Second-lowest ever rating for Singapore Grand Prix

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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The Singapore Grand Prix was the third race in a row rated less than six out of ten by F1 Fanatic readers.

As Sebastian Vettel romped off to an emphatic win what action there was took place some way behind his Red Bull.

The only Singapore Grand Prix to receive a lower rating than this one was the 2009 race. And not for the first time this year much of the discussion centered on events after the chequered flag had fell, particularly the reprimands handed down after Mark Webber’s ‘taxi ride’ on Fernando Alonso’s car.

Here’s what F1 Fanatic readers had to say about the Singapore Grand Prix, including views from three people who were in the grandstands.

I had no issue with Vettel running away with the race; what he did after the Safety Car (essentially 15 qualifying laps to gain his pit stop back) was genuinely impressive.

That being said, outside of the battles near the end of the race, there really wasn’t a lot going on.
@PJTierney

Vettel blew away the field by 30 seconds which is unheard of in the current era, but you had really awesome battles from third on down, a ludicrous pass from Raikkonen to take the final podium place with a bad back, a great closing drive by Massa to get to sixth, Alonso had another dynamic start that lead to him finishing second.

Nothing insanely dramatic, but not the worst race of the year either.
@Rjoconnell

I watched the last 15 minutes, and thought they were great. Unfortunately, an hour and 45 minutes of “zzzzzz” isn’t offset by 15 minutes of great racing.
@Utbowler0407

Notwithstanding Nico Rosberg’s handling problems following the Safety Car period, some felt Mercedes’ strategy was too conservative:

Utterly frustrated with the lack of intelligence displayed by the Mercedes’ strategy – milling about in a futile effort to save the tyres when Vettel was flying one to two seconds a lap quicker than Rosberg was never going to work. Pushing might have been a better move.

Great battles and bold passes for third to tenth in the closing stages, and some intriguing dramas. I’m absolutely gutted for Webber and more so for Grosjean. He looked set for at least a third place before his pneumatic troubles.
@Bforth

I think we had to expect these kind of strategies (In response to a post on tyre saving / pit strategies) in Singapore. On street circuits like this you don’t necessarily go for the fastest strategy, but the one that doesn’t get you into traffic. The only one who could push today was Vettel, but only because he had a very big advantage.

It was the same in Monaco, everyone was cruising around in order to do only one stop.
@Yobo01

Some good battle in the end but again what’s the big fun when Button has no tyres left and is being passed by everyone who has better tyres? Strategy-wise okay but no big fun.

The race was terrific in the first two corners after which it was boring till the last few laps. So no big deal for me.
@Hamilfan

Although some changes were made to the track this year does the nature of its layout inhibit good racing?

[Singapore] …is just not prone for a good race. It is so hard to overtake on, and if it wasn’t for tyres falling of the cliff, and the different strategies, very few overtakes would have been made. Even the DRS was almost without effect this year.
@Testacorsa

Even some of those in the stands, who had the benefit of enjoying the atmosphere first-hand, were underwhelmed:

Sat in the stands and simply most boring race I’ve watched live.

The start was exciting, by lap ten I was thinking already this race seriously needed a safety car, by mid-race we got one but it made very little difference, the last ten laps were pretty exciting.

The rest, well, lets not talk about that shall we…
@Wombat1m

My second ever live race and overall the weekend was fantastic – awesome experience in an amazing city.

The race though was another disappointment really. It was really exciting for me in the stands, but that’s just from being so close to the cars.

Watching live actually reinforced my feelings on current era F1 – 61 laps watching turns one to three and I saw just one person mess up, and that was Max Chilton behind the safety car! You could easily tell Vettel was taking it easy each and every lap and had tons of time in hand. It was rare to see anyone really push to be honest.

And yet again DRS was exposed as a lame gimmick and is holding F1 back from finding a better overtaking solution. I think the change to DRS qualifying rules was a horrendous decision – there’s even less difference between qualifying and race set ups so of course the quickest cars on Saturday should carry that over to Sunday with tyre management the only differentiator.

F1 is just not doing itself any favours, and I’m beginning to worry the rest of this season will only get more boring as Vettel extends his lead and everyone else writes off 2013.
@Graham228221

But there was one fan who gave their Singapore Grand Prix experience ten out of ten:

I was fortunate enough to be at the Singapore Grand Prix last night. It’s clearly more exciting watching from the pit straight stand and breathing in the humidity than on television.

I stood under the podium and watched the presentations. The booing of Vettel has got to stop – I have this view even though I’m a Webber fan! Watching Vettel’s determination last night convinced me that he has a talent that should be respected. I was astounded how after each lap, the second placed driver was taking longer and longer to arrive after Vettel.

I’m determined to make it here next year – I hope Daniel Ricciardo will have more luck than Webber seems to.
@Danieljaksa

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78 comments on “Second-lowest ever rating for Singapore Grand Prix”

  1. I bet people didn’t give Hungary 1998 a low score when Schumacher had to drive like mad to open out a gap to win.
    I bet you would call Djokovic smashing someone 6-0 6-0 6-0 with perfect tennis ‘boring’

    1. I would’ve given Hungary 1998 a high score if I wasn’t in nappies at the time. Schumacher had to open up a gap if he was to win, Vettel was always going to win in Singapore and he didn’t have to slaughter the field by a second per lap, it was just that he chose to. And yes, I’d also give Hungary 2010 a high score, as Webber had to pull out a huge gap after the safety car to win, which he did. There’s a thrill in that.
      I don’t blame Vettel for winning, it’s just disappointing that nobody can get within 20 seconds of him during a race so we can at least have some sort of intrigue surrounding the race win.

      1. ‘ Schumacher had to open up a gap if he was to win, Vettel was always going to win in Singapore and he didn’t have to slaughter the field by a second per lap, it was just that he chose to.’
        This

      2. Very well said.

    2. Dominant wins aren’t boring on their own, provided you can see how it is being done. If a tennis player wins in straight sets, and it’s all ace-ace-ace that’s boring. If a great player uses skill to outwit another player, and wins in straight sets, that’s not boring.

      Likewise, if a driver has to push like mad to make a strategy work, and there’s a chance he won’t make it, but he wins pole-to-flag, that’s interesting. If a driver is in a car which can cruise a second or two a lap faster, and the result is never in doubt, that’s boring.

      Furthermore, one dominant performance is interesting. 4 years in a row of dominant performances are definitely not.

      1. Well written @hairs, sums it up perfectly.

      2. +1. I certainly don’t blame RBR for having the quickest car (and who would?), but I feel like the race would have been more interesting to watch if Vettel *had* to push hard to get the win. Was I impressed? Of course. Was the race entertaining? Not at all.

        I do have to disagree with you, though, on the “4 years in a row of dominant performances” remark. I don’t know that 2010/2012 can really be called ‘dominant’, especially compared to 2011/2013.

    3. Vettel’s drive was 10/10, no doubt about that. The race itself? Different matters.
      Hypothetically speaking, if there’s no SC at the race (which create different strategies), I’m sure the rating is much lower than this. I had to change channels with Arsenal’s Premier League game to cure my boredom (before SC).

    4. Two problems with your example:
      1) Djokovic doesn’t win nearly EVERY match 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. Vettel is essentially doing that unless he has an equipment failure.

      2) Djokovic doesn’t get to use a racket that gives him an advantage over the other players the way Vettel does with his RB chassis.

      So, yes…it’s boring.

      1. If somebody has a problem with number 2, then F1 is not the sport for him.

        1. Unfortunately, I’m American which means I grew up in a culture where #2 is a “loser”. Hard to overcome that world view.
          Frankly, I could get used to pulling for #2 and enjoying it…but I’d still like there to at least be some drama for #1. See someone have to EARN it the hard way and overcome adversity. Seb clearly has too large of an advantage. HOWEVER, I can acknowledge that he’s a good driver because you can see that Webber can’t stay competitive with the same car. But then again….perhaps the car suits Vettel’s style of driving better? That is very possible.

    5. In 1998 everyone knew the Mclaren was far and away the superior car. Michael pulled off a giant killing performance to ring the car’s neck and make the strategy work. No-one cares about Vettel winning like that because we know he always had a staggering performance advantage in hand.

      1. Yet in the 2010 race that someone above referenced, Webber had such an advantage, yet was only in a position to need it over Alonso thanks to a bad start and penalty his teammate got for backing the pack up under insteuction from his team. That was certainly not as great a sporting performance, nor was it any less predictable (esp. Given that Webber never displayed such pace in Singapore, whereas Vettel did in Hungary 2010, pre safety car).

      2. we know he always had a staggering performance advantage in hand.

        You don’t “know” that at all, you just find it more pleasant to believe than the alternative.

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          1st October 2013, 19:07

          @jonsan Okay, so are you trying to say the RBR isn’t by far the best car on the grid? Look we all accept Vettel is a great driver, but just quit it already – he didn’t pull out 30s in Singapore by his “talent”.

          1. @shreyasf1fan I disagree with you there absolutely. It’s a tired argument but again it holds true: if the Red Bull is so fast, where’s Webber in the equation? The answer is, behind Fenando Alonso (and quite comfortably so).

            Absolutely, I don’t doubt for a moment the RB9 is faster than the F2012, E21 and W04. But it’s not “by far”, unless our definitions of “by far” differ significantly. “By far” is when both cars finish miles ahead, but that’s empathically not the case.

            Vettel is just able to manage his tyres, nail his qualifying and keep a consistently fast pace, which Webber can’t manage. Alonso can do two of the above also.

            So I think it’s absolutely fair to say he did it by virtue of his talent, and Martin Brundle and Bernie Ecclestone agree with me on that one.

            On topic though, I thought the Singapore GP was actually rather good. The fact Vettel was so dominant I think made it more entertaining than the previous two races out front, as it was amazing to see just how quickly the gap increased when he was allowed to “run free”. Also, there was Alonso’s typical excellent start, Räikkönen’s great recovery drive and quite a few really good overtakes. The safety car period was far too long for my liking but besides that I thought it was actually a decent race – I think I gave it a 7. Easily better than Belgium and Italy.

          2. @vettel1

            I disagree with you there absolutely. It’s a tired argument but again it holds true: if the Red Bull is so fast, where’s Webber in the equation? The answer is, behind Fenando Alonso (and quite comfortably so).

            It is useless to compare the #1 driver vs #2 driver performance. Why do you not compare Vettel with Massa then?

            Absolutely, I don’t doubt for a moment the RB9 is faster than the F2012, E21 and W04. But it’s not “by far”, unless our definitions of “by far” differ significantly. “By far” is when both cars finish miles ahead, but that’s empathically not the case.

            Without the best car by a large margin, one does not win by 30 seconds.

            Vettel is just able to manage his tyres, nail his qualifying and keep a consistently fast pace, which Webber can’t manage. Alonso can do two of the above also.

            Which one can Alonso not do? Nail his qualifying? You’d be terrified to figure out that Alonso actually has a better qualifying record against his teammates than Vettel. ;-)

          3. @kingshark

            It is useless to compare the #1 driver vs #2 driver performance. Why do you not compare Vettel with Massa then?

            I’m comparing teammates, am I not? Indeed, what the Alonso/Massa pairing proves is that both can qualify close to each other, but one is significantly better in races.

            Without the best car by a large margin, one does not win by 30 seconds.

            This is one isolated event with quite exceptional circumstances – the RB9 hadn’t own by over 20 seconds before this event. The reason it was so dominant this event was because of the strategies at play: Alonso was on a very conservative last stint, whereas Vettel was told to go for it flat-out as he was making another pit stop. That accounts for a large proportion of the gap, which I don’t expect to reappear later in the season.

            You’d be terrified to figure out that Alonso actually has a better qualifying record against his teammates than Vettel. ;-)

            With Piquet Jnr and post-crash Massa as his teammates, that doesn’t really surprise me ;)

            I’m talking of this season specifically though, in which Massa has out-qualified Alonso 4? times. Webber has yet to out-qualify Vettel, and he’s recognised as one of the good ones…

          4. @vettel1

            I’m comparing teammates, am I not? Indeed, what the Alonso/Massa pairing proves is that both can qualify close to each other, but one is significantly better in races.

            Alonso has a better qualifying record against Massa than Vettel has against Webber (post-2010). Massa and Alonso are not “close” in qualifying.

            This is one isolated event with quite exceptional circumstances – the RB9 hadn’t own by over 20 seconds before this event. The reason it was so dominant this event was because of the strategies at play: Alonso was on a very conservative last stint, whereas Vettel was told to go for it flat-out as he was making another pit stop. That accounts for a large proportion of the gap, which I don’t expect to reappear later in the season.

            Vettel was also 1 second faster than the Ferrari pairing in qualifying, and beat Alonso by 32 seconds despite making 1 extra pit stop (which itself counts for half a minute). Yes, the Red Bull had a massive advantage in Singapore.

            I don’t expect it to occur later in the season either.

            With Piquet Jnr and post-crash Massa as his teammates, that doesn’t really surprise me ;)

            I have said this many times before, but there’s not a single reason to believe that Webber is any better of a driver than Massa. Not a single reason. Pre-crash Massa was a better driver than Webber ever was, hands down. 2011-present, Massa and Webber have been fairly equal in performance (both underwhelming).

            Alonso has also gone up against Hamilton, Fisichella, and Trulli – all recognized great qualifiers, arguably better than any driver Vettel has gone up against.

            I’m talking of this season specifically though, in which Massa has out-qualified Alonso 4? times. Webber has yet to out-qualify Vettel,

            In 2012 Massa out-qualified Alonso only 2 times, whereas Webber out-qualified Vettel 9 times (almost half). Does that mean that in 2012, Alonso had been a significantly better qualifier than Vettel?

            and he’s recognised as one of the good ones…

            Webber has been a mediocre laughing stock since 2011.

            I find it amazing how you could possibly claim that Webber is one of the better drivers on the grid, and at the same time, claim that Massa has wasted the Ferrari seat since 2011. I find that very one-sided.

          5. @kingshark

            Alonso has a better qualifying record against Massa than Vettel has against Webber

            As I said, that doesn’t surprise me: Webber also finished within 14 points of Vettel (albeit with the help of less technical failures), Massa finished 108 points behind Alonso. That kind of set the tone for how competitive each was against their teammates.

            Since then it’s been a case of Vettel improving with experience and Webber diminishing slightly with age, although clearly not significantly (hence his great start to 2012, although still not as good as Vettel’s).

            It’s more simple than that why I rate Webber above Massa with respect to qualifying, and it boils down to their early careers. Webber was always brilliant since his Jaguar days on Saturdays, whereas Massa clearly did loose a lot of his previous flair after his crash.

            Alonso was never really brilliant, either. I don’t know figures exactly (I’m sure you could help me on that) but I do believe he was out-qualified quite a few times by Trulli.

            I thinks it’s time to stop waffling though and just ask the question that ultimately is being asked: do you think Vettel, Hamilton or even Rosberg would do a better job in qualifying than Alonso given the Ferrari? I’d say yes, absolutely.

          6. @vettel1

            As I said, that doesn’t surprise me: Webber also finished within 14 points of Vettel (albeit with the help of less technical failures), Massa finished 108 points behind Alonso. That kind of set the tone for how competitive each was against their teammates.

            Even if we ignore 2010 and look at 2011-present, Alonso still has a better qualifying record against his teammate than Vettel does.

            Since then it’s been a case of Vettel improving with experience and Webber diminishing slightly with age, although clearly not significantly (hence his great start to 2012, although still not as good as Vettel’s).

            Webber was good at the start of 2012, poor at the end. Massa was poor at the start of 2012, good at the end. Both Webber and Massa were very mediocre in 2011, and thus far in 2013.

            Nope, I don’t see the difference.

            It’s more simple than that why I rate Webber above Massa with respect to qualifying, and it boils down to their early careers. Webber was always brilliant since his Jaguar days on Saturdays, whereas Massa clearly did loose a lot of his previous flair after his crash.

            Earlier careers? Webber never beat Raikkonen in equal equipment. Webber also never challenged Hamilton for the WDC in roughly equal cars, and came within 30 seconds of doing so.

            Webber was a great driver when he was younger, emphasis on “was”. He’s been a poor driver since 2011, just like Massa.

            Alonso was never really brilliant, either. I don’t know figures exactly (I’m sure you could help me on that) but I do believe he was out-qualified quite a few times by Trulli.

            Alonso was 8-8 against Trulli in 2003 and 7-7 in 2004. In other words, they were dead-on even.

            Mind you, back in 2001, many insiders in F1 named Trulli as among the best, if not the fastest driver over one lap (even more so than Schumacher). Therefore, for Alonso to match Trulli early on in his career is nothing to be ashamed of.

            I thinks it’s time to stop waffling though and just ask the question that ultimately is being asked: do you think Vettel, Hamilton or even Rosberg would do a better job in qualifying than Alonso given the Ferrari? I’d say yes, absolutely.

            Yes, maybe. Absolutely? Who knows?

            I do think however, that Alonso is faster over one lap than Raikkonen, and will out-qualify him more often than not next year (IMO).

    6. A lot of people have been saying that Vettel running away with it both after the start and the safety car is genuinely impressive and I agree. Having said that, just because it is impressive doesn’t mean it deserves a high rating. Any dominance, by its definition, is impressive, but on the flip side, not particularly entertaining.

      The reason I gave it a poor rating (I can’t remember exactly what I gave it now) was because the race was predictable and a bit lacklustre. I watched it from the BBC highlights and when you find yourself being distracted by other people talking or your phone going off, it isn’t a good sign. That’s why I gave it a poor rating, not because of any dislike towards Vettel and his impressive racing.

    7. In 98 Schumacher was taking the fight to a Newey car , Seems like the only driver able to do that.

  2. I don’t like Vettel, I don’t particularly like Red Bull. I am a Mercedes fan and I hope that they are champions next year. But the booing going on is unnaceptible, I agree with quite a few people when I say, shouldn’t we be booing McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes for not doing good enough jobs?.

    Reed Bull are doing what the whole point of F1 is to do, win. Like I said i’m no fan of RB but now I want them to win every single race this year, this should hopefully make the over teams think.

    1. But the booing going on is unnaceptible

      True buddy .

      shouldn’t we be booing McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes for not doing good enough jobs?.

      Come , that’s a bit too harsh . They work round the clock too . I believe Red Bull just have better acumen and creativity .

      Like I said i’m no fan of RB but now I want them to win every single race this year

      I think they have already done all the psychological damage for 2013 in Singapore !! But , yeah , I think they are relentless in their pursue of glory that they will win no matter what . It would be nice if someone sneaks a win toward the end just to provide some entertainment .

  3. This is the seventeenth season I’ve been watching F1, that was the first race I switched off before the end.

  4. Once again, the ratings in the second half of the year are well below those of the first half of the year…

    1. Yep. Not surprisingly, once red bull get their development advantage going, they’re unbeatable.

      1. Like they were unbeatable in USA, Abu Dhabi and Brazil last year?
        What a drama again.

        1. Andrew Simmons
          1st October 2013, 12:05

          USA; because of DRS Vettel Lost. not because of a bad car, DRS
          Abu Dhabi; Because of Vettels constant mistakes
          Brazil; Because of Vettels mistakes and being given place after place in a car that was massively damaged yet he could still cruise with the help of 4 teammates

          1. Didn’t the Red Bull engineers fail to put enough fuel in Vettel’s car in the first place?
            And I didn’t realize getting torpedoed by Bruno Senna was an error

          2. Abu Dhabi- Vettel had to start from 24th through no fault of his own. Recovered a podium.

            USA – Red Bull were beatable.

            Brazil- Senna hit him from behind, losing him a ton of places. Vettel fought back and won the title, but neither Bull was on the podium.

          3. What do you mean “Vettel’s constant mistakes”? He was disqualified from qualifying, that wasn’t his fault. Then he had a small contact with Senna which was but didn’t affect him much. Then he had that contact with the DRS board, again his fault but just a case of unfortunate circumstances (Button did a similar thing behind Vettel in Singapore the same year, just that there wasn’t a DRS board to hit!).

            So by my count that’s one pretty insignificant one and one mistake. So one and a half. Hardly constant mistakes, is it? May I remind you, he finished 3rd from the pit lane: it was far, far from a bad race fraught with errors.

            As for Brazil, he didn’t have a great start, yes. But Webber didn’t help him there. And yes, his turn in was too aggressive into T4. But Senna shouldn’t have been barreling up the inside of three cars, either.

            Then he recovered brilliantly with a damaged car, by my count being given only four positions – Toro Rosso’s, Schumacher and Webber – and after the re-start Webber decided to attack him completely nonsensically. He had little help from his teammate in that race.

            In the end, you should be blaming Schumacher for giving him the place, anyway. Vettel or Red Bulk had no control over him, he did that as a gesture of kindness – not holding up a faster driver who he wasn’t realistically fighting. How you can twist that against Vettel I have no idea…

    2. @magnificent-geoffrey was it like this in 2012 ?

    3. which is ironic, everyone slags the tyres at the start of the year, and when every team learns how to use them during the season, the races get less interesting, and then the slagging of the tyres is turned into slagging of the boring races!

      1. I thought the same thing at first. But then realized everyone has done exactly that: learned to manage the tyres. So now they just go slow enough to never blow the tires up and it takes the excitement out of it because you know they will all finish and boring because they are going slow to do so.
        Nobody fights a car that is passing them because they are “probably on a different strategy and you must save your tyres” and you don’t drive fast unless it is your in-lap before hitting the pits to throw away those tyres.

        1. @daved, that is exactly how I see it, hearing Webber being told to drop back from Alonso and maintain a 2second gap in the first few laps when it looked like Webber had the pace to take him was symptomatic of what is wrong with F1 now.

          1. Kimi Raikkonnen managed to spend close to 20 laps within a second of Jenson Button’s Mclaren with little or no tyre degradation. Why cant other teams learn from Lotus. His Pace after passing Button was as good as Webber on fresher tyres

          2. Subu, that’s like saying “why can’t all the teams just learn from Adrian Newey and make faster cars?”.

            It’s not like they aren’t trying.

  5. Looks about right I think. Having watched them all live since the race began here, there are always dull stretches but this one’s beginning really dragged on a bit. Personally, the last ten laps made up for it and the race ended on a high note (especially with the taxi ride), so I would probably rate it above the one last year. As we can see from above, there’s not much in it though.

    2010 was easily still the best one to date, and I rated the 2008 pretty highly too (for the drama then), but I seem to recall there was a disproportionately high number of 1s when the poll was held at that time, skewing the rating lower. That the race result turned out to be contentious, farcical even, is another matter of course.

  6. Maybe we are a bit too tough with F1 for a couple of years, but we are Fanatics, aren’t we?

    The racing wasn’t spectacular in those races, but it’s been level to what we already know, not less.

    We want excellence in the competition and it leads to a team doing a bit of a better job than others, as always.

    We certainly want more overtakes and less drag, but F1 is not a spec series and never will, so we have to admit that a team/athlete association is performing better than the opposition.

    After all, let’s enjoy the ‘kind of golden era’ we have in F1; all-time-great drivers and all-time-great designers/team principals/teams.

    1. +1

      We complain now, but in 10 years to time I bet you we will be saying ‘I wish it were 2013 again’.

    2. We still rated the race above average, that’s not being to tough!

      Oh how I hope Lucas is wrong.

      1. @hohum Although it’s higher than the average available score for a race (5.5) the average score for Australia 2008 to Italy 2013 was 6.88, so it was well below that.

        The average score for the first 13 races in 2013 is 6.79.

        1. Does that suggest that all F1 races are above average, even the ones we moan about ? I realise many people start at 10 and then subtract a point for what they didn’t like, such as the wrong (right) driver winning, no real battles on track etc. but I start on the basis of 5 then + or – for the good/bad features of the race, and I always resist the temptation to take personal driver preferences into account.

  7. I can very well relate to the fan who gave the race a 10/10. I would do exactly the same.

    I have been to races in Monte Carlo, Monza and previously in Singapore. Although last year I was at the pit grand stand, I lucked into a paddock club pass this year courtesy of a generous friend. I don’t know if this is the right place to discuss my experience and I guess I will leave it to another day but I will say this: The paddock club is a place to network. A place where men come dressed in suits and women are decked in jewelry. Other than the first and last laps, no one is interested in the race.

    All this meant that my girlfriend and me (who were decked in Red Bull attire from head to toe) had a gala time and quite possibly the best seats in the whole circuit. We sat above the Ferrari garage and saw all the pitstops (and the race in general) far close than even some cameras. At first a few people in our suite were shocked at our behavior- the crazy shouting and pulling our sofa seats right on the edge of the glass but surprisingly a lot of them followed suit.

    On to the race then and It was absolutely astounding as to how Vettel literally ran away with it. I am no fan of using the chrono on my watch but I couldn’t help but manually check whether what I was seeing was actually a reality.

    It has been 5 years now that my search for a true F1 hero (after Michael Schumacher’s retirement) ended. I supported Vettel ever since he won Monza 2008 and Singapore 2013 was just incredible. Somewhere deep down you do feel, as a die hard fan, that you have made a tiny difference and help your driver get ever more close to greatness.

    After the race, we missed Rihanna’s performance (we were entitled to a VIP pass) just so we could go and shout out to Seb and the red bull boys. We did – but unfortunately Seb didn’t respond. However we did see then prepare for a victory shout and took lots of pictures.

    One final word on red bull. I saw their pitstop practices am hour before the race start and was spell bound. Not just by their professionalism but also the accuracy and speed at which they went about their business. Top class.

    I have a lot of pictures and videos from the race, including the pit walk and would love to share with anyone should they like.

    Apologies for such a long winded post but I had to – considering how amazing the people who post on this forum are and I hope I can share all this in more detail sometime!

  8. Wow, i usually vote below the average rating so am surprised how low this was voted. Ok, there was no real battle for the lead, but i thought there was great racing further back with different strategies coming into play towards the end. Not to mention the tension in hoping Mark would be able to coast round the final couple of laps to bring in some points ;)

    Maybe i benefitted from only watching the BBC highlights and therefore missed all the lulls that apparently happened.

    1. @keithedin

      Ah, the one upside of BBC highlights :-)

    2. @keithedin Ha Ha . You watched them say ” Then Vettel extended his lead to a storming 20 seconds ” as the RB zooms by then , “towards the end by lap …….” , while we watched each lap agonizingly ;).

    3. Even test cricket is action packed when you only watch the highlights.

  9. Unable to watch the race live, I listened on the radio (awful). I then forgot to watch the highlights. I don’t think I missed much. I do not see the magic of Singapore. It is dark and, on TV, you cannot see anything other than the actual track. Apart from the track passing under the grandstand (one of the few reference points on the circuit) the layout reminded me of the Grands Prix that took place, in 1981 and 1982, in the car park at Caesar’s Palace. Just point and squirt between each 90 degree corner, avoiding the brick walls. Sorry but it’s boring!
    Next up is the Korean Grand Prix. Early hours practice, 7 am qualifying, not allowed to watch (because I will not pay Sky TV, in order to watch advertisements). Looks like I shall be watching the BBC highlights, if I remember that it’s on. I remember setting an alarm clock for early Sunday mornings, so as not to miss a thing at the fly-aways. It was either that or to get up early to go fishing.

  10. I don’t think it wasn’t a straight forward win for VET. Sure he would have had the better tires and the better strategy if he happened to come out behind Alonso after the pit stop. But first he would have had to pass him and that’s not so easy at a place like Singapore.
    Him opening the gap was vital and that’s why I thought it wasn’t boring to watch – because 1 more incident could have changed everything. Also the midfield battles weren’t too bad.

    Imo, F1 is pretty good these days, although I would go back to 2010 – no degrading tyres and no DRS. We’ll see how next year goes

  11. I have to agree that Singapore has never really given us a great race in absolute terms. I’ve been to the last three and had a blast each time taking in the total experience; noise, humidity, the city, the cars, the crowd. When I watch the replay on TV when I get home it usually doesn’t do it for me.

  12. No races rated above 8,7 of the 13 races rated below 7.Not one memorable race the entire season.The only race that had the drama we all love was Silverstone and that was ‘fake’ due to the tyres exploding.This is turning out to be one boring season.

    1. I think Malaysia should’ve been worthy of at least an 8… I think I only gave it a 6 or 7 at the time because the events of that race left a very bitter taste in my mouth (clearly a lot of people thought the same). But when I look back in hindsight, I think it was actually a massively entertaining race. No flimsy tyres, a little bit of rain, the battle for the win came down to the final stint and there was a heap of controversy to keep us talking afterwards. Probably the best race of the season.

  13. Sebastian Vettel’s raw engine sound was sweet, and for that I’ll give him and RBR a 10/10. but hey who cares right. Why investigate, its not as if its Renault or Ferrari.

    1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      2nd October 2013, 9:56

      Um, what’s you point again @kingcormac ?

  14. I strongly disagree with the Singapore GP being one of the worst GPs this year. All year long we have been shown drivers struggling on their tyres and a million overtakes that are not memorable in any way. In Singapore, we were treated to a master class from Sebastian Vettel, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a driver in optimal control of his machine – though unfortunately they didn’t really show this on TV.

    On top of that, there was strategic variance: Mercedes gambled and with hindsight they made the wrong choice. Alonso and Raikkonen also took a huge risk and it paid off for them, while the same strategy backfired at McLaren – these are things I find fascinating to watch. On top of that, there were overtakes that were not too shabby, taking Raikkonen on Button as an example (though Raikkonen himself didn’t think too much of it, as Button was struggling with his tyres). Also the difference in defensive driving from the two Sauber drivers was something I found interesting.

    All in all, the race was still quite poor, but for 2013 standards (which I define as at least 1/10 lower than for instance 2012), it was above average in my opinion.

  15. I started watching f1 in 1994, but I bet 1988 would have been such a boring season to watch – but it goes down in history, and people reminisce later with passion, that is what will happen with season 2013. vettel this year hasn’t been as dominant as McLaren in 88 or Schumacher in 02 or 04, they were much more “boring” and there are still races left for the other teams, and other drivers to get their act together. people need to realise but, that redbull has the best car now, and vettel is the fastest driver (consistently), so when the 2 factors come together we get dominance which none of the other team/drivers are capable of.

  16. A few small f1 websites are trying to start whispers of Redbull using traction control on Vettel’s car in Singapore, and even go as far as giving video evidence where his car sounds different to others – its all rather lame…. looking to imply cheating just because someone is doing well.

  17. Which were the highest- and lowest-rated races ever? Is there a record of that somewhere on the site? “Ever” meaning since F1F started asking users to rate them, of course.

    1. @ironcito I dont think there’s a specific page, but Keith did a review for the first 100 articles earlier this year: https://www.racefans.net/2013/06/26/the-last-100-f1-races-as-rated-by-f1-fanatic-readers/

  18. You know a year is **** when Bahrain is seen as the best race of the year….

  19. “61 laps watching turns one to three and I saw just one person mess up, and that was Max Chilton behind the safety car!”

    Any idea what this mistake was? I’m intrigued

    1. @jh1806 – he cut the whole chicane while the behind the safety car. No doubt cold brakes and tyres were to blame.

      It just amazed me that I watched over 1300 attempts at that chicane and that was literally the only mistake!

  20. Although every “Rate the race” clearly says that people are not supposed to rate the race on the basis of which driver finishes where, it’s clear that loads of people do exactly that. If Hamilton had won in Singpapore in exactly the fashion Vettel did it would have been a very highly rated race. People marked it down because they were mad about the outcome, both for the race itself but even more for the 2013 title.

    As with the “Driver of the weekend” poll, these polls say a lot more about the emotional state of the fans than anything else.

  21. there’s a reason why the most recent three races are this low on the ratings. vettel opening a gap is simply not entertaining to watch. it’s good for him and all, but damn… this sport is getting really really boring if we only ever have one winner.

  22. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
    1st October 2013, 20:43

    @vettel1 I have always had a, IMO very feasible, explanation of Webber’s poor performance against Vettel :

    1. The guy is old (by sport standards) and past his prime. His reflexes obviously aren’t what they used to be – and those can cost you a tenth or a hundredth of a second.

    2. Vettel is one of this generation’s fastest drivers. Only Lewis Hamilton, IMO, is his equal over one lap pace. Webber obviously isn’t as good anymore. And the RB9’s main strength is aero. Vettel gets clean air while Webber doesn’t – but that’s Vettel’s credit.

    Don’t get me wrong, the above were more explanations for Webber not being at par at Vettel rather than diminishing Vettel’s capabilities. I do accept, (like everybody else who thought otherwise are starting to) that he’s a piece of brilliance. Yeah, Shreyas Mohanty just said that! ;)

    Yeah, Singapore was great for me. You see, I have learnt to “ignore” Vettel and RBR. From some time now, for me, the grid has had 21 drivers, 10 teams. And 2nd place in both championships is a win. Nice defense mechanism ;)

    1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      1st October 2013, 20:44

      *at par to

  23. I thought singapore was a very good race.

    Yes Vettel dominated & built a huge lead at 1-2 seconds per lap but there was plenty going on behind. Good battling, close competition, some good overtaking (40 on track overtakes through the gp), DRS was not too effective & positions 2nd-> were never assured until the final stages.

    Don’t get why people vote purely on why wins, How they win & how big the gap to 2nd was. There are 21 other drivers doing battle.
    People should look at the races as a whole & not just the lead, If your just watching the lead then your not really watching the race.

  24. In my opinion there is only one thing worse than a street race, and that’s a street race run at night under artificial lights.
    I didn’t watch this race, so it gets nil points from me.

    1. You didn’t watch the race…. and your conclusion is it’s boring?
      You’re not making any sense.

      1. I didn’t say it was boring, I said it gets nil points from me

  25. I think that a large part of the problem with the race in Singapore is that it was race that happened late in to a season mired in controversy and problems and fans are weary of this. I think too, that fans are seeing Vettel running away with the WDC and it’s difficult for them to get excited about a race. Controversy and dominance are nothing new to F1, but this year it just seems a bit blase.

  26. V6’s huh? The show gets worse every year. Time for new leadership and a return to a V10 at minimum. I actually quite frightened to hear what the turbo 6’s will sound like. I hope not to be tremendously disappointed, but with the recent direction F1 has taken I already know I will be.

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