Good news for Victorian businesses and sports fans with word from Singapore over the weekend that renewal of the contract for the Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park is ‘done’.
Melbourne GP boss Ron Walker met with f1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in Singapore and posed for the usual ‘happy snaps’ with him and Australian drivers Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo. However these photo opps often don’t count for much in the rough-and-tumble of F1 contract negotiations.
But CarShowroom’s F1 insider reported from the paddock in Singapore that the F1 teams logistics departments have begun renewing bookings for the their Melbourne hotels and favourite restaurants beyond 2014 – a good sign those ‘in the know’ reckon we’ll be racing at Albert Park beyond the current F1 contract.
Hearing that news you can bet the belligerent lot running V8 Supercars will now lob-in their list of demands to the Melbourne GP organizers. We can only hope the usual protestations of the V8 ‘bully boys’ won’t distract from the main game – running the F1 race which is acknowledged as one of the world’s best.
Other intriguing gossip doing the rounds of the paddock in Singapore concerned the Williams Team’s concerted efforts to bolster its technical staff. British Ferrari guru Rob Smedley is rumoured to be in discussions with Williams and even Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn was said to be in the picture until he was summoned to Germany and given a new contract and increased budget from next year.
The actual race in Singapore was a bit flat for much of its 61 laps but exploded into life the last 5 or so in a frantic run for the lower podium steps. Things exploded literally at this time for local hope Mark Webber – his Renault detonating into flames on lap 60 after race punctuated by convoluted tyre strategies saw him making a real lunge for third place in the closing stages.
In the end, defending F1 champion Sebastian Vetell completely dominated around Singapore’s 5.0-kms Marina Bay circuit, winning by 32 seconds in an almost lights-to-flag display (Mercedes-Benz driver Nico Rosberg stormed to lead into the first corner, but Vettel shouldered him aside to assume the lead by the second corner).
In fact Vettel’s dominance was set-up during qualifying – so fast he easily secured pole position with minimal laps and thus was able to save one new set of ‘Super Soft’ Pirelli tyres for the race (most of the rest had slightly used sets of the soft rubber as their race choice). And in the race, additional tyre degradation meant possible two-stop pit strategies went out the window and the smart tyre combination proved to be surviving the initial ‘holding pattern’ laps (when the cars are scraping and laboring with 160kgs of fuel on-board), then a middle stint on medium compound tyres and ending with another set of ‘Super Softs’.
Of course it’s never that straight-forward in F1. The Benz’ of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are always fast in qualifying on slow circuits like Singapore, Monaco and Canada but over a race distance are still harder on tyres than the Red Bulls. And Fernando Alonso did a great job to finish second behind Vettel as his Ferrari was strangely ‘oversteery’ for the entire weekend (a change is suspension spec was suspected).
Ferrari-bound Kimi Raikkonen was perhaps the best performer in Singapore – despite pain from a back injury he went on a charge from a lowly 13th starting position to finish third (reinforcing the excellence of the Lotus-Renault package.
The Mercs of Rosberg and Hamilton finished fourth and fifth after a late race battle with Webber was terminated by his engine blow-up. And McLaren is still ket to see a podium this year with Jenson Button the best of the cars from Surrey, finishing seventh.
And with the ink on his red Bull contract for 2014 barely dry, Aussie Daniel Ricciardo caused the only safety car interlude in Singapore when he ‘head-butted’ the barriers on lap 25.
So, as the F1 teams wring the sweat from their uniforms after another weekend in the tropical heat and humidity of Singapore (which is now a favourite location with the teams thanks to its five-star paddock set-up and even better hotels many of which are walking distance to the pits) Vettel has 247 points, Alonso is second with 187, ahead of Hamilton on 151.
