Singapore GP: Race Ticker
motorsport-live.com October 15th, 2017
It is dry here in Singapore... for now, and all eyes are on the first two rows of the grid.
Iker Vidal drove to a stunning pole position yesterday and will go into the race side by side with
Dieter Wexler, and in front of both
Steinmann cars.
Will
Wexler risk everything in the first corner to pass
Vidal? Will he just try to block
Chapman? And will
Nina Holtz in the second Silver Arrow play along and stay out of the way of her team mate, or will she try to win the race? Can
Vidal this time match his qualifying pace in the race and win it?
Lap 1:
No real surprises on the tyre front as
Margate in eighth is the first on the soft compound and
Woodford in tenth the first on the medium tyre, trying to go for a one-stopper.
One of the key races for the Championship, 37 laps, and it will kick off in the next seconds... it is a short run to the first corner...
The red lights are on... one.. two... three... four... five...
AND IT'S LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO!
AND
VIDAL WITH A GREAT START AND AWAY THROUGH THE FIRST CORNER!
HOLTZ DOWN THE INSIDE OF
CHAPMAN... AND
WEXLER FOR P2. And the prancing horse has a problem... and falls back into sixth... and
SURIKOV wants a piece of the pie and is up to third and past
Chapman in the Park Corner.
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +0.4 3.
Surikov +2.1
Woodford P11 +7.5
Lap 2:
"Something is wrong with my rear tyres," via
Dieter Wexler. "Copy, they are overheating," is the answer from the pit wall. He is already 2.4 seconds behind
Chapman.
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +0.6 3.
Surikov +2.6
Woodford P16 +15.7
Lap 3:
And there is an incident.
Blanc and
Navarro have a little coming together that wrecked a rear wing and a front wing... and that is a drive through penalty for causing an avoidable accident.
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +1.5 3.
Surikov +3.5
Woodford P16 +19.1
Lap 4:
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +1.9 3.
Surikov +3.7
Woodford P16 +22.5
Lap 5:
Wexler is 1.1 seconds behind
Chapman now... waiting?
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +0.7 3.
Surikov +3.5
Woodford P16 +26.0
Lap 6:
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +0.8 3.
Surikov +3.2
Woodford P16 +29.8
Lap 7:
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +0.6 3.
Surikov +2.7
Woodford P16 +32.6
Lap 8:
"I want to pit for fresh tyres," says
Vidal... "Stay out, rain in two laps"
1.
Vidal 2.
Holtz +0.6 3.
Surikov +2.7
Woodford P16 +32.6
Lap 9:
The
Steinmann cars and
Wexler pit... for slicks.
1.
Vidal 2.
Surikov +1.6 3.
Rodrigues +9.5
Woodford P17 +36.6
Lap 10:
Vidal out for another lap...
1.
Vidal 2.
Oliveira +12.5 3.
Margate +13.6
Woodford P16 +37.9
Lap 11:
SAFETY CAR! SAFETY CAR!
Rick De Graaf gets the exit of turn nine terribly wrong and crashes into the wall!
Vidal in for inters!
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov +3.6 3.
Gonzalez +4.8
Woodford P15 +31.9
Lap 12:
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov 3.
Gonzalez
Woodford P15
Lap 13:
And there it starts to rain a bit... the drivers on the slicks in 1-3 and 8-11 could need to pit soon! Safety car this lap!
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov 3.
Gonzalez
Woodford P15
Lap 14:
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov +2.6 3.
Gonzalez +4.7
Woodford P14 +12.8
Lap 15:
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov +2.4 3.
Gonzalez +7.6
Woodford P11 +15.8
Lap 16:
And now it really gets wet...
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov +2.5 3.
Vidal +10.6
Woodford P11 +15.5
Lap 17:
1.
Holtz 2.
Surikov +2.0 3.
Vidal +4.0
Woodford P8 +11.2
Lap 18:
And there he goes past,
Vidal into P1, but now, he has to look after the tyres....
Championship update...
Wexler P15,
Chapman P16 on slicks, they screwed that one up.
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +0.8 3.
Margate +2.8
Woodford P6 +5.8
Lap 19:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +0.6 3.
Margate +2.2
Woodford P6 +7.6
Lap 20:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +1.1 3.
Margate +1.6
Woodford P6 +8.8
Lap 21:
"Ok
Iker, conserve the tyres at any cost, it will stop raining soon!"
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +1.5 3.
Margate +2.3
Woodford P6 +9.3
Lap 22:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +1.7 3.
Margate +2.9
Woodford P6 +11.6
Lap 23:
Oliveira pits from fifth... for fresh inters!
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +2.4 3.
Margate +3.1
Woodford P5 +12.8
Lap 24:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +3.0 3.
Margate +3.7
Woodford P5 +13.8
Lap 25:
THE FIRST ONTO SLICKS... WAAY TO WET!
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +18.9 3.
Margate +20.0
Woodford P9 +31.8 PIT
Lap 26:
Vidal in... AND OUT IN THE LEAD!
1.
Vidal 2.
Rodrigues +6.7 3.
Saarinen +9.4
Woodford P10 +38.5
Lap 27:
1.
Vidal 2.
Rodrigues +7.3 3.
Saarinen +9.1
Woodford P10 +25.4
Lap 28:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +9.1 3.
Oliveira +11.6
Woodford P9 +25.9
Lap 29:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +10.5 3.
Gonzalez +22.5
Woodford P8 +27.1
Lap 30:
"P4, P4, try to defend that one with your life," via
Woodford's pit radio.
Lotus looking mighty today... and
Woodford lost the place.
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +11.8 3.
Margate +23.5
Woodford P5 +29.4
Lap 31:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +12.1 3.
Margate +23.6
Woodford P5 +31.7
Lap 32:
No chance for
Wexler(P17) and
Chapman(P16)...
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +13.6 3.
Margate +25.2
Woodford P5 +32.8
Lap 33:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +17.1 3.
Margate +27.5
Woodford P5 +34.6
Lap 34:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +18.3 3.
Margate +28.2
Woodford P5 +36.7
Lap 35:
Two laps to go, and this one looks done and dusted!
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +20.2 3.
Margate +29.8
Woodford P5 +38.1
Lap 36:
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +21.3 3.
Margate +30.9
Woodford P5 +38.6
Final Lap:
Vidal WINS!
Saarinen P2,
Margate P3! And to spice things up,
Iker Vidal is now 31 points behind the two Championship leaders... could they work out a surprise?
Chapman P15,
Wexler P16.
1.
Vidal 2.
Saarinen +20.4 3.
Margate +29.8
Woodford P5 +39.7