**UPDATE**

Hey guys we will be discontinuing the pre-race updates due to a lack of time and authors, maybe more slots will be revived later if we get more authors, anyone interested can contact me

2012 Singaporean GP (Post-Qualifying)

Hey guys, its me Gerard again, our new author failed to get this done so wish me luck to complete this post-qualy and the pre-race later. So a relatively boring qualifying by my standards, but then again not every GP can be like Spa and Monza. However, this circuit did put on a great show, and some drivers really shone in Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton after topping Q3

Lets move down the order shall we? Lewis Hamilton let his driving do the talking as he blazed through the time sheets to take pole by an unbelievable 0.442sec off the second placed Williams of Pastor Maldonado. Hamilton is pushing hard for a win here to boost his chances of catching Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari F2012. Despite many rumours surrounding Hamilton's 2013 seat, he seems to be giving the GP 110% for McLaren. However, in all 4 of his poles (no including Singapore) he only won once.

Pastor Maldonado in his Williams during FP3

The one-and-only Pastor 'Mad Man' Maldonado has managed to sneak his William's nose into the front row alongside Hamilton. Formula One fans around the world will be praying that he doesn't live up to his name tomorrow and wreak other racer's race. If Maldonado can keep his cool throughout this very challenging circuit in the race he can cause an upset and win his second grand prix.

Sebastian Vettel in his RB8 ready to leave the garage

In third place is Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, slightly disappointing result after showing such pace by topping all of the free practise sessions. But he is still hungry for a race win here. After retiring from the last race at Italy, he has been shunted down to fourth in the drivers standings from second and even further from leader Fernando Alonso. To secure a chance of winning the championship, he needs to score big here.

Jenson Button in his McLaren

Behind Vettel is Jenson Button in the second McLaren, also looking strong this weekend, however he had slight problems with his chassis balance which prevented a all-McLaren front row. He will be eyeing up his teammate for a win maybe? Only the race will tell.







In fifth is championship leader Fernando Alonso. Alonso said in his tweets that this is an average qualifying position for him and he hinted that a win is possible. The dark horses tomorrow is Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and Pastor Maldonado of Williams. Don't discount the Petronas Mercedes GP team, they are going for a different strategy, by not going out in Q3 on the red side-wall option tires (super softs), they are able to use the yellow side-wall prime tires (softs). This means they are able to stay out longer than the others and maybe go for a two-stop strategy instead of the three-stoppers which we expect most of the other front-runners to use.

That's it for this post, we'll try to do the pre-race asap. If you noticed, all the pictures in this blog are from motorsport.com. We prefer to use them as they are more accurate time-wise. These pictures were not and will not be used for profit and are solely for educational purposes, if the management at motorsport.com is unhappy with the posting of their pictures, contact us on Facebook or Google+ or contact me, the author personally on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to have it removed, thank you.

2012 Singaporean GP (Pre-Qualifying)

Lewis Hamilton unsure of his future at McLaren

Hey whats up guys it's me again and its time for the pre-qualifying post, of the Singaporean GP, but not before a little chat on how things are going on with McLaren. Lewis Hamilton is not signing a renewal of his contract because he wants to "Focus on the World Championship". McLaren issued a statement saying that Sergio Perez is a suitable replacement for Lewis if he quits. They also warned him that his career may be a re-run of Jacques Villeneuve.    

Red Bull's team principle Christian Horner (Center)

So anyway, the situation at Red Bull is desperate. They need to score big points this weekend to prevent other teams from catching up with their points, which just before the Italian GP, seemed too far of a goal. Their drivers also had a drop in their position of the world championship. This, indirectly, played into Ferrari's Fernando Alonso's hands as he built a larger lead.

(From Left to right) Felipe Massa, Stefano Domenicali and Fernando Alonso

Ferrari's constructors title race may not be over with Felipe Massa regaining his form in a better performing car. Alonso is normally strong at Singapore. They are hoping for both their drivers to be in the top five to boost their chances. If Alonso can maintain his consistency, they already have the Driver's World Championship in the bag, the big question is if Massa can maintain his pace.

Kimi Raikkonen (Left) with teammate Romain Grosjean

As the season comes to an end, it is clear that the battle is going to be between McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari. But the so-called underdogs Lotus still can cause a major upset if Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean can earn serious points and a win maybe? It all comes down to this. As the 2012 season prepares to come to close, it appears that this fight will go all the way to Brazil.




So here are the predictions for the top 5 for Saturday's qualifying.

1. ALO
2. VET
3. HAM
4. MAS
5. BUT

Stay tuned to the post-qualifying. A new author might post the post-qualifying and the post-race, so stay tuned. So please share this blog.

**UPDATE** (Live Chat: Felipe Massa from Ferrari)

Hey guys Felipe Massa is on Live Chat
Here's the link for free http://bit.ly/9akUSw
Just so you know

2012 Italian GP (Post-Race)

Hey guys, sorry for the really late post, i had internet problems. But anyway here's the post-race review of the Formula One Grand Prix at Monza last weekend

Lewis Hamilton celebrating after winning the Italian GP at Monza

The F1 race at the historic Autodromo de Monza or "La Pista Magica" as it is fondly called by the Italians served us up a spectacular race. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton drove a flawless, and somewhat lonely, Grand Prix, winning from pole position. His teammate Jenson Button however, was forced to retire due to a fuel pick-up problem

Fernando Alonso (Left) after passing Felipe Massa for second.

Home team Ferrari managed to get Alonso up to second with Felipe right behind him in third, they were looking strong for a double podium but a certain Mexican driver begged to differ. From out of nowhere the Ferrari-powered Sauber driver Sergio Perez charged through, taking second from the Ferrari of Alonso and robbing a podium spot from the Brazilian Felipe Massa.


Everyone (even Red Bull themselves) predicted it will be a very tough day for the RB8, but no one predicted that both cars didn't manage to catch the chequered flag. Sebastian Vettel had a weekend so bad, it was comical. First he placed quite low in Q3 with thanks to a lack of horsepower, during the race he struggled from his underpowered car and lack of traction. Because of that, he forced Alonso wide (though it didn't seem intentional), the stewards harshly awarded Vettel a drive through penalty. This caused controversy as Alonso did the same to Vettel at this very circuit and got a way with it. Personally I think the stewards decided to punish him that harshly because they need to keep up their strict-ness after suspending Romain Grosjean for this race at Spa for dangerous driving.

As for Lotus, they had a fair day with Raikkonen coming in fifth, this launched him to third on the driver's standings after the Bulls got blown. d'Ambrosio didn't do too bad considering his inexperience but I do not think it will turn any heads at the moment at least.

There's two weeks to the F1 Night Race at Singapore!!!! I'll have a pre-race post early to compensate for this late one. See you in two weeks, remember to share the blog, oh and before I forget, we are on Facebook at The Formula One Review

2012 Italian GP (Pre-Race)

1. Lewis Hamiltion
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Felipe Massa
4. Jenson Button
5. Sebastian Vettel

Yep, Alonso has a chance to win since Ferrari has replaced his broken rear anti-roll bar given his impressive pace during FP3, Q1 and Q2. However, I do not think he will be winning it though. It seems that at least one of the McLarens will have a problem during the race, so i think that thisnrace, it will be Jenson Button, reason? Pit stop malfunction.

Thats it for this (very short) pre-race post. I'll post a full post-race post soon.

2012 Italian GP (Post-Qualifying)

A disastrous day for Alonso fans worldwide. After dominating the first and second segments of qualifying, a problem on his car removes any chance of a pole and most of his chances of a win. However the fans need not fret too much as the Brazilian Felipe Massa does a fantastic 1.24.247 to put him in P3.

The McLarens take the front row on Ferrari's home turf, but there is still hope of an upset for McLaren if Ferrari manage to get Alonso up and keep Felipe near the top. Jerome d'Ambrosio failed to make it to Q3. To better his chances on securing a permanent contract, he must perform in the race later today. Here are the full qualifying list.

1.		HAM
2.		BUT
3.		MAS
4.		DIR*
5.		MSC
6.		VET
7.		ROS
8.		RAI
9.		KOB
10.		ALO
11.		WEB
12.		MAL**
13.		PER
14.		SEN
15.		RIC
16.		DAM
17.		VER
18.		KOV
19.		PET
20.		GLO
21.		PIC
22.		KAR
23.		ROSA
24.		HUL***

*DIR has a 5 place grid penalty for unscheduled gear box change
**MAL has 10 place grid penalty (5 for jumpstart and 5 for causing collision with GLO at Belgium)
***HUL has not set a time

It's a bitter-sweet day for Force India as their cars performed so well, yet due to a gear box change from Paul di Resta and a problem for Nico Hulkenberg, they are highly unlikely to get into a good point scoring position.

Red Bull also had a challenging weekend due to the car's design. The Red Bull car boasts a high downforce design and light weight design, this is achieved by their rear wing's design and a smaller and lighter KERS unit, also known as KERS light. Since Monza is a high speed circuit, every team has some sort of a high down force wing, slashing their advantage,in fact turned it against them. Red Bull's smaller KERS unit puts it at about 15-30bhp disadvantage. Thanks to this McLaren seem unrivaled and are set to win another Grand Prix. However, Ferrari are still certain they can turn this all the way around.

Ok, thats that for the post qually, catch the pre-race post later.