Brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald.

A race which Darren Heath, one of the premier photographers to F1, describes as his favourite race of the year for the added effects it has on the photography was, in truth, slightly disappointing.  Whilst it provided a decent few laps of racing towards the end it highlighted the perils of racing on a street circuit.  Overtaking is hard, and without the Pirelli tyres that lose performance quicker than Vettel gets out of the DRS window the race would be much duller.  Let’s hope Pirelli remain in the sport for a long time!

So what really happened?

Sebastian Vettel ran off into the distance as 1,600 lights projected the route to the German becoming one race closer to his 4^th WDC.  However, behind him there was a tactical battle that unfolded as 2 former World Champions, and soon to be team mates, fought their way onto the podium.  Even more remarkable given the pain that the Finn had been feeling during the qualifying session just one day previous.

It says a lot about a race though when there is more debate about non-racing events after, than the actual racing itself.  But there again it was fair to get a reprimand for playing in the traffic and my only problem with the booing is doing it on a podium.  I had no problem with people cheering when his car broke down at Silverstone.  If that’s how people wish to express themselves then they are perfectly valid to do so.

The Verdict
This leaves the revised results table looking like this:

Romain Grosjean:  The engine air leak that the Frenchman suffered has typified his season really.  Another case of not being his fault, so Romain must be wondering (quite like Travis) Why does it always rain on me?  He is awarded 4^th position, behind his team mate, even though the team think he could have finished 4^th.  As Dr James Beck spoke about in his race pace analysis, Raikkonen was quicker, so has to be awarded the place ahead of him.

Mark Webber:  It was predicted here on TJ13, that the one (or both) of the RBs would suffer a DNF.  Some questioned why this always seems to happen to the Australian, but any conspiracy theories really are ridiculous.  Some people are just born unlucky.  Webber is awarded 5^th for his afternoons efforts.

Daniel Ricciardo:  Locking up your breaks would be really annoying if you were fighting for a position in a top team for 2014, but luckily for Daniel he’s already got one in the bag.  He took full responsibility for the crash and therefore remains RETIRED in 22^nd position.

Paul Di Resta:  A strange incident of the Scot misjudging turn 7 and clipping his front wing only 5 laps from the end.  It was a huge blow for the FIs as they lost further ground in the fight against McLaren in the WCC.  Furthermore, at a time when he could do with a result (having not scored a point since Silverstone) an error like this he could ill afford.  He remains RETIRED in 21^st position.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton:  The Brit looked off sorts in Singapore, after being out qualified by his team mate he was then firmly outraced as well.  The misery is further compounded by the fact the German was slowed by rubber marbles being lodged in his front wing, so the performance gap between the two would have been even bigger.  A difficult weekend for the Mercedes GP team.

Below, the revised World Drivers’ Championship:

*Those with 0 points will not be ordered

What they would have said

People would have gone into overdrive about the potential that Romain Grosjean is now showing and how he is ready to lead the team next year.  The Swiss-French driver has matured considerably in the last year and deserves his chance to succeed with a consistent car.  Furthermore, he might finally get the priority for upgrades to the car when Kimi leaves.

At least if Webber had finished it would show in the record books how his team mate had wiped the floor with him.  This weekend is surely the best example of why Vettel deserves no.1 status within the team; even if that’s not the Red Bull way of doing things.  There again, if what the ex-Minardi boss claims to be true, that the Vettel was using traction control (and therefore cheating) it would explain the huge gap without being down to pure talent.  Additionally, this would give people even more of a reason to boo – 2 birds with 1 stone.

Quote of the Day

The American actor, director, writer and producer Orson Welles once said, “Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck.”

Paul Di Resta must be questioning why he seems to be getting no luck in getting a better drive, but there again, maybe if smiled once in a while and didn’t argue with his team over the radio then the luck would come to him instead.