This year is turning out to be the season of the stewards. In the often-chaotic Singapore GP, their influence once again affected the result but this time in less obvious ways than at Spa. Consider, for instance, how their previous decisions stole what looked like an inevitable win from Felipe Massa at the Marina Bay circuit.
Fernando Alonso
Cast your minds back to Valencia and Massa's pit stop in which he was released into the side of Adrian Sutil's Force India. For that offense, the stewards decided not to penalize the Brazilian as laid down in the rules and, instead, fined him a sum that was nominal in F1 terms and, more importantly, did not take his victory from him. In the same race, Kimi Raikkonen had a botched pit stop that seemed to have much to do with the Ferrari system of lights rather than a lollipop man.
Now, had the stewards done the correct thing and imposed a drive-through penalty on Massa, it is very likely that the Ferrari team would have looked closely at their pit release procedures to ensure that such errors were no longer possible. One can only presume that they were reassured by the stewards' verdict, certain that this was one more rule that would never be applied to them in its full force. The system remained in place, a lurking problem ready to come back and bite them.
In Singapore it did just that, prompting Massa to leave the pit before the fuel hose had been disengaged and, once again, launching him into the side of Adrian Sutil (what has Ferrari got against the poor guy?). The trailing hose may have forced Massa to stop at the end of the pit lane, thereby effectively ending his chances in the race, but the subsequent drive-through penalty was more likely to have been given for the unsafe release into the Force India (certainly, it should have been). That it should have been a standard penalty this time, rather than a fine, looks very much as if the stewards saw it this way on this occasion because it had no effect on Massa's race - he was already last, thanks to the incident.
That may seem a bit far-fetched but the Ferrari team obviously does not think so - for Massa's second stop, they used the trusty lollipop. Interestingly, something very similar happened in one of David Coulthard's stops; the lollipop was lifted and he began to leave with the hose still attached. But the lollipop man was quick enough to slam it down in front of DC and he stopped. That, surely, is argument enough for the end of Ferrari's system of lights.
There was another incident in the race that, incredibly, involved the hapless Sutil with Felipe. Late in the race, Massa spun at the entrance to the grandstand underpass and then moved out on to the racing line just as Adrian arrived. With nowhere else to go, the Force India driver had no option but to stuff his car into the barrier. He went no further. Predictably, the stewards took no action on what was clearly a dangerous maneuver on Massa's part.
The stewards had their say in other matters as well. Before the race even began, Nick Heidfeld was handed a three-place grid penalty for blocking Barrichello on a flying lap. Yet Nick was in the slowing down lane for the pits, as required. How can he be penalized for the bad placing of the pit entrance, a fact that had been pointed out before a car turned a wheel on the circuit? And for the stewards to then fine Barrichello for aborting the lap and entering the pit lane behind Heidfeld, without using the slowing down lane, merely highlights the fact that Nick was a victim of poor circuit design.
As it happened, such irrational and inconsistent stewarding failed to spoil what turned out to be an exciting and interesting GP. It is somewhat ironic that Nelson Piquet's accident gave his team mate, Fernando Alonso, the chance to win the race, an opportunity that he seized with considerable panache. Alonso deserved this win after a season of battling against the deficiencies of his car. And I think the theory that Renault timed Piquet's accident to give Alonso the maximum benefit from his early pit stop is really asking a little too much of Flavio Briatore's calculating powers!
There is irony, too, in Hamilton emerging from this race with exactly the six points gained that he lost to bad stewarding decisions at Spa. He drove a mature race this time out, staying close enough to Massa in the first stint to be a factor, then taking his chances when they were presented in the remainder of the race, but not risking a challenge on Rosberg when it was unnecessary from a championship point of view.
It was good to see Nico Rosberg on the podium, his second place a deserved reward after clever handling of the inevitable ten second penalty he received for having to pit during the safety car period. Poor Robert Kubica, also forced to take the stop and resulting penalty, was unable to do the same, being stuck in traffic at the time.
The verdict on Singapore has to be that it was better than Valencia. It took a safety car to really mix up the field but, once that had occurred we saw overtaking where none was deemed possible. It was difficult, as demonstrated by Fisichella and Trulli holding up faster cars for long periods, but opportunities came to the patient. Add the unusual finishing order, the spectacle of F1's first night race, and we have no cause for complaint, I think.