Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 9pm - 9:30pm (VelocityHD) new
RMD Garage. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new
Garage Squad. Wednesday @ 10pm - 11pm (VelocityHD) new
We're back in Singapore after quite the exciting pair of back to back races at Spa and Monza. Just in case you missed it, Hams has officially put his stamp on the 2017 season. He's taken pole and the race win in both events, matching and taking the pole position record from Michael Schumacher in both races, respectively. Historically speaking this is quite the accomplishment and even more so when you think about how young Hamilton is and how many more races he'll likely go on to participate in. Looking back at Monza, there was plenty of significant action that took place. Qualy was an usually wet affair and after Grosjean went bouncing off the walls after hydroplaning off track on the main straight, there was about 2.5hrs of FIA enforced delays until they got underway. I didn't see actual Q3 replays until the Pre-Race on Sunday, which was annoying as a viewer, but with the session ended, Hams had taken pole followed up Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon (along with the other usual suspects). Plenty of young talant at the front of the field and in the end they did pretty well on race day. Ferrari had a hard time making the wet tires work inn qualy so they were in the back half of the top ten to start the race. With action underway on Sunday Verstappen's bad luck continued; he got a puncture early in the race after getting side-checked by an aggressive Williams piloted by Massa, which relegated him to the back of the field after pitting, forcing him to work his way back up through the field. Ocon and Perez ended up close to each other late in the race, but they were separated by other drivers limiting their opportunities to see how well behaved they'd be given the previous weeks antics; hard to say if they both learned from past mistakes. Stroll started off strong, but ended up 7th with Massa following in 8th, which was pretty much where things would've shaken out if qualy was dry; a very good showing though given the strength of the front pack on this power track. Bottas started in 4th and made up ground quickly, taking 2nd position early, rolling right into Mercedes' Plan A strategy for a 1-2 finish. Raikkonen burned through his rear tires early, forcing him into some of the first pit stops. Meanwhile, Ricciardo starting from 13th made magic happen by overtaking like mad, getting himself up into 3rd by mid-race. Once the tire swaps began he dropped down the field a bit, but got on super-softs to finish the last 15 odd laps targeting purple sector times, getting him about 4 seconds short of catching a semi-wounded Vettel at the checkered flag for the final podium spot. Alonso and Vandoorne both had to retire, keeping the tension between McLaren and Honda going; the current word is that Honda may switch places with Renault to power McLaren in 2018, but who knows whether or not Alonso will be there to see the change. Vettel and Riakkonen are both contract locked with Ferrari in 2018 so the amount of availabe seats out there for drivers are limited; Massa should retire a second time so there's talk of Alonso going there; time will tell if that happens or if he'll leave for IndyCar. I'll tell you one thing, if Alonso goes to IndyCar I'll watch more than I do now. With the checkered flag dropped the Driver's Championship standings are as follows; Hamilton, Vettel (-3), Bottas (-41), Ricciardo (-94), Raikkonen (-100), Verstappen (-170). Verstappen is now only ten points ahead of Sergio Perez, who is only 3 points ahead of Esteban Ocon, so the mid-top ten is getting tight. Singapore will be track which will suit the strong aero cars like Red Bull so it'll be interesting to see what folks can do to displace Mercedes and Ferrari in Round 13.
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