3/10.

  32. 3. Boring from start to finish.

  33. Easily the most boring race of the year. Vettel in total control, 0 overtakes and Mercedes cant do anything.

    1. No one in their right mind would think this race being more boring than Monaco. And imo half a dozen other races this season….

  34. With the exception of the Toro Rosso’s come back the race was a bit dull. There was occasional potential for a good race but nothing came of it. It’ll possibly be important for the title with Hamilton’s retirement but I have a feeling it’ll be business as usual next week.

  35. 2/10 Boring! Great race by Vettel and Ricciardo.

  36. 8/10. Easily not a BRA 2008, but much better than EU 2011…..

    1. MAybe should’ve considered 9…..nope, EJ did the interview.

  37. Pretty decent race, slightly over average. Rated it as some of the races between Ferrari and McLaren between 1998 and 2000, even though there’s not a lot of overtaking at the top, it’s interesting to follow.

    Midfield was pretty interesting as well, especially when old vs new tyres really came into play.

    Still, wish they’d either shorten the track or just go for less laps, because two hours is too much. 7/10 for the race.

    Shoutout to RTL Germany for their incredible decision to run commercials one lap after the first safety car period. If this wasn’t such a predictable season for the most part, I’d probably switch to pay per view or get a subscription.

  38. I love those new voting buttons! As always, F1 Fanatic gets 10/10.

    As for the Singapore GP, 8/10. The race was obviously not spectacular, there were periods when literally nothing was happening and there were no real battles for the top spots. Still, we saw a few good passes, unexpected technical retirements and some other dramatic moments, such as the collisions between Hulkenberg and Massa / Button and Maldonado. Also, every F1 race that does not get spoilt by DRS, deserves bonus points these days. Kudos to Verstappen for stubbornly defending his position and not listening to his team.

  39. Rather uneventful compared with Silverstone 2003 and Hockenheim 2000, if you run at the track you better time it in a way everybody has to change strategy.
    However, it´s always nice to see the correct car leading. Coincidentally every race interrupted by a pedestrian on track has been won by a Ferrari.

  40. absolutely outstanding race! – 15/10
    “Bring on Suzuka!”
    Hopefully it will be another weekend exactly like this with Mercedes struggling and Ferrari in great form.

  41. Torture, what an endurance event. I fell asleep for about 10 laps after the first safety car, first time I’ve fallen asleep during a race since the Ferrari non races of 2004. Sleepy time.

  42. Gave it an eight because it gave us something a bit different, there was some good midfield action from time to time and it didn’t feel like it dragged.

    Plus a bonus point for the nice little 5-1 I got on a Ferrari win after FP2.

  43. Plenty of drama, but it still felt like there was something missing. Perhaps it was the lack of a true threat of a position change in the top 3, or the overlong safety car periods.

    Purely for the result with regards to the championship, and the promising development that two teams were able to beat Mercedes on merit, I’ll give it a 7.

  44. The start was so dull. However, from the pitstops onwards, what a race. Singapore always delivers drama and such tense racing and we had it once again here. We had complete chaos with the track invader, we had awesome IndyCar-style wheel-to-wheel racing, we had a non-Mercedes winner and we had a genuine battle for the race win for a while. Meanwhile, Toro Rosso have two megastars in the making, and Sebastian Vettel, regardless of what the record books will say, is cementing his status as a legend.

    Solid 8.

  45. Hamilton 0 points

    Vettel 25 points

    Singapore Rating 10 points

    Perfect

  46. Great Racing from Verstappen and Sainz, great win by Vettel, disappointed by Raikkonen’s pace. Lets see if Ferrari’s pace was 1 off or real compared to Mercedes.

  47. At times very exciting, but averaged over time: only worth 6/10 for me.

  48. 8 for me. Just a good race. A win for my team. And max… wow!

  49. Was that man Nelson Piquet Jr.? You should know better by now Ron Dennis.

  50. 6/10. Not the greatest race. The top 6 was quite predictable after yesterday, it was just poor luck for Kvyat and retirement for Hamilton that changed the result a little bit. The fight between Vettel and Ricciardo was ok, but Vettel had it under control, even if they were close. The battles for the last few points really came alive after the last safety car.
    The safety car periods actually did nothing to improve the battle for the top, because they were both when the leaders were pitting. I was particularly annoyed at the first SC, I think that between the VSC and SC there were 8 laps where they were not racing. It’s a bit too much, especially because the accident that caused it was not that bad.
    I think that there’s a bit of work to do on the procedures regarding the VSC. It’s not the first time that this happens and it’s a bit annoying to spend a quarter of an hour watching drivers warm up their tyres.

    1. But I think it’s better there’s a VSC before SC. I think they must always have a VSC before SC. I hate when the result change because of SC anyway….

  51. @keithcollantine Is there any chance you could tweak the poll colours slightly? Dark green on a slightly lighter shade of green doesn’t give much contrast between the background and the percentage bars.

  52. I gave it 5/10. My rating seems a bit lower than average, but I wasn’t that impressed by the race to be honest, I felt that if anything the tweaks to the circuit layout have only served to make overtaking even more difficult without DRS. Perhaps I simply expected too much after a surprise result in qualifying. Vettel winning isn’t really a shot in the arm for me as part of the problem with this season is that the podium has frequently been quite predictable (some combination of Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel being the norm) and he has already won twice this year before this race, including relatively recently in Hungary, so it doesn’t feel like a novelty. To be honest, I think it would have needed to be a Red Bull or Raikkonen for it to feel like a genuine turn up. On the plus side, the Toro Rossos gave us some decent action towards the end of the race, and it has spiced up the championship (although I think this grand prix weekend has shown that if there is going to a title battle in the closing races, it will be between Hamilton and Vettel. Rosberg just doesn’t look like he can start regularly beating Hamilton this year and I think he stands more to lose if Ferrari’s strong form continues).

    I was disappointed when Hamilton retired because his strategy would have added some interest to the close of the race, I think even with the second safety car he could have challenged Raikkonen. Rosberg by contrast was fast enough to stay ahead of the drivers behind him, but not quick enough to challenge those in front so his race wasn’t as interesting as Hamilton’s could have been.

    I’m annoyed at the idiot who came onto the track as it destroyed any real strategic interest in the rest of the race, making for what I felt was a rather dreary final stint. All I can say is that on the previous occasions when a person has come onto the track, it hasn’t been accidental, any other thoughts I have would be conjecture. It was also a grand prix which emphasised my pet hate of what I feel is the excessive influence of the safety car on the race – I have never liked the ‘lapped cars may now overtake’ bit. I can understand why it is, but just send them to the back of the field. I know this would have taken Verstappen, who added some excitement during the final stint, out of the mix, but more often than not this simply brings slower cars back into play and unnecessarily penalises drivers fast enough to stay on the lead lap. Just my two cents…

    1. Agreed with the last part. For example, I was annoyed in Hungary when Ricciardo came out of nowhere to challenge the guys ahead. He was 45 seconds behind and the guy who finished 2nd that race (Kvyat) was actually about to get lapped just before the SC.

  53. 6/10. Seemed like most of it was run behind SC and when it wasn’t it was follow-the-leader. Probably the dullest Singapore Grand Prix there has been. Even that chap walking on the track exited the scene before we had any thrilling, ‘Oh my god what is he doing wandering about infront of the cars’ moments. Poor show!

  54. Boring as hell… just another Monaco, only longer. Leave F1 racing on true circuits instead of these processional, parade-style, bore fests.

    1. It was infinitely more entertaining and exciting than Monaco!

  55. 7/10

    would have been a lot better if Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen were closer but there was some great action in the midfield to be sure – especially in the latter half of the race.

    Verstappen continues to put on a great show and prove that he’s up to the challenge of F1 and, in doing so, he’s challenging his teammate to do better – so well done STR.

  56. I didn’t vote in the poll because I’d already voted with my feet a few hours ago and switched the race off. Dull, boring and with a total lack of entertainment value there were simply better things to do with my time.

  57. Good midfield drama, nice to see a different winner for a change, and undeniably an incredible performance from Vettel. As a one off, it was quite enjoyable, but it did remind me of how boring Vettel’s ability to pull a 3s gap on lap one can make races!

    1. That’s some ability though. Vauv. What the hell was that indeed. Though him pulling away at a rate of 2 seconds a lap after the first SC was even more amazing….

  58. Technically quite interesting to watch…..but when the first 3 in qualifying, stay in the same position during the race, with almost no chance of an overtake…….that’s not good to watch….

  59. Looking back at the race, I was surprisingly entertained for a race where “nothing” of interest actually happened on track. We had the usual safety cars, a few retirements, and some cars making up ground, but basically it was just a two-hour procession. I still liked it, so 6/10.

  60. 9 for me. I always look forward to Singapore and this was another good race ; plenty of incidents, different cars leading, a spectacular comeback from verstappen and the usual safety car bunching the cars up for some wheel to wheel racing.

  61. Interesting note about this race – in the lead up all week it was the Hamilton-Senna show. Could. Not. Escape. It.

    Yet hardly a peep is made that Vettel passed Senna in terms of race wins in fewer races (152 to 158). I can only imagine how the English press will lose a gasket when Hamilton wins next and ties Senna.

    1. And more interestingly he did what Senna had done in 1993. Ended the pole streak of the dominant team (Williams then, Mercedes now) and won the race.

      1. He was very Senna-esque this weekend to be honest.

  62. Safety car robbed us off a fight but still i guess i should be thankful its not another Mercedes victory so 7/10 it is

  63. Here’s 4 videos uploaded from my view at the Bay Grandstand. From my perspective it was a good race, witnessing Verstappen’s overtake is something to behold. He spotted the gap, took it well, all this within a few seconds. I am inclined to think that he will be one of the future greats.

    Parade Lap: https://youtu.be/RPtWDjRSh0M
    First Lap: https://youtu.be/NYoGiNN-x_0
    End of first Safety Car (note how Vettel holds up the cars): https://youtu.be/ooldYHRoya0
    Victory Lap: https://youtu.be/J69-el71qMk

  64. No battles at all in the top 5, only position changes were from pit stops. Thank god for the Hulkenberg crash because otherwise it would have been dreadful, but instead it was an average 5

  65. 8/10 for pure entertainment value:
    1 for Vettel’s pole lap resulting in a masterfully controlled race.
    1 for Alonzo avoiding Verstappen’s stalled car on the grid.
    1 for Riccairdo’s fastest lap.
    1 for the “underground subway system causing multiple cars to shift into neutral” conspiracy.
    1 for Button claiming that there were “certain racers” that were more dangerous than the fan on the track.
    1 for Verstappen charging hard into the points and rebelling like only a 17 year old can against team orders.
    1 for Kimi doing two simulated starts after Monza.
    1 for the professional reaction from the Mercedes team after the race.

  66. Solid 7. Enjoyable race, but aside from Hamilton retiring and the VSC ruining Kvyat’s race, nothing really happened in the top 5. Plenty of action further down though, mostly thanks to the Toro Rosso boys.

  67. 7 Always a great spectacle with the lights, the drivers’ eyes, the power and skill up close and that wall at the last corner but one. As usual the racing wasn’t much good round Singapore, but it’s still part of my favourite time of the season with Spa and Monza and Suzuka. Max Verstappen was great though, he made a go of it and it was sadly typical of F1 and its TV coverage that they were knocking him down and trying to make an overblown controversy out of it.
    In a way it was a bonkers race with mixed-up grids and random incidents. Full of admiration for Vettel who controlled the race far better than Race Control – they seemed to make a fustercluck of both safety cars, glad I watched highlights and didn’t have to sit through live.

  68. I can’t believe the high voting here. No wonder Bernie acts like he doesn’t have a care in the world! Before the first SC, every car at the front was circulating with a 2 sec gap. Same old procession, just a different coloured car in front. Are F1 fans really such mindless sheep?

  69. It was not too interesting, but it has some good parts.

  70. Standard race, as almost every single one this year.
    But as Hamilton lost and Vettel win will be rated very highly.
    Gave it a 6. It was a race that someone dominated, it was just another driver.

  71. Typical street course. Next time at Singapore I will paint something and watch it dry, instead of watching these guys go thru 23 curves….a drunk in the track gave more excitement than seeing Finger One shove that digit to the public. Thank god is only every now and then, that Seb ” Shove that Finger” Vettel has a chance to do that.

  72. I think Singapore GP is almost always better at the end of the race. The first stint was a boring one but at the end there was excitement with Toro Rossos being on supersofts. Fairly average race I say, so I gave it 6.

  73. 6/10 Mercedes dominance was pretty much exchanged for a Ferrari one, Red Bull had zero chance of winning wheter there was a safety car or not. I understand that for many fans this is welcomed news, but the race itself was no better then others this year.

  74. Can someone confirm why Hamilton was able to converse over the radio with his team about trying to fix his power problem? Isn’t that not allowed these days? It wasn’t a safety issue. Shouldn’t he be penalised for this? Suggest 10 grid places for Japan.

  75. 6/10
    I think I might have been to harsh on this one. Nothing happened with the top three. Hamilton’s recovery would have been interesting to watch. Would have. Most recoveries were down to retirements, apart from the Toro Rosso pair, which we only found out of in the final laps. An on board from Verstappen would have been more entertaining to see for most of the race. On lap two I was thrilled with the prospect of many intra- and extra-team battles, the two Mercedes followed by the two Force Indias and the two Williams – but, alas, nothing happened here. Massa and Hulkenberg retired, Hamilton retired, the track invasion robbed us of several laps, no one got smart at the restarts, Ferrari were perfect and Kvyat lost positions in the pits. Little action overall! And at one point I thought we were about to finish but we were only almost halfway-through – a never-ending, boring procession. Again, thank you Max and Carlos.

  76. No Mercedes on the podium, so just for that it’s a little bit exciting. However, at the end I was reminded of how I very much dislike Vettel’s one fingered salute…

  77. A bit of a latecomer to this but being at the circuit for the race, then bit of Bon Jovi post race on the Padang, followed by Fullerton’s Post Bar and then having to work today in Singapore takes a while (even if vote submitted earlier).

    Vote was 7/10 – race was definitely better than 2013/2014 possibly not as good as 2012 I’d say (was at all of these and everyone since ’09). Vettel did dominate but was not like “the scalded cat out of hell” (to quote Brundle from the time) in the 2013 snoozefest. Bits and pieces kept it reasonably spicy, especially Verstappen. Main problem with this race it is too long – Monaco doesn’t have the full 300K distance – just cut say 10 laps off this event and it’d be a killer. A street race where you can overtake, and looks brilliant on TV.

  78. I’m still surprised Sainz’s move on Grosjean passed…

  79. I gave the race a 5.

    I thought hardly anything of note happened before the race resumed after the second and final safety car period. That bunched the field up and allowed some action late on otherwise I would have given it a lower rating.

    Looking at the votes as it stands now most people have given it a 7 or 8 rating, I can only assume that so many have given it a relatively high rating because it wasn’t a Mercedes team victory.

    Mercedes may not have won the race, but at the front it had the same characteristics as ones Mercedes have won this year just that Ferrari won.

    In my opinion there was also less action elsewhere in the race so overall I thought it was one of the least entertaining Grand Prix of the season so far.

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