Eh, where’s the qualifying?  Sky f1 appear not to have shown it?

You must of blinked and missed it, it definitely was on when i watched it

Ferrari was a surprise! they have bought some aero upgrades to Singapore

Ferrari’s updates (new aero package) for Singapore consists of a new front and rear wing, new floor and diffuser

Late Saturday evening drama at #SingaporeGP

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo disqualified from qualifying for MGU-K technical infringement

He had qualified 8th

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 21, 2019

LeClerc is just whipping Vettel at the moment, every time he finds that little bit extra! Fantastic to watch, he really is lining up to be something very special indeed.

Something went wrong with Sky, it never recorded qualy (but did record all the pre grid stuff etc.) and couldn’t find it on catchup, so watched highlights on c4.

Great to see dc and wibber again but they padded fpr qn hour with only about 10 mins of cars! Hope the gp records fine on sky tomorrow…

Impressive stuff from Leclerc, he’s really hit his stride since the summer break. Bottas on the other hand seems to be suffering his traditional late-season decline.

Plenty of potential for fun and games tomorrow. I’m expecting Verstappen to be back in the hunt once things are underway, but the start should be interesting and if anything kicks off on the first lap (fiver on a Vettel howler?) then the McLarens should be there to mop up some positions.

Renault confirm they will not be appealing Ricciardo's exclusion from Qualifying. They say the advantage Ricciardo gained from the power spike was one microsecond! #F1 #SingaporeGP

— Thomas Maher (@thomasmaheronf1) September 21, 2019

a micro second 🙄

Good session. Hamilton has taken some stick for overtaking Bottas but why was Bottas going so slowly? He was a good 5s back from whoever was in front and driving like a snail.

stevemuzzy

Great to see dc and wibber again but they padded fpr qn hour with only about 10 mins of cars! Hope the gp records fine on sky tomorrow…

Blame Sky for that one. Not content with throwing every fat ex-driver they can find at it, stealing the theme music and having Sky adverts on C4 during the race, they have to try and make the C4 show itself more boring. Dicks.

Re. Sky, for whatever reason my box has never series linked the F1 live race or qualifying.. which is annoying as it seems fine to series link P1, 2 & 3. It even series links the F2 races FFS but not F1 so I have to remember to manually set it to record for the weekend.. this is not just today mind but for as long as I can remember.. anyone else get this? Qually was at at normal time today tho.

LeClercs lap was absolutely superb. Really interesting mix at the pointy end of the grid tomorrow for the race. Canny wait to watch it all unfold and see if the 100% safety car record is upheld. 😬

Great to see dc and wibber again but they padded fpr qn hour with only about 10 mins of cars! Hope the gp records fine on sky tomorrow…

Blame Sky for that one.

Yep, the deal for the highlights essentially limits them to any show (qualy or race) only having a maximum of 50% track action. And that’s 50% of the screen time so doesn’t count ad breaks! So a 2hr qualy show only has 45 mins of action, a race show around 50 mins. I think the Sky F1 ads and a mention at the end of the qualy show are in there too. My brother-in-law occasionally works with an ex C4 Sport techie and he told me the details, it’s why a lot of the analysis stuff is done away from the trackside as Sky try and make that count!

That was the most exciting qualy in ages! It’s such a good season, I’m really enjoying it.

Channel 4 commentary pointed out that Leclerc now has more poles this season than any other driver, including Hamilton!!

Lets see if Verstappen and Vettel both make it through the first turn in one piece.

Lets see if Verstappen and Vettel both make it through the first turn in one piece.

Quite!

Although my enjoyment in watching Vettel struggle has finally dried up and I’m feeling a bit awkward for him now. It would be good to see him claw back some dignity over the next few races

need to can this race, rubbish circuit with rubbish racing. 3 safety cars is ridiculous

it also sounds like the ferrari have remote control over leclercs car! surely they don’t randomly change the modes on the steering wheel so the driver doesn’t use them!!!

it also sounds like the ferrari have remote control over leclercs car! surely they don’t randomly change the modes on the steering wheel so the driver doesn’t use them!!!

Just finished watching the Channel 4 coverage, no mention if inaccessible engine modes. What happened?

some of his radio chatter he was asking for “more” engine modes, though he was asking for permission it sounded like the he was being denied remotely.

Ok

I agree, that was a frustrating race!

It would be nice to know how much closer to Hamilton Leclerc is in terms of drivers championship points if Ferrari hadn’t been holding him back this season

Vettel vs Leclerc carries on, thought Vettel would be #2 driver next season.

I think Vettel got lucky personally, the undercut worked out perfect but the multiple safety cars helped save his tyres for the end of the race, if there was no safety car moments then i think Charles would of been right on his gearbox in the last 10 or so laps, maybe getting past or Vettel under pressure would make a mistake

Will be interesting to see if Vettel is truly back on form or just got lucky in how the race panned out

Will be interesting to see if Vettel is truly back on form or just got lucky in how the race panned out

Bit of both maybe, but there’s no getting away from the fact that Leclerc out qualified Vettel at one of Vettel’s favourite circuits

Biniotto seems to have pulled together a superteam of late. The SF90 has suddenly become an unlikely all-rounder. Seeing Vettel so pleased with his result was a nice touch, Leclerc has been awesome since the otherwise horrible weekend at Spa.

Handling Vettel and Leclerc isn’t always going to be easy, I expect fireworks there before the season is out. Both drivers have much to prove, one may be more motivated than the other.

shermer75

Member

Will be interesting to see if Vettel is truly back on form or just got lucky in how the race panned out

Bit of both maybe, but there’s no getting away from the fact that Leclerc out qualified Vettel at one of Vettel’s favourite circuits

I was listening to Missed Apex last night, I didn’t realise that Ferrari didn’t tell Charl Eclair that Vettel was stopping, so he carried on plodding round 2 seconds off the pace.

I mean I get why Ferrari did it (1-3 into a 1-2 plus a huge confidence boost for Seb) but it was pretty unfair. Not sure how much longer Charles will carry on playing the team game if they keep it up. Surely he could go to any top team now if a seat becomes available.

I mean I get why Ferrari did it (1-3 into a 1-2 plus a huge confidence boost for Seb) but it was pretty unfair. Not sure how much longer Charles will carry on playing the team game if they keep it up. Surely he could go to any top team now if a seat becomes available.

1. Ferrari say they just miscalculated and didn’t realize how big the undercut would be. They expected Vettel would come out behind Lecluck. Instead, he came out 0.4 seconds ahead. That sounds plausible to me.

2. Red Bull generally promote from within. Even if they were interested in Leclerk, why would he want to go to a team that currently has a slower car than the one he has now, plus a very young, very fast driver who will be harder to beat than Vettel. Mercedes do not have any seats available, plus they have a lead driver who has a credible claim to The Greatest of All Time, and their engine seems to be a bit behind Ferrari. Ferrari seem to have figured out their aero problem, so it’s a 50-50 bet on who will be fastest next year between them and Merc. Renault and McLaren are still years away from producing a title challenging car, if ever. There is no better seat available for Leclerk, and he knows it.

That sounds plausible to me.

I mean it’s possible but I’m still not sure I buy that. The radio transcripts are up on racefans, they didn’t once say he was going to be racing against or even vaguely close to Vettel, or even that Vettel was pitting until after Leclerc had pitted.

why would he want to go to a team that currently has a slower car than the one he has now

I meant 2021. Bottas is signed only until 2020, and the new regs will almost certainly reshuffle the team pecking order.

Verstappen will try everything to be in a Ferrari or Merc before long – there are reports he’s already shit-stiring about Newey not spending enough time on the F1 side of his workload.

Podiums and the odd win here and there are not what he wants.

Oh man that was frustrating.

Ferrari totally screwed over CLC

Ferrari say they just miscalculated and didn’t realize how big the undercut would be.

Yeah… I do not buy this. They have the lap times and gaps on their screens… they can see in real time the gap closing.

Verstappen to Merc in 2021 seems plausible. Leclerk leaving Ferrari, less so.

Sooner or later we’ll see Russell promoted, his way to Racing Point is blocked by Sergio Perez’s three year contract and of course Lance Stroll isn’t going anywhere. My best guess is that he’ll leapfrog into the second Merc for 2021, either alongside Hamilton if he renews, or alongside Verstappen.

My best guess is that he’ll leapfrog into the second Merc for 2021, either alongside Hamilton if he renews, or alongside Verstappen.

Merc are also very interested in Esteban Ocon, so I guess it may be between those two

Merc are also very interested in Esteban Ocon, so I guess it may be between those two

Ocon is contracted to Renault until the end of 2021

Ocon is contracted to Renault until the end of 2021

Interesting!

Bloody hell, why do I find Jolyon Palmer such a dick?
Surely the BBC could have found a less irritating failed F1 driver to waste money on?

+1. He was a proper nob in the post italy podcast.

Merc are also very interested in Esteban Ocon

Merc have now released Ocon from his contract in order for him to qualify for the Renault seat. However, I believe that Ocon is managed by Merc/Toto Wolff?

What puzzles me about Ocon, is if he is that good then why not put him in the Merc for next season?

It hasnt done Leclerc or Verstappen any harm

What puzzles me about Ocon, is if he is that good then why not put him in the Merc for next season?

Because they currently have Hamilton and Bottas. Ocon is unlikely to be better all-round than Hamilton, especially in his first year, but may destabilize things. Bottas is a solid support driver and gets on well with Hamilton. Keeping Bottas was a safe choice. Hamilton will retire sometime, so they will be thinking about a replacement. Verstappen has shown he is very fast and has calmed down a lot, plus the Red Bull/Honda is still a step behind, so signing him in 2021 is starting to look like a possibility. Hamilton may not be happy about that, but Verstappen is good enough that Merc can tell Hamilton to take it or leave it. Ocon might turn out to be one of the greats, but he hasn’t proven that yet and Merc won’t want to risk upsetting Hamilton over an unproven young driver.

Surely the BBC could have found a less irritating failed F1 driver to waste money on?

What baffles me is that he seems to have landed a column on the official F1 site as well.

And +1 on Ocon: why upset the Hamilton applecart? He’s brought home the bacon for four of the last five years and they can already smell the next plate of rashers. Ferrari, on the other hand, only had a Vettel applecart which basically kept dropping apples. And on the basis of his unprecedented and meteoric rise into F1, Red Bull simply felt that a Verstappen applecart was going to be a full-on toffee apple disco bus with bells and neon lights (or at least fireworks and smoke from the Renault PU).