Singapore GP Preview

After the Silver Arrows dominated the Italian Grand Prix at Ferrari’s spiritual home, the historic Autodromo Nazionale Monza which saw Lewis Hamilton claim his sixth victory of the season and the championship lead, round 14 of the 2017 FIA Formula 1 World Championship returns to the streets of Marina Bay in Singapore under the lights for the 2017 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix. This will be the tenth running of the Singapore Grand Prix as part of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

A look at the Marina Bay Street Circuit

The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a street circuit around Singapore’s Marina Bay in a harbour-side similar in style to the Circuit de Monaco (Monaco Grand Prix). The circuit is designed by KBR.inc, a modification of the original one first proposed by Hermann Tilke.

It is a twisty circuit that is the slowest in Formula 1 running at normal race distance above 305 kilometres (190 miles) which features walls leading to frequent safety cars, regularly nudging the race distance above two hours. The bumpiness, heavy braking zones, lack of daylight and humidity makes the 61-lap race very demanding for both man and machine. It has some 90-degree turns, but is pretty variable, featuring technical sections and quick direction changes. Overtaking is mostly done at the end of the first sector, where top speeds are at their highest. Runoff areas exist at the end of the long straights, but are very short by Formula 1 standards. At most parts of the circuit, cars run very close to the walls.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit has undergone a couple of changes since being part of the Formula 1 Calendar since 2008 including a slight re-profiling of the circuit in 2009 where turns 1, 2 and 3 were modified to aid overtaking and also turn 10 (formerly Singapore Sling) where high kerbs caused many accidents. In 2013, a configuration change of the “Singapore Sling” turn 10 with a single apex left hand bend which has seen corner entry speeds up to 40km/h faster. This year it has undergone minor changes ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the modifications run from turn 11 to 13; drivers will still turn right at turn 11 but it will now kink to the left slightly on entry with the track shifting to the left-hand side of Fullerton Road. This will change the profile of turn 12, as drivers will now use the other side of Anderson Bridge while the turn 13 hairpin has been widened by a metre to increase overtaking opportunities.

While in Monza the cars ran in a low downforce configuration, Singapore requires a high downforce configuration. The cars run at 46% full throttle over a lap and the circuit is one the least fuel-efficient races of the year due to its stop-start nature. Marina Bay is also very tough on brakes, with about a quarter of the lap spent braking and while wear is not a major difficulty, problems are caused by the temperatures the brakes reach due to a lack of opportunities for cooling. After the power and speed circuits of Spa and Monza, Singapore will require different attributes which could pay in the favour of both Ferrari and Red Bull and bring them a lot closer to Mercedes.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit is 5.063km (3.147mi) in length with 23 corners and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.

Race distance is 308.828km (191.897mi) in length with 61 laps in total.

Daniel Ricciardo holds the fastest lap record with a 1:47.187 set at last year’s event in his Red Bull Racing Tag-Heuer RB12.

Sebastian Vettel holds the record for most victories at the Singapore Grand Prix with four.

Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing are the most successful constructors at the Singapore Grand Prix with three victories each.

The Last Five Winners

2016: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2014: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2013: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing. 2012: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing.

Tyres

Pirelli will be bringing with them the softest compounds in its range; the purple-branded P Zero Ultra-Soft, the red-marked P Zero Super Soft tyre and the yellow-branded P Zero Soft tyre along with the green marked Intermediate and blue branded full wet tyre in case of rain.

13 drivers have opted for an aggressive strategy, selecting ten sets of the softest tyre available while the Mercedes duo were among the seven who went a bit more conservative with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas choosing nine sets of the ultras.

Haas F1 Team pairing Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were the most conservative opting for four sets of the super-softs and eight sets of ultras.

DRS Zones

As in 2016, there will be two DRS Zones. The first detection zone will be 230 metres before turn five and the first activation point will be 50 metres after the same corner. The second detection zone will be 80 metres before the apex of turn 22 and the second activation point will be 45 metres after the apex of turn 23.

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speed limits will be 60km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

The Situation

Lewis Hamilton returns to the streets of Marina Bay sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 238 points and just three clear of title rival Sebastian Vettel who is second on 235 points while Valtteri Bottas is third on 197 points and a further 41 behind the Briton.

Mercedes returns to Singapore sitting on top of the Constructors Championship with 435 points and a 62-point advantage over nearest rival Ferrari who are second on 373 points and Red Bull Racing is a further 223 points behind the Silver Arrows in third on 212 points.

2017 World Drivers Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 238 Points
2. Sebastian Vettel – 235 Points
3. Valtteri Bottas – 197 Points
4. Daniel Ricciardo – 144 Points
5. Kimi Räikkönen – 138 Points
6. Max Verstappen – 68 Points
7. Sergio Pérez – 58 Points
8. Esteban Ocon – 55 Points
9. Carlos Sainz – 36 Points
10. Nico Hulkenberg – 34 Points

2017 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG F1 – 435 Points
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 373 Points
3. Red Bull Racing – 212 Points
4. Force India F1 Team – 113 Points
5. Williams Martini Racing – 55 Points
6. Scuderia Toro Rosso – 40 Points
7. Haas F1 Team – 35 Points
8. Renault Sport F1 – 34 Points
9. McLaren-Honda F1 – 11 Points
10. Sauber F1 Team – 5 Points

The 2017 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix weekend kicks off into action tomorrow with Free Practice 1 and 2, Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday September 16 and the 61-lap Singapore Grand Prix Sunday September 17.

Written by Michael Terminello