The official 2015 ASN Driver Rankings have been updated to reflect the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix – which we are calling the Singapore Slinger Grand Prix [for what we hope are obvious reasons]. The Singapore Slinger Grand Prix is held on the Marina Bay circuit at night, which gives it the look of a kart race on an oversized kart track and also allows – apparently – for random fans to access the track during the middles of races held there. The Singapore Slinger Grand Prix is currently the only nighttime race on the Formula One circuit.
As for the race, barring a mechanical issue or crash, the only way to prevent a Mercedes runaway in a Formula One race in 2015 has become clear – you have to get out in front of them on the first lap – as has been proven in previous races this year and was once again the case this week at the 2015 Singapore Slinger Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is the only driver who has had consistent success against Mercedes in 2015 so when he not only captured the pole position but both Mercedes were put in the third row on the starting grid [with Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen in between them no less], it seemed to bode well for both Ferrari and Vettel and, as expected, the results mirrored the expectations. In what has typically been the M.O. of Mercedes in races this year, Vettel immediately took off from his pole position and quickly claimed a six-second lead before calming down and settling in for a more comfortable 2-3 second lead over second place Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull. That is how it stood for the majority of the race with Raikkonen occasionally fending off the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, to claim the third and final place on the podium.
Defending champion Hamilton encountered power reduction issues midway through the race and after the Mercedes pit crew was unable to rectify the problem within the race, Hamilton was forced to retire his car, leaving only Rosberg out on the track to try and chase down Raikkonen for third. But Raikkonen held off Rosberg without much ado and there was never much contesting for any of the podium spots.
Early race casualties were numerous with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg taking himself out in Lap 13 by crashing into Williams’ Felipe Massa as Massa exited the pits – Massa would leave 20 laps later with a gearbox issue – along with Hamilton and then Fernando Alonso. Later race mechanical casualties were Alonso’s McLaren teammate Jenson Button and Lotus’ Romain GrosjeanMaldonado himself, his Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean.
Race drama consisted mostly of a random fan suddenly materializing on the track – seemingly emanating from the enclosed spectator area – on Lap 36, which caused some confusion and still does on several fronts including the design of the track, lack of security and no response from track officials as the man casually sauntered down the track before casually taking himself off the track.
As for the racing, Vettel snares the obvious points for the win with Ricciardo essentially turning in a superb drive to manage the race for his second place finish and AutoSportsNation is awarding third place to American Alexander Rossi who, despite being saddled with the poor Manor/Marussia team car, managed to drive responsibly and avoid danger to bring home the car in a respectable 13th place [thanks to the many retirements ahead of him]. Vettel extends his lead over Hamilton for the season and is on the verge of clinching the season title with only six races remaining.
For the other awards, the main contenders for the Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award are Hulkenberg and Maldonado himself after he took a chunk out of Button’s car on Lap 41. Since the Hulkenberg/Massa incident was close to a 50/50 on interpretation of who was at fault for the incident, it was 100% clear who was at fault for the Button/Maldonado incident and therefore, AutoSportsNation has decided to give the point to Maldonado for the race. This now puts Maldonado in the season lead in his signature award category.
Although it was not another Mercedes blowout victory, it was a similar scenario with Vettel running away with a comfortable win and that meant there was a scarcity of good radio chatter good enough for the Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone, I Know What I’m Doing!” Award for the 2015 Singapore Slinger Grand Prix. Fortunately, there is Button and his good sense of humor he has toward his McLaren team, so while, normally, Toro Rosso’s petulant teenager Max Verstappen denying ludicrous team orders with a temper tantrum “No!” response to allowing his teammate to pass him in the waning stages of the race would be the only choice, Button came to the rescue with this response to McLaren pit telling him what to – “Are you going to rub my tummy and pat my head?” Hamilton still holds the season lead in this category.
Finally, for the Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award for the 2015 Singapore Slinger Grand Prix, the award can only go to the Ferrari pit crew for rushing, like a bunch of hormonally hyped schoolgirls at a Taylor Swift concert, the no-man’s land underneath the victory stage known as parc ferme so they could hear Vettel’s victory speechifying. In perfect fraternity-boys-at-a-college-football-game style, the Ferrari crew barged past security to claim “their” spots in front of the podium in both an etiquette and rule-breaking maneuver. Hamilton still holds a commanding lead in his signature award category.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka at 5 a.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on September 27, 2015.
The 2015 ASN Formula One Driver Standings [after the Singapore Slinger Grand Prix]
1] Sebastian Vettel – 25 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – 17 points
3] Nico Rosberg – six points
4] Valtteri Bottas – five points
5] Kimi Raikkonen/Daniel Ricciardo – four points
7] Romain Grosjean/Felipe Massa – three points
9] Fernando Alonso/Jenson Button/Nico Hulkenberg/Daniil Kvyat/Max Verstappen – two points
14] Sergio Perez/Alexander Rossi – one point
The 2015 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award Standings [after the Singapore Slinger Grand Prix]
1] Maldonado – 3.5 points
2] Grosjean – 2.5 points
3] Bottas pit/Marcus Ericsson/Hamilton/Hamilton pit/Raikkonen/Raikkonen pit/Ricciardo – one point
The 2015 Kimi Raikkonen Leave Me Alone I Know What I’m Doing Award Standings [after the Singapore Slinger Grand Prix]
1] Hamilton – 4.5 points
2] Rosberg – 2.5 points
3] Button – 2 points
4] Bottas/Hamilton pit/Ricciardo pit/Will Stevens – one point
The 2015 Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award [after the Singapore Slinger Grand Prix]
1] Hamilton – five points
2] Bernie Ecclestone/Vettel – two points
3] Alonso/Team Ferrari/Christian Horner/Team McLaren – one point
