The saga continues.

According to autosport.com, Red Bull now thinks that static from the MRT caused Webber’s gearbox to malfunction, causing him to lose the race. Team principal Christian Horner was quoted as saying:

It was exactly what [Toro Rosso] suffered from with (Sebastien) Bourdais in Friday practice, at exactly the same place. A tram line runs beneath the track at that corner and it seems as if static from a passing tram at the very moment Mark was in the corner passed through the ground.

SMRT has rebutted this claim by saying:

1. There is no train passing under Turn 13 where the incident occurred.
2. The nearest train was 200 meters away.
3. The train was at a depth of 10 meters.
4. Train wheels and rails are made of metal and thus don’t generate static electricity during operation.

Time for a quick science lesson for Mr. Horner:

Every atom and molecule in everything around us are electrically balanced, meaning they have the same number of positive and negative charges, or if you prefer, protons and electrons.  Some matter hold on to their electrons better than others and the order of their charge separation is reflected in their position on the Triboelectric Series. Human hands are highly positive and metals like steel carry virtually no charge.

When two non-conducting materials come together, a chemical bond known as adhesion happens and depending on the triboelectric properties of the material, one matter might capture some of the loose electrons of the other – causing a charge to build up.  When this happens, an imbalance occurs.  Nature hates imbalances so upon contact with something uncharged, it’ll discharge and restore itself.  

So for static electricity to build up, one needs to be positively charged and one needs to be negatively or not charged.  Rubbing your hands together will not produce static electricity.  Steel against steel will not produce static electricity.  

Back to topic, even if there was static electricity at Turn 13, I doubt any would have traveled into the race car and screw up the gearbox because the rubber tyres would have conducted that.  

In conclusion, I don’t think it’s scientifically possible for a Train to produce static electricity.  Even if by some unexplained possibility that it did, it couldn’t have gone through 10 meters of tar and road 200 meters away and managed to discharge onto a vehicle with rubber tyres.

Good try Mr Horner.  If you’re so sure it’s the static, then open up your gear box and show the damage.  Prove what you said had actually happened and maybe I might believe you. 

I wonder who’s the next losing team that will point fingers at Singapore again.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo criticized Singapore’s inaugural night race after Massa and Raikkonen’s failed to take any top 3 spots.  He was quoted as saying:

Unfortunately when we race on tracks where staging a circus or something else would be better, anything can happen, because the spectacle is supplied by the safety car.

I thought I’ve seen sore losers, but this one takes the cake.

According to Wikipedia, this guy has a net worth of 400 million dollars, comes from an aristocratic family, has a law degree and is the vice-president of a football club.  But he still whines like a little 8 year-old kid who didn’t get to ride first or second on the playground see saw.  

I’m not remotely patriotic, but I didn’t think we deserved a comment like that, especially from someone of his stature.  Mr Ferrari President also said that street circuits like Singapore and Valencia were bad for the sport and he wants to “talk about this with all the other teams”, and he even went as far as saying the race was “humiliating for F1″.

What Mr Whine-alot failed to recognize is all the effort and money our little island state spent on making the F1 happen (and not to mention the obscene amounts of money that went to F1 and the teams).  According to LTA, a total of $23.8 million was spent on the infrastructure, and all the works were approved by the FIA three months before the race. So what is Mr. Crybaby complaining about?

We know he had previously bitched about the FIA for a tyre fiasco in 2005, instead of blaming Michelin.

Maybe because Michelin had business dealings with Ferrari?

Before this, I thought what’s uniquely Singapore is the ability of our people to complain about everything.  I believe we met our match.  I think “Staging a circus” are very strong words which in my opinion is totally uncalled for.

If Singapore was trying to stage a circus, then he and his pit clowns should be wearing red noses when they return next year after the screw up when Massa was in the pit.  

Mr President, If your team fucked up then don’t blame the track lah.  

With this loss, Ferrari is now behind McLaren in the Constructor’s standings.  Will Ferrari end up as the whining winning team at the end of the season?

Boo hoo.