Sep 24, 2011
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The F1 engineers know they have to deal with the unusual situation of ambient and track temperatures dropping from the start of the day to the end, which is the complete opposite of what happens at most races, but that is little consolation to team members working in the overheated atmosphere of the pit garages at the Marina Bay circuit.
Everything within the confined working area is giving off heat, from the tyres in their blankets to the red hot brake discs, the Ferrari engines and even the overheated bodies of the mechanics. A few degrees less as day turns to evening and then night is little consolation when you’re drenched in sweat. For most of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, you can deal with it, but conditions really feel at their worst during the feverish activity that is Qualifying. The guys are all kitted out in full fireproof pit stop gear, the tyre men are rushing around wheeling in set after set of rubber, the cars get refuelled and rushed out on track, hopefully finding a gap in the traffic that characterises a street circuit. It’s a fantastic spectacle to watch, but everyone looked completely drained at the end of tonight’s session.
Scuderia Toro Rosso got both cars into Q2 and Sébastien will line up on the outside of row 7, in 14th place, while Jaime will have a perfect view of his team-mate’s gearbox in 16th place on row 8. A fairly average result for us, which owed something to the misfortune of others, including Kobayashi who chose to modify his Sauber and the barriers in Q2. Having lost track time on Friday, we were playing the inevitable game of catch-up, a game where it’s hard to win. Tomorrow night will see a marathon event as the 24 drivers tackle 61 laps of this 5.073 km track. You can be sure it will be incident packed, with tyre degradation adding to the uncertainty: add in the almost inevitable appearance of the Safety Car and it should be an enthralling two hours. If we are on our toes and are ready to jump at any opportunity, who knows, maybe it will be another case of coming good from behind.
The hottest combo on track today was Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull. The German, who has an outside mathematical chance of clinching the world title on Sunday, was quickest in all three parts of the session, eventually outpacing his team-mate Mark Webber by just under half a second. An all-Red Bull front row is followed by an all-McLaren Row 2, Jenson Button ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Row 3 belongs to the Prancing Horse, with Fernando Alonso fifth and Felipe Massa sixth.
Credit: Toro Rosso (www.scuderiatororosso.com)
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