By: fallen angel

It was a boring and predictable race, there was no rain, no minor incidents, no major incidents, no nothing, just smog and dust.

1st place – Lewis Hamilton (94 pts)

2nd place – Felipe Massa (87 pts)

3rd place – Kimi Raikonnen

4th place – Fernando Alonso

Massa is 7 points behind, which means he will need 8 or more points to win the championship. There is a few scenarios in which he can do this:

Scenario A – Massa 1st, Hamilton 6th or below.

Scenario B – Massa 2nd, Hamilton 8th or below.

Basically, if Lewis Hamilton gets anywhere from 1st to 5th position in the next race, he wins. Massa, on the other hand, needs to finish either 1st or 2nd to even stand a chance. At this moment, I doubt Massa can snatch the WDC away from Hamilton.

Alonso finished on a solid 4th, after starting from 4th. The only cars in front of him were Ferrari and McLaren, again proving that Renault has indeed improved their cars, although still not enough to pressure Ferrari or McLaren. Hope what they learned this season will propel them to the front next season, and give Alonso the car that he deserves.

Please note that the Japanese GP will be held at a different time than other GPs so far. For Malaysia, the race will be on Sunday 12.30pm, NOT the usual 8pm. Please be informed.

To find out race start in your own local time, visit Formula1.com and click “Convert to My Local Time” at the race schedule box.

More about the Japanese GP:

• Japanese Grand Prix Preview [planetf1.com]

boston.com’s The Big Picture has compiled a great set of pictures that tells the story of the F1 2008 Singapore GP. Some of the pictures capture the emotional roller coaster that Fernando Alonso went through.

During Qualifying Round 2, Devastation after a fuel pump failure:

After the race, Jubilation, Winner of Singapore GP 2008:

More after the jump.

The Big Picture: The Singapore Grand Prix [boston.com]

The good folks at PF1 has produced an excellent write-up of “Winners and Losers” for the Singapore GP.

Quote:

Fernando Alonso, Renault, 1st
It just goes to show that good things come to those who can do a Basil Fawlty impression. Alonso was the big beneficiary of the Safety Car lottery, but what was quite clear was that he had a car that, on performance, deserved to come first. This was no Nelson Piquet at Hockenheim lucking into a place he didn’t look capable of achieving on his own.

We now have six big talents in F1: Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica and Vettel.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 13th
On Saturday he took P1 with what could easily be the qualifying lap of the year. Riding on board with Felipe Massa his pole time looked effortless and Sunday proved that he had virtually the same level of fuel as Raikkonen and Hamilton. So, an immense achievement on Saturday. The second he responded to the green light that told him it was clear to leave the pits on Sunday his race was over. And none of it his fault.

Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 10th
Though he was in good company at the back, Kovalainen should have been able to keep his Mclaren ahead of Jenson Button’s tortoise-like Honda at the very least.

Rubens Barrichello, Honda, DNF
The first time Singapore GP fans will be thinking – how come the most experience driver in F1 history has no idea how to throw his gloves properly.

Funny and entertaining! More after the jump.

Singapore GP: Winners and Losers [Planet F1]

From being the fastest in Practice 2 and Practice 3, to the lowly 15th in Qualifying due to mechanical failure in Round 2 of Qualifying, Fernando Alonso stormed to claim the first ever Singapore GP win in its maiden race!

It’s his first win of the season, and hopefully there’ll be more to come after this! Renault has shown consistent improvement over the past few races, hopefully it’s due to some technological advancement that was done on the car and more of good things can be done to improve the car for Fernando Alonso for more wins in the future!

Nico Rosberg was 2nd, and Lewis Hamilton 3rd to increase him drivers’ championship points gap to 7 ahead of Felipe Massa. It’s sad how Massa’s race was ruined due to technical error. Ferrari ended with no points when Kimi crashed, what a disastrous showing by them this race.

On to the Japanese GP on 12th October 2008!

Photo credit: Planet F1

P.S. Anybody noticed the mini-debris flying all over the tracks when the cars zoom by? They look like pieces of paper/plastic/leaves. Is it normal and just more visible under those light conditions in a night race, or are they something else?

This article hits the spot with the following conclusions:

What is indisputable, however, is that Hamilton produces more excitement, more drama, and more controversy than any other performer in F1.

Whatever their driver allegiance, a F1 fan cannot claim to be a F1 driver (sic, should’ve been “fan” here) if he did not enjoy the sight of Hamilton charging through the field in Italy.

I am a self professed Alonso fan, and I hate to say this but after Spa and Monza, all I have for Hamilton is nothing but respect. He has the confidence, the courage, and is rightly the current king of wets. And his driving is nothing less than stunning!

Read more at Planet F1: A Few Conclusions From Monza

Looks like the Italian GP’s going to be exciting after all, what with the uncertainties and all. Kimi Raikonnen and Lewis Hamilton both will start from 14th and 15th position, while Felipe Massa will start from 6th.

Sebastian Vettel revels in Monza rain and is our youngest ever, first Toro Rosso pole sitter. In fact, it’s the first pole for the Italian team! Go Vettel! We have so much more to see from you!

I guess instead of being the boring unpredictable race as I mentioned in the last post, it’s going to be an exciting one after all!

The race will be on Sunday 12pm GMT (8pm Malaysian time). Watch it online!

Photo credits: Planet F1

We are going into the Italian GP with uncertainties. McLaren has filed an appeal with FIA’s court of appeal, but it may only be heard after the Italian GP.

This means that even after the race, we still wouldn’t know who’s leading the driver’s championship. Nice going, FIA.

Monza seems like it’s going to be boring ol’ Monza, with no rain and not much overtaking. Boo hoo.

In other news, there’s still a lot of unknown about Alonso’s future, whether he’ll be staying in Renault, or whether he’ll be going to Honda. Everybody’s keeping mum. Wherever he goes, I just have one request, pretty please, with sugar on top, give him a better car.

Watch it online here.

A good clip (and commentary) of Lewis Hamilton’s Spa manoeuvre that got him penalized and “down-modded” to 3rd.

Although he’s not exactly my favourite driver (okay, I don’t like him), but I personally think he deserved the win. A race is a race, and a win is a win, and IMHO he won it fair and square on the racing track. He crossed the finish line, he didn’t endanger anyone, Kimi forced him wide so he *had* to take the chicane anyway, and after all he did slow down and let Kimi have the lead again before overtaking.

From the video, you can see that Lewis is simply more in control and dominant, and Kimi simply didn’t stand a chance. Lets hope their appeal goes through and his win is reinstated – as it should’ve been.

Credits to Lewis Hamilton, and I hope that no matter what the result may turn out to be, it doesn’t deter him from performing such a feat again in the future! This is what makes Formula 1 so exciting, and I sure don’t want it to stop!

P.S. Can someone PLEASE give Alonso a better machine and let him fight it out with Hamilton on an equal footing?

Race stewards reviewed the footage of the duel between Kimi Raikonnen and Lewis Hamilton, and decided to add 25 seconds to Hamilton’s time, which effectively drops him to third position in the Belgium GP.

New driver’s standings:

1. Lewis Hamilton (76)
2. Felipe Massa (74) [-2]
3. Robert Kubica (58) [-16]

Source: Planet F1: Hamilton stripped of Belgium GP victory