F1 Practice: Singapore 2008!

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:

The lighting gives us great views of other things, too:

The circuit itself looks like a winner, too, challenging and hard, but fair, with a lot of unique bits to give it some flavor (unlike, oh, say, Valencia).  I suspect there's going to be a problem with the pit-out, however.  It releases right into the driving line for Turn 1, and even in P2 today, we saw the Toro Rosso of SeaBass squeeze himself as close to the inside wall as possible because Grizzly Nick Heidfeld was coming down hard on him... and despite SeaBass' giving him as much room as he could, Heidfeld still blew the turn.  It's not a stretch to imagine there being a nasty crash at that point during the race.

But the above pictures just don't do the look of the cars under the lights justice.   When the McLaren first came on track, I gave one of those low whistles of amazement... it was just that stunning.

It didn't rain, which is surprising as it always rains in Singapore, but we did get an idea about what'll happen if it does: plank dust.  As the cars ran over rough spots on the track, they wore away bits of the FIA legality plank, throwing what was essentially sawdust into the air... where it hung around.  It was quite thick in the air at some points, and didn't much want to disperse.   It was almost like a thick fog, which could play hob with the drivers if it really DOES rain.

Still, this is at least a promising beginning for the Grand Prix of Singapore.

Finally, who says the F1 teams can't have a little bit of fun once in a while?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:14 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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