Singapore
may no longer be the only night race on the F1 calendar, but it will always be
the first. You have to all the way back
to 2008 for the first appearance of the Marina Bay Street circuit.
The
first edition of this race in Southeast Asia lives in Formula 1 infamy as one
of the most controversial in the history of the sport. It was here that then
Renault management ordered Nelson Piquet Jr to deliberately crash on the
Anderson bridge.
Without a safe way to evacuate the crashed car the safety car
had to be deployed and Fernando Alonso would inherit the lead and ultimately
win the race. It resulted in a life-long ban for Flavio Briatore who,
co-incidentally, has remained as Alonso’s manger, to date.
Since
then there’s been some memorable races around what is likely the most physical
challenging track on the calendar. Not least of all, is the 2019 edition stands
as the last race win of Seb Vettel’s career which took his tally to five wins
in Singapore.
It’s
a quite a feat around this circuit too. The Singapore circuit has the one of
the slowest average lap speeds on the calendar and has often hit the two-hour
race limit before it’s reached the allotted 62 laps. Bumpy by nature, the track
has a total of twenty-three turns and little to no runoff areas.
The hot and
humid weather conditions also make it one of the most physically demanding of
the year and pushes drivers to the edge of their endurance.
Runaway
championship leader Max Verstappen starts the weekend as favourite for the race
win. But it was teammate Checo Perez that won in spectacular fashion here in
2022. As a high-downforce circuit Mercedes should also do well in Singapore.
And given McLaren’s recent uptick in form they may well be in the fight for
final podium spot too.
Although
Verstappen is in the championship lead, he is likely the most relaxed driver on
the grid. After all, he can afford to miss the next five races and the sprint
races in Qatar and Austin, roughly twenty-three percent of the season, and
still win the championship.
But there is unlikely to be any relent in the
juggernaut that has already racked up 10 consecutive wins.
