Brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald (@adamac39)

Just 0.007 seconds separated the two Mercedes drivers around the 3.1 mile Marina Bay circuit.  In terms of an F1 car, that is around 30cm, showing just how tight this World Championship truly is. Many missed the fact that the Vettel and Alonso qualified even closer together, showing how locked onto the Mercedes pair the world is.

In the end, we were robbed of a close battle at the front between the two drivers due to a Control Electronics problem for Nico, which eventually led to his retirement.  Whatever your stance may be on conspiracies and internal politics at Stuttgart, one thing is for certain.  We have an epic fight for the Championship in these 5 races to come…just as we do in the TJ13 predictor league.

How it stands

Tight at the top with 5 races to go

A top 2 that are separated by just a point, with a very tight chasing pack (the Daniel Ricciardo group of the league) that at present have an outside chance of winning, followed by the rest.  In 5 races it can all change though…just ask Nico Rosberg that

Into contention

A late entry to the party

After the graphic above, it seems appropriate to mention team Aetherym, which now stands in 2^nd position in the league.  With drivers falling into exactly the correct positions an impressive 139 points was earnt.

Also flying

A record…then another…just like buses

Also flying up the league was bigmudd, which scored 142 points to rise 64 places.  It seems there is something about records being broken at Singapore, as was pointed out by much of the media over the weekend.  This result is no different!

Nobody saw it coming

Of course, Rosberg’s retirement stunned many as the Championship was completely shaken up.  The lack of form from the Williams was even more dramatic than had been feared pre-race, although this was accentuated by the safety car timing.  As it happened, many had not expected the McLaren pair to improve upon their previous form this season, so when Magnussen dropped down the order and Button retired it did not mess with many predictions.

Food for thought

A double podium that few would have predicted for Red Bull, but surely even fewer would be brave enough to back them at Suzuka, despite their success there in previous years.  Vettel seems to enjoy this stint of the season, so can he build on his success in Singapore?

Remember when…

In this section there will be a question each week to test your memory from GPs gone by. The idea is not to look it up but see if you can remember it first!

So the exclusive club of Singapore GP winners was not quite ready to accept a new entry just yet (Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel).  Although, Vettel did lead the race for 1 lap – his first of the year!  How many drivers have led a lap this year?

(Answer will be posted in the next Predictor summary)

Last question’s answer

The question was: Lewis Hamilton joined the club of drivers to win the Italian GP with two different teams.  Who was the last driver to do so, in which years and with which teams?

Answer: The answer was Sebastian Vettel, who has won there with Red Bull in 2011 and 2013, as well as with Toro Rosso in 2008.