2019 Singapore GP - Marina Bay

[Nitrodaze]

Giddy up !


We head east to the night race of the exotic street circuit of Singapore on the back of a double headline wins of Ferrari at Spa Francorchamp and Monza. Marina bay is much like Monaco, an aero track as opposed to the power tracks of Monza and spa. Layed out in a figure of eight shape, it is all about downforce at this track, hence it is weekend that is likely to be about the return to the duel between Mercedes and Redbull. Overtaking is difficult at this track but not impossible and most straights are interupted with odd kinks here and there which punishes cars with poor downforce with loss of overall performance. Ferrari may struggle this weekend but may be there about with a podium finish.

Redbull come into this weekend with their new spec Honda engines, surely with some determination to redress the one that got away from them at the hungaroring. Redbull has typically gone very well at Singapore which has been a bogey track for Mercedes in the past. But the Mercedes W10 has similar aero characteristics as the Redbull which sets us up for a battle royal between the six times constructor world champion and the four time constructor would champion. It is a race that would test Albon in the other Redbull as it would be his first real head to head race with Verstapenn on a track where Verstapenn has excelled in the past.

Verstapenn would be keen to have a clean start off the line and to avoid another Ferrari sandwich on sunday. To have half a chance of that, he has to start on pole position. This would require him to beat Hamilton or Bottas to pole on saturday. Q3 is going to be tense and possibly spectacular as the Redbulls take the fight to Mercedes on one of the few track where they have a good chance to beat Mercedes in a straight fight.



The heat of the tropics makes this race a physically demanding race. And the Amco lined track punishes mistakes with race ending consequences. Singapore has always produced one form of drama or the other. This is the scene of Perez's side swipe into Sirotkin. And there was that spectacular crash of the two Ferraris into the Redbull of Verstapenn. You probably remember the controversial Renault scandal of Alonso's staged win where his teammate Nelson Piquet allegedly crashed to give Alonso the opportunity to win the race.

Vettel and Hamilton are the most successfull drivers to win this race on the current grid with four wins each. Mercedes are the most successful team to win this race with four wins with Ferrari and Redbull sharing 2nd place with three wins each. Hamilton was the last winner of this track. Hamilton holds the fastest ever lap on this track at 1:36.015 in 2018. But Kevin Magnussen holds the fastest race lap record at 1:41.905 in the Haas VF-18 in 2018.

This is a 61 laps race of about 1hr and 45 mins. So get your beers, kettle or coffee makers ready, it is showtime :-) Meanwhile checkout these wonderful grid girls.