Ferraris are not made for Singapore

By Lai Jun Wei. Photos by Vanessa Lim.

The horse’s legs are tied. I think somebody forgot to tell the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) when they decided to bring Formula One racing to Singapore that we don’t like Ferrari. No, not you or me (I’m sure many of us out there dream to own a Ferrari), but the Singapore Grand Prix.

As you may recall, Felipe Massa and current world champion Kimi Räikkönen had their dreams dashed at the recent Formula One Singapore Grand Prix. The inaugural night race saw two-time world champion Fernando Alonso from Renault take the crown after a spectacular series of events which propelled him from a distant 15th place to right on top. After his car developed mechanical problems during the qualifying session and leaving him stranded in 15th position, his hopes were to just lap the track. Never did he expect in his wildest dreams to climb all the way to the top.

All thanks to his team mate Nelsinho Piquet.

But I guess the most heartbreaking moment was for Felipe Massa. This scene being replayed over and over again, Massa driving off after having his car refuelled. The only thing different is that he had a fuel hose attached, and he did so after running over one of his mechanics. Apparently, the green light was shown to Massa to drive off, but this semi-automated system’s flaw was that it could not detect the fuel hose still attached. Massa drove off, cutting dangerously in front of Adrian Sutil from Force India.

To worsen his luck, Kimi Räikkönen had already pulled up behind him and the pit crew was forced to refuel his team mate. Massa, had no choice but to sit near the exit of the pit lane while the Ferrai pit crew did the fastest sprint of their lives after refuelling Räikkönen, the McLaren pit crew cheering them on. The unhappy faces of the Ferrari race engineers were clearly portrayed on the big screen.

A Ferrari spokesman who was interviewed immediately after the incident was seemingly quite irritated by the interviewer (Louise) as she persistently kept asking him if he had seen the green light flash for Massa to go ahead. Apparently, she did not understand clearly when he mentioned that the safety of the pit crew ran over was more of a priority than pointing fingers.

Things hadn’t always been that way. Felipe Massa was fastest in qualifying, snatching pole position from championship contender Lewis Hamilton. He clocked excellent timings during practice session, stealing the fastest lap from Hamilton in Practice Session 1, before losing it back to him again. He was third in Practice Session 2, trailing leader Fernando Alonso by just a split second.

Massa’s showing was great in the first few laps. Despite having debris stuck under his car at Lap 8, he seemed to be moving faster. By Lap 12, both Ferraris seemed to have settled into the track with Lewis Hamilton still struggling for an answer.

But after Massa’s freak accident, things seemed to go all downhill for him. He rejoined in 15th position after serving a drive-through penalty for dangerously exiting into the path of Adrian Sutil. By Lap 29, Massa seemed to have lost his “mojo”, and let Robert Kubica from BMW Sauber overtake him.

He moved up a few positions when cars ahead of him crashed out or retired but then spun out of control at Turn 18 after coming across a slowing Toyota driven by Jarno Trulli. Somehow, the spirit of a champion was lost. Never would you think of him as just one point behind contender Hamilton in the drivers’ championship.

Another stroke of bad luck came for Ferrari when Räikkönen faltered at Lap 58 with just four laps to go. He sat in fifth place, and seemed poised to possibly over take Timo Glock and then fight with Lewis Hamilton for third. It could have been a loss of concentration or just plain fatigue as he crashed with just four laps to go into the wall at Turn 10 at the end of St Andrew’s Road. He probably should have followed Alonso’s decision to stay on the European timing.

At this point, Alonso was at least six seconds faster than second-placed Nico Rosberg. In a day of bad luck, the Ferraris did not score any points, leaving Lewis Hamilton to extend his lead over Felipe Massa to seven points and place McLaren-Mercedes with a one-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship. Kimi Räikkönen’s hopes of winning a second championship are almost gone as he now trails by 27 points.

“It’s hard to deal with losing in this fashion a race that was within our grasp, with a car that was just the way I wanted it. We had a good strategy and all the signs were there that we could get a one-two finish. But things can change in a moment and that’s what happened today. At the pit stop, one of the guys made a mistake. But we are only human. Each one of us always tries to do our best and these things can happen,” said Felipe Massa, clearly choosing not to blame anyone for the blunder in the pit.

Kimi Räikkönen was unhappy that the team had lost precious points in the constructors’ classification.

“In the opening laps, the car was a bit difficult but then it improved a lot, to such an extent that I was able to close right up to Hamilton. When the safety car came out, I know my race was compromised given that I had to pit behind Felipe. I was able to get back up to fifth but then the incident I described earlier (crash) happened. Clearly, morale is not high today.”

Indeed it was not Ferrari’s day. “A black day, there’s little else to say,” commented Stefano Domenicali, director of the Ferrari F1 team. But with cars racing on the streets of Singapore, maybe there was some unknown curse on the Ferrari team.

With roads that have a maximum speed limit of 90km/h, Ferraris don’t go fast in Singapore. Car owners have to take to neighbouring Malaysia in order to stretch their Ferrari’s muscles. In a country where the average citizen would usually choose a Toyota or another brand of sedans for a private vehicle, you would probably recall seeing a Ferrari once in a while on the streets, powering up just for that “manly revving noise” before grinding to a halt at the next traffic light. In a place where if you go above the speed limit, you either get into a crash, get stopped by the traffic police, run into a red light/speed camera, or get stuck in a traffic jam, little wonder is it that Singapore does not like Ferraris.

Rather, we might actually favour Toyotas (or Renaults) more. The Toyota-powered cars could be seen as the best performing in the Singapore Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg from Williams who came in second was driving a Toyota-powered car, so was Timo Glock in fourth. Kazuki Nakajima, also from the Williams who was driving a Toyota came in 8th place. Williams was the only team to have both cars earn team points at the Singapore GP. The rest either had one car retired or out of the top 8.

Some may argue that Jarno Trulli, who was powering a Toyota retired at Lap 52. But don’t forget Trulli’s performance throughout the race, holding up several cars behind him in what was dubbed the “Trulli train”. From the start, he blocked off the cars behind him, not allowing them to pass. With his two-stop strategy, he was considerably carrying a heavier load of fuel as compared to the others. As they frantically tried to pass, he calmly obstructed the way, causing an almost five second difference between him and race leader Felipe Massa. He might not have finished the race due to gearbox problems, but he was a factor on this street circuit.

Ironically, Kimi Räikkönen clocked the fastest lap in the race, with a time of 1:45:599 on Lap 15. You might have the fastest car, but that may not mean you can finish the race.

Related stories:
Alonso ends hoodoo in sundown Singapore
Massa wins fight for pole in Singapore
Only at Formula One…
F1 drivers: "Singapore has the bumpiest track”
Watching F1 live is…boring
McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari shine while Toyota fail to make mark in first practice session
5 reasons why the F1 is like the US financial crisis
Singapore Grand Prix: Paying to jam ourselves
Scalpers find few takers for Singapore Grand Prix tickets at eBay with two days to go