Hamilton will start on pole for the Singapore Grand Prix tomorrow, and he’ll be looking to break down the 22 point gap that his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg has on him. With only six races left on the 2014 calendar, these are valuable points that can’t be lost.
Schedule:
Race: 8 a.m. EDT 9/21
The Singapore GP is the longest of the year, with the second slowest average speed of any track on the circuit (Monaco is first with an average speed of 113.4 mph in 2013). This means that drivers face some extra challenges that cause some to argue that the Singapore GP is the hardest race of the year, especially with the new radio ban becoming active this week.
Reliability is a huge issue at the Marina Bay Circuit, with a 61 lap race, there’s a lot of time for cars to break down. Last year three drivers failed to finish the race, down from six DNF’s in 2012. The extreme heat not only causes car unreliability, but also driver. The 23 turn course leaves little room for mistakes with almost no run-off on most of the turns. Look for at least one safety car this Sunday, as there has been one in all of the last six races at Singapore.
Sebastien Vettel dominated this race last year leading all 61 of the laps, but things won’t be that easy for him this year. Vettel will start in P4 tomorrow behind both of the Mercedes drivers and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, but he’s not counting himself out just yet. In the post-qualifying press conference, he said: “We’ll hope to have a good race tomorrow, with good pit stops and a good strategy and we’ll see what we can do from there. I think we have good speed, but everyone seems to have good speed here. It’s a long race, so we’ll see how the tyres work and what we can do.” A maximum of 175 points are available to any one driver in the rest of the season and if Hamilton hopes to make a run at the championship, he’ll need to start getting race wins now. Getting pole position is a good start, but Hamilton will need wins to reel back in an escaping Rosberg, especially with the double points race in Abu Dhabi (double points may not happen in 2015). Overall, Hamilton can be pleased with his qualifying performance and expect a good race come Sunday night (or morning if you’re in the U.S.). The Singapore GP is one of the most exciting races of the year, the nighttime, the lights, the fireworks and of course the racing are sure to prevail this weekend. Look for Lewis Hamilton to defend his starting position for the long run when the lights go out. Lewis finished fifth at Singapore last year, but with a new car and a chance at the championship, anything but a win will be disappointment for the Englishmen. – Drew Bennison Formula 1 Articles:
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The 2014 Formula 1 season isn’t even halfway over yet, but the 2015 calendar is in full development as the circuits for next season are decided. A nifty Google Map “map” has appeared online thanks to AMP highlighting the provisional 2015 calendar. This map includes circuits that are “definite” such as Melbourne and Monaco as well as “proposed” and “historic” tracks. Each type has notes, pictures and colors associated with the track. You can zoom in and even see the outlined street circuits as well. This map will be updated as the details are sorted out and we get closer to the start of the 2015 Formula 1 season. If you want to check out the full, interactive map it is linked here. – Drew Bennison
The 2014 IndyCar season comes to an end tomorrow night under the lights at Fontana speedway. This race will be a 250 mile, 500 lap race with double points awarded for the finishing positions. Will Power is in a great position going into this race with a 51 point lead on teammate Helio Castroneves:
Schedule:
Qualifying: 5:15 p.m. EDT
Race: 10:15 p.m. EDT
There are a maximum of 104 points left to any one driver in the last race due to double points, leaving just the top three drivers in contention. They are Will Power, Helio Castroneves (-51), and Simon Pagenaud (-81). We broke down each of their chances of winning the championship in another post here.
As for the track itself, Will Power has had the most recent success of the three drivers, winning this race from pole last year. Along with him, Ed Carpenter is the only other driver currently in the field to win a race at Fontana. But Power’s win was about more than just the race itself, it was also redemption for his 2012 crash at Fontana which cost him the Championship to Ryan Hunter-Reay:
Will Power gained his confidence in the track back that race, just the thing he’ll need to retain the championship lead this year. Lead changes and different leaders were prominent last year, with eleven different leaders of the 25 car field and 28 lead changes. This is a testament to just how long the race is at the two mile track. In 2013, the race lasted 3:13 with seven laps (22%) of the race being run under caution. Since the race is starting at 10:15 EDT at night, it won’t be done until close to 1 a.m. That surely won’t be good for ratings with younger viewers or people on the East Coast. There isn’t much data to work with on Will Power at this track with only two races there. He crashed out and finished 24th in 2012 (losing the championship) and then won the race from pole in 2013, polar opposite results. But what we can learn about Will Power from this year is just his true dominance. He’s had an average start of 3.6 this year, up 3.8 places from 2013. And his average finish is just as impressive at 7.4 this year, with no DNF’s and completing 99.95% of all laps run (he finished a lap down in Houston). But even so, the Penske driver and car combo has been extremely reliable this year and shows no signs of stopping. Even so, a crash or failure could quickly turn the table into teammate Helio Castroneves’ hands or even third place driver Simon Pagenaud:
“Yes, we have a lead going into this race but we can’t rest on that or it will go away fast. We have some tough guys chasing us so we need to try and stay in front of them and do the best we can to try and win. The rest will take care of itself.” – Will Power
The race will be a combination of fierce fighting from Castroneves and Pagenaud as well as some conservative racing from Power. The last thing he needs to do is relive his 2012 peril and crash himself out of the championship.
Since 1997, drivers going into the final race of the season with the championship lead ended up winning the championship 11 times out of 17, or 64.7% of the time. The history bodes well for Power, but it certainly isn’t all that convincing. Especially once you throw in the fact that in the last five years, the leader going into the final race lost it four out of those five times. Want something else to think about? Three of those four times the championship leader (going into the race) was Will Power.
But don’t count out Ryan Hunter-Reay or Juan Pablo-Montoya just yet when it comes to a race win at Fontana. Both driver have had wins at the two other 500 mile tracks this year, Indianapolis and Pocono, respectively. JPM has been particularly strong on ovals, and he’s the current oval championship points leader. Montoya will definitely have another run at a race win this year come Saturday night. Who do you think will win both the championship title as well as the race itself? Let me know in the comments below. – Drew Bennison IndyCar Features
The 2014 Indy Lights title was decided last weekend in Sonoma, California. This was the first championship win for Gabby Chaves after only two years in the series, and it came in an unusual way.
Approaching the end of the race, Chaves was right where he needed to be and he knew it. Finishing the race in second wasn’t a problem for his championship hopes, but finishing any lower would be detrimental as his rival points competitor was leading the race. When the checkered flag waved, the points standings were tied between Chaves and Harvey with 547 points each. The tiebreak went to first place finishes which were equal between the drivers (with 4 each) thanks to Jack Harvey’s late season bloom, winning four out of the last five races. Then second place finishes came around and Chaves trumped his rival in that category with a 5-1 lead due to his immense consistency this year. He has finished inside the top five 11 out of the 14 races and in all of the last eight races.
“It was the longest race of my life. Obviously, I knew where I needed to finish. There was no reason for me to push to keep up with Jack. Racing is a game of being the fastest, but also a game of consistency and a game of strategy,” Chaves said after the race.
With the series win this year the Colombian driver will receive a $750,000 scholarship to help advance him to the Verizon IndyCar series in 2015. – Drew Bennison
The Single Seater 