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If Ferrari have any chance of staging a come back to give Red-Bull any competition for either the Drivers’ or Constructors’ Championship, the onslaught has to start at Singapore GP.
The track has been favorable for the prancing horse team in the past, and they would want to put their best foot forward at the Marina Bay circuit.
Will a podium finish be enough for Fernando Alonso for reviving his title hopes? Not exactly.
Alonso needs those 25 points as badly as a kid needs a candy. A string of podium finishes didn’t do any harm in keeping him near his German rival, but it was Vettel’s wins that made it even more difficult for Alonso.
And he can’t let any sort of distractions (Kimi being chosen as his teammate for 2014) crawl up his mind at this point. Alosno’s track record at the night race has been good, and a win looks achievable by his and Ferrari standards but things need to turn out just right.
Marina Bay is not an easy circuit and the engineers do have some sleepless nights ahead while making changes to the car configurations from the last race at Monza, before they can actually ensure a faster car with high level down-force with breaking a key component of the setup.
Alsono’s first step towards a probable win would be to get the best out of the qualifying.
But the Spaniard hasn’t had a pole position this year and it will definitely need an Alonso special to pull out a magical lap for a place at the front of the grid.
It’s been that sort of a year for Alonso where the wins have been really hard to come by in somewhat a replica of the last season. But Alonso has fought from the back of the grid for his victories in China and Spain and is capable of muscling his Ferrari on a tough track such as Singapore.
Fernando Alonso’s record at Singapore GP
Number of Race Starts | 5 |
Wins | 2 (2008, 2010) |
Pole Positions | 1 |
Podiums | 2 |
Felipe Massa could revive his Formula One career
With Felipe Massa and Ferrari deciding to part ways at the end of the season, the Brazilian must be feeling really light without the burden of helping his teammate.
He would want to show a couple of prospective employers (such as Lotus or McLaren) that he still has the zing in him for performing and can make a difference among the front-runners.
The circuit though is not really suited to match Massa’s style of driving and Massa has a best finish of eighth in 2010 and 2012. But with the thought of playing a second-fiddle to his teammate off his mind, he might just find his lost form of 2008 to revive his fortunes in Formula One.
Felipe Massa’s record at Singapore GP
Number of Race Starts | 5 |
Wins | Nil |
Pole Positions | 1 |
Podiums | Nil |
Teammate roundup
With the news of Massa’s exit from Ferrari at the end of the season and Kimi Raikkonen taking his seat, will the Brazilian continue to support teammate Fernando Alonso?
Massa has been a helpful teammate for Alonso for a five year duration and has obeyed team orders diligently. Will he obey team orders in Singapore and the rest of the season? That’s debatable.
