Here's the provisional grid for the race:

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Wow.  Just... wow.  I have no idea how the race will go on Sunday, I have no idea how the track will be for actual racing, but I do have one idea...

If nothing else, this race is going to be amazing visually.  Under the track lighting, these cars just glow; to whit:

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The Tyrrell P34:

Okay, yes, it looks a little weird to our eyes, but there was a good concept behind it.  Since the biggest cause of drag on a F1 car is the tires, and by the rules you can't cover the tires with bodywork, just make the front tires smaller!  Brilliant!

Of course, by reducing the size of the steering tires, you lose grip.  No problem, just add another set!  Add a well-faired nose, and you've almost managed to cover the tires completely and still stay within the rules.  Now THAT'S how F1 is supposed to work.  Brake cooling was a constant problem however, and the front tires constantly distorted at high speed (being smaller than the rears, they rotated faster.  Stresses easily dealt with by the larger tires became much more pronounced in the 10" fronts).  The car also had unique steering properties... so much so that while Patrick Depailler was able to figure it out, his teammate Jody Scheckter was never comfortable behind the wheel.

In 1976, the P34 actually finished 1-2 at the Swedish Grand Prix, took 2nd at the Japanese Grand Prix in a huge rainstorm, and had some other podiums as well.  While it competed in 1977, shortly thereafter the rules were changed to define a F1 car as having four wheels, consigning the car to the ash heap of history.

Corgi released a diecast car of the P34, which I was lucky enough to own back when I was a young duckling.  Wish I knew what happened to it!

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While we wait for a decision to be made on Lewis Hamilton's appeal of his penalty at Spa, let's take a look at the this weekend's race at Singapore. 

This is a race that will consist of a number of firsts: first time at the Singapore circuit, first F1 night race, and potentially the first wet night race (60% chance of rain at race time).  There's not a whole lot we can say about the circuit yet because, unlike Valencia earlier this season, this really is a street circuit, like Monaco, while Valencia's circuit ran around a marina.  As a result, the Valencia track could easily be set up for other races.  The Singapore circuit, on the other hand, runs on working city streets.  Here's the track map:


Happily, this is the first new F1 racecourse NOT designed by Hermann ("I hate passing") Tilke.  It's based off a suggested trackplan by him, though.  The fastest spot on the circuit is expected to be the run-in to Turn 07, where the simulations suggest the cars will be hitting about 200mph before slamming on the brakes.  Twice the cars will be running across bridges over water, between 12 and 13, then 13 and 14.  The run to the first turn takes the cars UNDER a highway, as does the turnout from 21.

Very interestingly, the short straight between 18 and 19 seems to run UNDER a set of temporary grandstands as well.  Hopefully, there won't be any car fires or blown engines at that point.  Yeesh.

Simulations also indicate that this course is going to be the highest downforce track on the calendar... even more than Monaco, which doesn't seem possible.  Lots of 90-degree turns out there, though, which one would expect from a modern city.

Technically, the lighting system is quite complex.  First off, they won't be using the traditional flagging system for the race.  Instead, there'll be 35 LED panels around the circuit that'll act as the flags.  For illumination, however, there'll be between 1500 and 1600 "light projectors" at 2000w each, with one roughly every 10 feet or so.  They'll be using 12 electrical generators to generate the 3.2 million watts required, with almost 109km of cable.  The lights will be hung off of 6km of truss surrounding the track.

They ran a test of the lighting system this past weekend; the above shows the "Fullerton Road" bridge, between 12 and 13.  The lights will be on one side of the track only, to reduce glare on the TV cameras.  Since the cars are only three feet high or so, shadows aren't expected to be a problem.

This'll be a fun one, that's for sure, and SPEED will be bringing us their usual expert coverage.  Friday, we have the usual Practice 2 session, from 830a to 1015a, which will be 930pm local time.  Late night for the F1 Circus!

Saturday, from 9a to 1030a, we get the first ever night Quals session.  Even later night for the F1 boys, as that session won't start until 10pm local!

Finally we get the race on Sunday, from 630a to 9a.  It'll be quite the spectacle, that's for sure, and F1 UPDATE! will be all over it.

See you then, but check in on Tuesday for the results of the Penalty Appeal!

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It never rains at Monza.  Never.  Never ever.  So what happened in the Quals session today?

It rained.  A lot.  Unfortunately, it was raining here in Duckford as well.  A lot.  Six inches worth overnight, some reports are saying.

As you can imagine, The Pond's satellite feed was pretty much borked, so I haven't even watched quals yet!  While I'm trying to d/l it as I type this, it's going to take some time.  So instead of waiting, here's the provisional grid:

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It never rains at Monza.  Never.  Never ever.  So what happens in P1 today?

It rains.  A LOT.  How much?

Oh, maybe that much.  That's not an edited photo, no color or brightness modification whatsoever... it really was that dark at one point.  Okay, so it's dark and rainy, big deal.  Well, yes.  It REALLY rained.

Yeah, about that much.  P1 wound up being red-flagged with about five minutes left in the session.  That rain left the track soaked, with some puddles of standing water on the back half of the circuit.

So P2 started on full wet tires, but the times dropped dramatically as the sun came out and the track dried.  An example?  Laps at the top of the session were around 1m45sec.  At the end?  1m24sec.  Just because the asphalt dried out.

Other than Nelson Piquet Jr high-centering his car on a "sleeping policeman" in the first chicane, though, there wasn't much else going on.  Everybody was going very quickly, but Ferrari, McLaren and BMW proved to be the class of the field, as usual, with the Toro Rossos lurking closely behind.  Not only is this Ferrari's home track, but it's the perfect circuit for their cars, one that rewards raw horsepower and low drag.  There really aren't any low speed portions to Monza, unlike Spa's Turn 10-15 section for example.

So don't be surprised if Ferrari owns the front row in quals tomorrow... see ya then!

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Just to get it out of the way, McLaren officially filed their protest regarding the 25sec penalty levied against Lewis Hamilton at Spa last week.  Nominally, Felipe Massa is still the winner, and will as such until the protest is heard "at a time forthcoming."

So with that spectre hanging over our heads, let's get our focus out of the backrooms of the FIA and on the track, where it belongs.

And what a track it is.  The track where speed is king, the circuit where speed was born, one of the legendary racetracks in all the world, La Pista Magica:

Monza.

A casual follower of the sport would look at Monza and say "why is this legendary?"  And in comparison to tricky technical circuits invented by Hermann Tilke, they'd be right.  It's not a particularly challenging-looking track... only 11 turns, 7 of them in three chicanes?  That's nothing!  But turns are not what Monza is about. 

Monza is about nothing but flat-out, engine-killing speed.  77% of a lap at this circuit is spent with the gas pedal jammed through the floorboards, the highest percentage in F1.  Drivers hit 210mph just before turns 1, 4, 8 and 11... and turn 11, Parabolica, is perhaps the fastest curve in F1... 178mph if you're doing it right.  Strangely, it's followed by one of the slowest, Variante del Rettifilio.  From 210mph to 45mph in less than 100 yards. 

If you could only have four circuits in F1, Monza would have to be one of them (I'd say Spa, Monaco and Silverstone for the other three).

Of course, our friends at SPEED will bring us their usual coverage of the race weekend, starting from 7a to 840a Friday morning with live coverage of 2nd Practice.  The track has been around for so long, however, teams barely need the practice.  Still, they'll be out there driving the tires off.

On Saturday, from 7a to 830a, we'll have plausibly live coverage of Quals.  With a high-speed track like Monza, passing is a little tricky, so a good position on the grid is crucial, perhaps moreso than most places.

Then Sunday brings the tifosi out to cheer on Team Ferrari, who's factory is just down the road.  The coverage begins at 630a, and goes until 9am.  See how the FIA stewards will bend McLaren over this time!  Who knows who'll be leading the Driver's Championship afterwards?  We'll know afterwards!

Of course, F1 UPDATE! will be here all weekend as well!

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If you told me this morning that it was likely to rain during today's quals session at the Spa-Francopants circuit, I would have said "...and the surface of the sun is hot, it's fairly cold in Antarctica, and you're likely to see big eyes in anime."

So of course it was completely dry all day.  To further scramble my entire world view, SeaBass and his Toro Rosso was fastest in Q1.  At least Honda was really slow, so there's still some things happening the way they're supposed to.  If you start hearing stories about sunburned penguins, though, head for the hills.

Oh, the grid?  McLaren-Ferrari-McLaren-Ferrari.  Color me surprised.  Here's the provisional grid:

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From the world's only sterile street circuit at Valencia, the F1 Circus warily heads into the Ardennes Forest to race on what is probably the world's finest modern track: Spa-Francorchamps.  Spa has everything one could want from a race course... big elevation changes, high speeds, heavy braking, decent passing zones, and the constant threat of rain.  Let's take a look at the map:

Spa-Francopants is probably best known for the test of manhood and courage called "Eau Rouge."  Now, on the map it doesn't look like much, just a gentle kink to the left, followed by an arcing turn 3 leading to Raidillon, turn 4.  But looks can oft be deceiving.  You see, the run from about the pit exit to Eau Rouge is a steep uphill slope, with Eau Rouge near the crest of the hill.  This makes the turn completely blind, and only the best (or bravest, or craziest... your choice) drivers can take the turn flat-out without lifting off the gas.  Over the years, there have been some truly epic accidents here as cars make Eau Rouge, and lose it on turn 3. 

This doesn't mean, however, that the rest of the track is chopped liver.  Theres only a handful of turns that are taken at less than 100mph (18, 19, and 1, primarily), and the run from 12 down to those three is downhill, with Blanchimont being another test of courage. 

As you can imagine, this is a fast track.  That's good, because it's also the longest track on the calendar at almost 4.5 miles; a hypothetical "best possible" lap takes about 1m45sec.  However, because there are so many high-speed turns at Spa-Francoamerican, having a good amount of downforce is critical... one cannot just go for nothing but speed here.

Because Spa is so long, it's quite common to have rain falling (sometimes quite heavily) at one spot on the circuit, while it's completely dry at the opposite spot on the track.  There's a reason why the crew of F1 UPDATE call Spa "The Swimming Pool." 

Thankfully for all of us, the good folks at SPEED have a good set of water-wings and will be bringing us plenty of coverage of Michael Phelps Lewis Hamilton and the F1 gang!  First up will be live coverage of Friday's second practice from 7a to 840a.  Bring your snorkel and flippers, as the entire weekend has around a 60% chance of rain... which almost guarantees that it'll be raining on race day.

Saturday, from 7a to 830a, we get plausibly live coverage of Quals.  Will Ferrari be able to cope with the cool weather that their car seems to hate so much, or will McLaren or BMW step up and take pole? 

Then Sunday from 630a to 9a, we've got the Grand Prix of Belgium live and in color, brought to you by the Legendary Announce Team.  It should be a fun one (as opposed to the bland dullness of Valencia), even in the dry... Spa-Francoisstilldead is just that good!

Of course, the F1 UPDATE! crew will be there... here... whatever for all of it!

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