F1 Singapore Grand Prix: Friday round-up

The Formula 1 fraternity moves to Singapore this weekend for the first of the six flyaway races that conclude the season. Singapore’s Marina Bay Circuit is in direct contrast to Spa and Monza where F1 cars run the lowest downforce package seen all season. The Mercedes powered cars are not likely to enjoy the same performance advantage as they did at last two grands prix but they are still likely to feature in the top 10.

MONTEZEMOLO'S EXIT AND BAN ON PERFORMANCE RELATED RADIO COMMUNICATION

The big news that succeeded the last F1 race in Italy was the departure of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo after 23 long and dedicated years at the helm of the Italian company. Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Ferrari’s parent company Fiat will take over the role from 13th of October, ahead of company’s planned flotation at the New York Stock Exchange.

Another story that grabbed headlines was FIA’s decision to clamp down on team radio starting this week’s Singapore Grand Prix. In accordance with Article 20.1 of the sporting regulations which states that "the driver must drive the car alone and unaided,” teams are now not allowed to provide any advice on team radio(and on pit boards) related to the performance of the drivers. The original idea also included a ban on car related performance advice. However, after lengthy discussions, that idea was later postponed until the 2015 F1 season.

As many as eight representatives from the FIA are believed to have been monitoring radio chatter all season and came to the conclusion that F1 drivers have started to rely too much on performance related messages from the pitwall and are therefore not in adherence to Article 20.1.

MERCEDES CONTINUE TO SET THE PACE IN SINGAPORE

Coming back to this weekend’s night race, Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton finished the second practice session on top ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who set the pace earlier this weekend.

The British driver lapped his W05 Hybrid around the Marina Bay Circuit in 1’47.490 to beat Alonso’s lap time by just over a tenth of a second.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in fourth place, half a second down on Hamilton’s benchmark. However, little heed should be paid to Ferrari’s impressive performance during the first two practice sessions. The Italian marque has a habit of running cars with less fuel on Friday, giving an unfair picture of their true pace.

Instead, Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel are likely to be Mercedes’ closest challenger this weekend on a track which suits their car and plays down the impact of an underpowered Renault engine. Spa winner Daniel Ricciardo finished thirdin the second practice while Vettel, who spent majority of the session in garage as mechanics worked hard to fit a new engine in his RB10, finished fifth with a laptime of 1:48.041.

McLaren arrived in Singapore with a major upgrade on their MP4-29. The team has struggled because of lack of downforce in the first half of the season and such an update was requisite for this high downforce track. Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button, therefore, finished sixth and seventh in practice, ahead of the Force India pairing of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

The Toro Rosso looked like a handy car to drive in Singapore with rookie Daniil Kvyat’s outpacing his experienced teammate Jean Eric Vergne to conclude the top 10.

Nico Rosberg could only finish in 13th place, having had to back off from his flying lap after a major shunt by Pastor Maldonado necessitated red flags midway through the session.

And finally ,the Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were 17th and 18th quickest respectively, with the Grove based outfit continuing with their tradition of completing aero tests on Friday, instead of showing their true one lap pace. Expect the team to fare a lot better over the next two days.