Ed Gorman
Another not hugely gripping Singapore Grand Prix underlines how difficult it is to get the setting right in Formula One and the racing at the same time, because this track doesn't produce much in the latter category.
A few bullets to consider
Lewis
The boy absolutely flew off the line as if powered by rocket fuel. When he is in this sort of mood, he looks, as JYS would say, the "complete" driver. Even his most bitter enemies can see that Lewis is a class act, I would imagine, (he writes, looking for his hard hat). I can also imagine that, back at Woking, the McLaren brainstrust will be sweating over next year's car. They know they have the driver, they can't afford not to get it right when it comes to the engineering and the design for a second season in a row. Lewis needs a good car to take on Fernando at Ferrari and Sebastian at Red Bull. Martin Whitmarsh needs a good car from the off to cement his own position as team principal. Enough said.
Nico
A very disappointing drive from the man who has ambitions to join Lewis - there are also rumours he may be heading to Brawn. It is so easy to criticise Formula One drivers but, crossing the pitlane exit limit line, even in slippy conditions and when your blood is up, is a pretty basic error and, as soon as we saw it, we knew what was coming. Nico probably got the red mist because he almost lost the car at Turn 5 just after his second stop as well.
Sebastian
A similar story. He drove well and looked to be giving Lewis a real run for his money in the second stint until he forgot his speed-limiter coming into the pitlane for his second stop. Again a basic error and Sebastian has made one or two of these this year. We can - and he can - put it down to experience. For Red Bull generally this was a poor evening with Mark Webber paying for overtaking Fernando when running wide on the first lap and eventually crashing out when his front right brakes gave way on 46. He is out of the title race and Sebastian is as good as.
Fernando
Gritty drive from the Asturian hero who looked and sounded absolutely done-in afterwards. He more or less indicated that the move to Ferrari is on. He also dedicated his podium to Flav. I noticed that Lewis dedicated his win to God. An interesting choice by both men.
Brawn
It's not spectacular is it? Jenson still looks the most likely but neither man set the pulses racing on the streets of Singapore. Jenson was hampered by the safety car and clearly believed he would have got past Heikki and Rubens through his first stop had it not intervened. Rubens seems to have paid heavily for stalling his car at his second stop. He has made quite a few errors of this type this year.
Weird race
It was strange seeing how the top three stepped away in the first stint, then there was a mid-field group and then there was a completely separate race behind the moving road block that was Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso who looked like he had strayed from GP 2. The poor chap was miles off the pace and leaked time with every lap. It was almost inevitable that Adrian Sutil was going to have a go at some point. He had to for his own self-respect. When it came, it all went haywire and Nick Heidfeld ended up bringing his "remarkable" 42-race finishing streak to an end.
Ferrari
Not much to say really. Kimi trotted round while Fisi struggled. Even for him it has been very difficult to switch cars mid-season and be competitive.
We are going to Japan - is Suzuka going to be decisive in this shuffling championship finish?
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