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F1 (Round 18) – 2019 Mexican Grand Prix Results and Highlights

♦ Lewis Hamilton’s win in Mexico still does not confirm his sixth world title, and he will have to wait till the next round in Texas. His closest rival is his team mate, Valtteri Bottas who is now 74 points behind.

♦ Ferrari started off with an unexpected advantage of pole position for Charles Leclerc when Max Verstappen lost his pole position because he ignored warning flags. However, the Italian team again lost that advantage although Sebastian Vettel’s tyre strategy worked out well in the end.

♦ Daniil Kvyat finished 9th overall but was dropped to 11th when the official results came out. The Toro Rosso driver was given a 10-second post-race time penalty for his last lap incident with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. The change in position also lost him and his team 2 points.

♦ Alexander Albon put in a good performance in Mexico, rising as high as third in the running, but the 2-stop strategy he had to use prevented him from pursuing the Mercedes-AMG drivers.

♦ The chances of Hamilton winning in Texas are pretty good as he has won 5 races there over the past 7 years. After collecting another world title, he can decide if he wants to move to Ferrari, Formula E, become an actor (he revealed that he was approached to star in Top Gun 2), or try to save the world in other ways.

100 wins — *100 F1 victories for the Mercedes Silver Arrows team*

Next race in Texas on November 3

F1 (Round 17) – 2019 Japanese Grand Prix Results and Highlights

♦ The strong typhoon forced qualifying to be postponed to raceday and both Ferrari’s were able to take the front row of the starting grid.

♦ With Valtteri Bottas winning in Japan, the 2019 F1 Constructors Championship is secured by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Motorsport team. The sixth consecutive world championship double is a new Formula 1 record.

♦ Although the two Ferraris had the front row on the starting grid, the team lost its advantage when the lights went green as Sebastian Vettel fumbled his start. However, the stewards did not penalise him for what appeared to be a ‘jump start’. Charles Leclerc was also slow off the line and Bottas surged forward, taking advantage of the situation.

♦ Max Verstappen’s race was short after his car was hit by Leclerc’s early in the race. Although both cars were damaged, the Red Bull was worse off and Verstappen was forced to retire.

♦ It was Alexander Albon’s first time at Suzuka and the 4th place is the best he has achieved in his career to date, one position better than in Belgium and Russia.

♦ A Mercedes-AMG driver will win the title again but it’s still not Lewis Hamilton’s for sure. The round in Mexico will be a tense one as Bottas still has an outside chance, depending on the outcome.

Next race in Mexico on October 27

F1 (Round 17) – 2019 Japanese Grand Prix Starting Grid

Race starts at 2:10 pm in Japan/1:10 pm in Malaysia

F1 (Round 16) – Highlights Of The 2019 Russian Grand Prix And Results

♦ Lewis Hamilton finally gets a win after 4 races and increasing assurance of another world championship title, possibly being confirmed in Mexico.

♦ Controversies again in the Ferrari camp led to Sebastian Vettel retiring with engine problems and Charles Leclerc losing his lead due to the virtual safety car being deployed.

♦ Red Bull’s two drivers – Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon – started the race in poor form, the former having been given a penalty and the latter having had an accident in qualifying. But they managed to finish 4th and 5th (Albon moving up from 20th at the beginning) to collect points for the team.

♦ Poorly planned pit stop saw Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo immobile longer than necessary and dropping way down the field to end 13th. He must miss the lightning-quick and precisely planned pit stops at Ferrari.

(Provisional results)

Next race in Japan (Suzuka) on October 13

F1 (Round 16) – 2019 Russian Grand Prix Starting Grid

Race starts at 2:10 pm in Russia/7:10 pm in Malaysia

F1 (Round 15) – Highlights Of The 2019 Singapore Grand Prix And Results

♦ A 1-2 finish for Ferrari in Singapore and for Sebastian Vettel to stand at the top of the podium – which he has not done since August last year.

♦ ‘Unfair’ was how Charles Leclerc felt when the Ferrari team allowed Vettel to undercut him and come into the pits one lap earlier, resulting in Leclerc losing his lead.

♦ Lewis Hamilton managed only fourth among the finishers but his strong points lead still gives him a comfortable buffer for the remaining rounds.

♦ Although his qualifying time got him eighth place on the starting grid. Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified and dropped to last position. This was due to the MGU-K of the Renault exceeding the power limit during the qualifying session.

Mercedes-AMG GT R — *The AMG GT R is the 11th Official F1 Safety Car provided by Mercedes-AMG over the past 23 years. It is the quickest Safety Car in the sport’s history so far.*

Next race in Russia on September 29

6 challenges racing at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore

The F1 races in Malaysia and Singapore have always been physically the toughest due to the high temperatures and high humidity. This year, the drivers must also cope with the haze though it does not seem to have been mentioned as much of a problem.

The steel beams underpinning the concrete of the Esplanade Bridge are magnetised and the magnetic fields created are strong enough to interfere with some sensors on the cars. Therefore, teams replace some sensors with special sensors that are less susceptible to interference. In order to prevent the magnetic field impacting the hydraulic valves in the gearbox, they are shielded with what’s called ‘mu metal’ (a special nickel alloy which is effective against magnetic fields) – only used in Singapore.

The first ever F1 race at night was run at the Marina Bay Circuit in 2008. There were concerns about whether the lighting conditions would be good enough to ensure safety, especially on a narrow street circuit. The organisers installed 1,600 lighting projectors around the circuit and no one has ever complained of conditions being unsafe due to inadequate illumination.

Drivers can lose around 3 kgs of weight through sweating over the course of the race, due to the incredibly high temperatures and humidity. Fluid loss is also a factor for team members, so keeping hydrated is crucial. The recommended amount of fluid intake on a hot day ranges from three to five litres.

Drivers change gear about 62 times during one lap of the Singapore circuit, the second most number among current circuits. In the 2018 race, Lewis Hamilton completed 3,100 gear changes and Valtteri 4,140.

The drivers and crews do not change their ‘body clock’ to Singapore time, which means that when the race starts in the evening, it will be like their usual afternoon timing in European events. Therefore they stick to European time and routines, having breakfast at midday and lunch around 6 pm. Dinner times vary depending on the day and workload but are usually from 1 am onwards. The drivers will go to bed around 6 am to get 8 hours of sleep.

F1 (Round 15) – 2019 Singapore Grand Prix Starting Grid

Race starts at 8:10 pm Singapore/Malaysia time on Sunday

UPDATE FOR STARTING GRID: Daniel Ricciardo starts from last position due to disqualification for exceeding the MGU-K power limit during qualifying.

Previous Winners Of The Singapore Grand Prix
2008: Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2009: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
2010: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2011: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2012: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2013: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2014: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-AMG)
2015: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
2016: Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-AMG)
2017: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-AMG)
2018: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-AMG)

F1 (Round 14) – Highlights Of The 2019 Italian Grand Prix And Results

♦ Second consecutive victory for 21-year old Charles Leclerc. He also gave Ferrari its first win on home ground after 9 years.

♦ Although under attack from both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at different stages of the race, Leclerc stayed cool and remained out of reach to take the chequered flag.

♦ Sebastian Vettel’s race was one he would want to forget. After losing control of his car at a chicane, he was involved in a collision with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll got him a 10-second penalty.

♦ Although Ferrari seems to be competitive enough, the improvements being made to their car can’t be fast enough to collect more wins before the season ends, especially if circuits are tight with lots of corners.

♦ Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth placing was the best for Renault since the carmaker returned to F1 in 2016.

♦ The McLaren team was fined 5,000 euros (about RM23,000) for an unsafe release that caused Sainz to retire from the race.