The bright lights. The concrete walls. The night sky. Welcome to Singapore; brought to us back in 2008 as Formula One’s first night race. It has given us thrills, spills and controversy right from the very beginning.
The European races are now a distant memory; races are now going to come thick and fast for the Formula One circus as we enter the flyaways for the final third of the season.
So as begin to rack up the air miles with Singapore being our first stop. Here is…
Five Things to Expect From the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix
1. The Weather
In the past few days there has been chatter of a band of haze heading towards the area. As well as this, Singapore can have high temperatures and humidity in the evenings leading to tough conditions for the drivers in the sweltering conditions. Rain is always a threat in this part of world and a surprise shower is never too far away; so far we haven’t had a wet race in Singapore, but there is a first time for everything.
2. Talk About Brakes
61 laps around the Marina Bay area is described by the drivers as the hardest race on the grid. Not only is it tough on the drivers physique, it is tough on the brakes of these Formula One cars. To cool them is difficult due to how little straightline speed there is coupled with hard braking zone around the circuit make it extremely torturous, be sure to notice brake dust pouring from some of the cars as the race unfolds.
3. Horsepower is not so Important
Heading from Monza to Singapore is the biggest change of circuit style you could think of, where Monza is all about how power and low drag, Singapore provides the opposite challenge. High downforce and superb mechanical grip are the key attributes you need to get a good time in here. You’ll see the highest levels of downforce all season, even higher than Monaco.
4. More McLaren-Honda Speculation
In light of Honda’s proposed power unit upgrades from Belgian Grand Prix; it is very clear that whatever they worked on hasn’t worked in terms of power output. Reliability has improved somewhat from their early season form.
Honda, McLaren and even the drivers have said that Spa and Monza were never going to be strong races for them and that Singapore will show off what they’ve been working on. But with a heavy horsepower deficit of supposedly 200+hp, even when the Marina Bay circuit doesn’t overly require it, it’s going to be noticeable. But it’s McLaren-Honda’s last decent chance to try and score big points in an attempt to not finish ninth in the constructors championship. If they did, it would be their worst finish since 1980.
5. Championship Talk
With Nico Rosberg’s power unit going up in smoke at the Italian Grand Prix with only two laps to go; the swing in championship went from 28 to 53 points in Lewis Hamilton’s favour. Lewis could afford to finish to second to Nico for the rest of the seven races and still win by four points.
If the gap stays above 50 points Lewis will take the title at the returning Mexico Grand Prix. But look at what happened at last years Singapore Grand Prix with Nico’s car. A very strange faliure caused the electronics to fail on his car. While all may start to look lost for Nico; he knows that one DNF for Lewis could just swing things in his favour again.
This championship is far from over.
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