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Nando wrote:I suggest stop watching F1 if you felt Singapore was in any shape or form "boring" this year.
It was by some margin the least exciting race this year.
I think a major problem - which is a distinct issue with Singapore - is the fast cuts. Watching the race, there were very little of the long shots that come from helicopter overhead shots. As the cars go through a lot of corners fairly quickly, the rapid pace of the camera cuts meant that it was hard to follow the action with any distinction. Pretty much inundated with 1 - 2 seconds of a car passing another corner. This dullness is exasperated with the uniformity of the sectors, aesthetically. I'll have to see some of the older races to be sure (say Monaco/Singapore in 2010) to see if I'm not talking out my rear.
Most of the excitement came from retirements, crashes, and what little overtaking there was (props to them). I get concerned when the main tactic for the race is "hang in there on the tires" and when the time to the leader can be 46s for 5th place...
Nando wrote:I suggest stop watching F1 if you felt Singapore was in any shape or form "boring" this year.
It was by some margin the least exciting race this year.
I think a major problem - which is a distinct issue with Singapore - is the fast cuts. Watching the race, there were very little of the long shots that come from helicopter overhead shots. As the cars go through a lot of corners fairly quickly, the rapid pace of the camera cuts meant that it was hard to follow the action with any distinction. Pretty much inundated with 1 - 2 seconds of a car passing another corner. This dullness is exasperated with the uniformity of the sectors, aesthetically. I'll have to see some of the older races to be sure (say Monaco/Singapore in 2010) to see if I'm not talking out my rear.
Most of the excitement came from retirements, crashes, and what little overtaking there was (props to them). I get concerned when the main tactic for the race is "hang in there on the tires" and when the time to the leader can be 46s for 5th place...
Try imaging sitting in the car and going round the circuit for 61 laps or 2 hours...
Singapore and the other street circuits are ones where I feel it would be nice to just have the drivers have a friendly competition of round-robin fastest laps. A separate trophy or something.
Belatti wrote:The main thing that makes me dislike these type of circuits like Valencia and Singapore is that 90% of the corners are taken at relativaly low speeds for an F1 car.
Monaco is way different, more dangerous, with closer walls.
But the track side atmosphere is great for street race. You can literally smells the exhaust fumes.
WTF?
I could not care less about whats on the track sides.
I know there are people who want to go to a circus and inhale gases and other who want to see fast cars racing.
"You need great passion, because everything you do with great pleasure, you do well." -Juan Manuel Fangio
"I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence." -Ayrton Senna
To be honest, I always felt the Singapore track sucked big time. OK, so the night racing and the sparks from the plank are distracting for 5 minutes, but what do we do the rest of the time? We watch cars going around 90 degree corners. And again. And again. For 61 laps, 23 turns per lap. In a place where overtaking is hard even with all the artificial spices. And to make matters worse, the bet every year is whether the race will be to 61 laps or 2 hours. Since everything else is dark, I suppose overhead heli shots would just look like an arcade F1 game from the 80`s (i.e. not cool)
Singapore has one thing really going for it: for whatever reason, it makes a huge difference between teammates, every year. I suppose it's a combination of the bumps, the walls, and the 23 turns. OK, I'll admit that the sliding cars out of the last "chicane" into the kissing wall also looks great.
Nevertheless, Singapore is after all a new city, with all that entails about urban layout. The real crime is Abu Dhabi's final sector. It's the same 90 degree rubbish in a purpose built facility. I can't believe anyone accepted this, and since none of Tilke's circuits have anything else like it, I'll assume it was some sort of local requirement for the dock and/or hotel.
PS: The suggestion of going around the war memorial would kill two 90` corners, add some sweeping and lengthen the main straight helping overtaking. Heck, even turn 10 could become an overtaking point. Surely this would improve the racing and the laptime, right? It can't be that obvious, it can't...
I am not amazed by F1 cars in Monaco. I want to see them driving in the A8 highway: Variable radius corners, negative banking, and extreme narrowings that Tilke has never dreamed off. Oh, yes, and "beautiful" weather tops it all.
"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future." Niels Bohr
Miguel wrote:
PS: The suggestion of going around the war memorial would kill two 90` corners, add some sweeping and lengthen the main straight helping overtaking. Heck, even turn 10 could become an overtaking point. Surely this would improve the racing and the laptime, right? It can't be that obvious, it can't...
Turn 10 just needs to be nuked from orbit. I'm convinced that this is the worst corner/chicane of any track on the entire planet, and it takes something of profound awfulness to best the final chicane at Catalunya.
Miguel wrote:Singapore has one thing really going for it: for whatever reason, it makes a huge difference between teammates, every year. I suppose it's a combination of the bumps, the walls, and the 23 turns. OK, I'll admit that the sliding cars out of the last "chicane" into the kissing wall also looks great.
At the risk of being controversial, I look forward to Singapore. Something unusual always happens. It has a high attrition rate in terms of mechanical failure, driver error and penalties. So that means it is a difficult challenging circuit for the car, driver and team.
Don't forget it is a remarkable as a street circuit because the design allows overtaking.
It may not be a stereotype high speed circuit, but the season would be dull without it. It adds much needed variety and street circuits are fundamental to the F1 skillset.
It is also the first race after the EU season, so that gives it a symbolic place on the calendar. It marks the final run to the title.
In contrast I loath Valencia. It appears to be the same concept on paper as Singapore, but falls far short of what we see in Singapore (or Montreal)