Being F1’s only night race, the Singapore Grand Prix has a completely different ambience to other day time races. The start time forces the F1 paddock to live a nocturnal lifestyle for the weekend, starting work in the afternoon and finishing in the early hours of the following morning.
Visibility is only made possible by the 1,500 halogen lamps that line one side of the circuit, providing the drivers with a light reading of 3,000 lux. Some even wear tinted visors to reduce the glare.
The track is unusually wide for a street circuit, resulting in a couple of genuine overtaking places. It’s worth noting that this is the longest grand prix of the year; the race comes in close to the two-hour time limit, which, when combined with the heat and humidity of the Tropics, makes this one of the most gruelling races of the year.
The street circuit weaves through the Marina Bay area of the city in an anti-clockwise direction. Similar to Monaco in its layout, the 5.067km lap of Singapore is dominated by slow speed corners and has only a handful of higher speed connecting stretches.
Over and above the clear demands provided by a night race, Singapore’s creative layout brings its own challenge in that four fifths of the track take in the city’s streets, while the remaining one fifth has been built specifically for the Grand Prix. The combination of cambers and bumps characteristic of a street track and the smooth asphalt of a designated racing circuit can therefore complicate set-up direction over the weekend. With the region notoriously humid, rain is often expected most evenings which further exaggerates the set-up conundrum.