Singapore GP: Saving the best until last

Well, that turned out to be a bit of a nail-biter, didn’t it?

The Singapore Grand Prix looked to be heading for a straightforward victory for Nico Rosberg (pictured) – and then his Mercedes bosses started a chain of events that saw Rosberg’s lead whittled down to an extremely modest 0.488seconds by the time the chequered flag fell.

As is the way with Singapore, it wasn’t flat-out action all the way, but there was still plenty to talk about. For example…

Strat as you mean to finish?

The team strategists really brought the closing laps of this race to life, and none more so than the Mercedes strat boffins.

On lap 46, they decided to pit Lewis Hamilton in a successful attempt to undercut the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Toto Wolff and his Mercedes colleagues were fist-pumping with joy. But, in moving Hamilton up to third, they had unwittingly set a series of changes in motion that would soon see Rosberg’s lead threatened by the charging Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo (pictured).

Other teams reacted to Hamilton’s pit stop and, on lap 48, Ricciardo pitted for new tyres, to put Rosberg under pressure. Mercedes told Rosberg to push hard, and select an aggressive engine mode.

And then the doubt crept in at Mercedes. A pit crew was ready for Rosberg on lap 49 but the German wasn’t called into the pits.

Ricciardo was lapping 3.6seconds quicker than Rosberg and, by lap 50, it was clear that Rosberg would lose the lead if he pitted for new tyres.

So he stayed out, and Ricciardo reeled him in. Red Bull optimistically told the Aussie he’d catch Rosberg with four laps to go, but it wasn’t to be.

Ricciardo’s rubber was getting tired, slowing his pace. At the same time, Mercedes had kept a little in reserve for Rosberg, who struggled with brake problems all weekend (as did team-mate Hamilton).

They let him turn up the wick on his car – Merc always seem to have something in reserve – and Rosberg finished his 200^th grand prix in first place (just).

Back in 2004, another German driver racked up his 200^th grand prix with a pole and a win. It seems Rosberg has more and more in common with Michael Schumacher – he just needs to win a few titles. Having now won the last three races and overturned Lewis Hamilton’s lead in the championship, is this the year for Nico?

One other thing to note: until today, the Singapore Grand Prix had been won exclusively by world champions. The omens certainly look good for Rosberg…

Memo to F1: Killing marshals is not cool

Have you had one of those dreams in which you try to run but nothing moves quickly enough?

I watched that unpleasant dream play out for real as the race restarted after the early safety car, triggered by Nico Hulkenberg’s crash at the start.

The safety car seemed to be called in before most of us knew what was happening – Rosberg later said even he’d been surprised at how quickly it vanished.

Seconds later, TV viewers watched as 20 cars sprinted down a straight while one bemused and presumably terrified marshal ran from their path.

His arms and legs were moving but it looked like he was running through invisible treacle, and it took an eternity for him to get off the racing line.

In fact, it took him more than two seconds to get to the side of the track; and then, a split-second later, Rosberg’s car (pictured) screamed past just feet away. Two cars back, Hamilton was also disturbingly close to the unfortunate man.

Given the penalties that are dished out to drivers for speeding in the pit lane, or ignoring blue flags, or using too many gearboxes, it will be interesting to see what punishment motorsport bosses hand out to themselves for almost killing a race marshal.

Don’t hold your breath though.

Small things can make a big difference

Valtteri Bottas (pictured) found this out to his cost when he pitted on lap 34, and his seatbelts, somewhat alarmingly, needed to be tightened.

In the time it took to sort the seatbelt issue, Bottas’s Williams Martini overheated, and he retired a few laps later.

It’s not the first time Bottas has been hampered by seatbelt issues. At the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix, his crotch straps came loose while he was looking like finishing on the podium.

Another long pitstop resulted, and he finally crossed the line in tenth.

It’s not only dangerous to drive with loose belts in F1, it’s almost impossible. Under heavy braking, a driver can be thrown forward with a force of 5g – so Bottas, who weighs around 70kg, is pressing against his seatbelts with 350kg of pressure.

If those belts aren’t done up properly, Bottas would simply be slammed forward until he jammed in the cockpit… and no one wants jam in the cockpit.

You’ve got to be fit to be fast

Singapore is a humid place at the best of times – it was a relatively modest 67 per cent humidity for the race – and, even after night falls, the temperature is up around 30C.

For an F1 driver, it’s closer to 50-55C, thanks to a combination of mechanical and electrical heat, the under-car skidplate which can get hot enough to cause serious discomfort to a driver’s bottom, and multi-layer fireproof overalls.

At a race like Singapore, a driver will sweat off perhaps 3kg of weight. They’ll have a litre of fluids to drink during the race, if they remember (Rosberg’s engineer was on the radio reminding him to drink), and they’ll be accelerating and braking hard for two hours.

Oh, and Singapore is bumpy, really bumpy, and F1 cars don’t have that much in the way of suspension.

So just finishing the race is a huge physical challenge. If, like Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (pictured), you’ve not just finished, but battled from the back of the grid to a pretty impressive fifth place, then you’ve really been through the mill and would be excused for looking a bit knackered.

The thing is, even Vettel looked fresh in the post-race interviews. Yes, he was topping up his fluids but he was sharp, smiling, chilled even.

These drivers do a lot of prep work for a high-temperature race like this, training in hot rooms or, like Daniel Ricciardo, hitting the gym while wearing a lot of clothes.

But it’s still quite remarkable how well they cope with the stresses of a two-hour race in such conditions.

No wonder Jenson Button does triathlons for fun – compared with the Singapore Grand Prix, they must feel like a stroll in the park.