Track Torque: Spotlight on Singapore

IT’S time to go under lights for the night-time Singaporean Grand Prix this weekend … but before the preview, here is some news off the net.

Exciting news for McLaren is that Peter Prodromou has left Red Bull to join McLaren as team engineer from this race onwards. He was Adrian Newey’s right-hand man and is a big find for McLaren. He will bring with him a wealth of information and expertise. McLaren have high hopes of continuing with dramatic improvements to their MP4 29 car for the rest of this year and a big leap next season.

Other news is that FIA is doing its best to ban coded messages over the radio. How they will really be able to enforce this is anyone’s guess because they can give a normal order to a driver which might mean the opposite.

The best news of all is that Michael Schumacher has improved enough to be sent home to recuperate. His wife Corinna has built a fully equipped clinic at their house in Gland on the shores of Lake Geneva, midway between Geneva and Lausanne and we can only hope that he continues to make good progress over the coming months and years.

Singapore’s Marina Bay Circuit has some 23 corners, plus short straights and is anti-clockwise, which places negative strain on the drivers necks, instead of the normal clockwise direction. The track has a capacity for 110 000 spectators and the current lap record is held by Kimi Raikkonen, since the 3-l formula of 2008.

Last year it was won by Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull and don’t be surprised if he or teammate Daniel Ricciardo is able to pull off a win this time around. The Red Bulls are getting better and the Marina Bay Circuit doesn’t depend on outright power, as has been the case recently on the very fast tracks.

For this reason, Lotus must also must be expected to do better after a very poor showing so far this year. It will be up to Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado to make a really big effort this weekend to put the famous team back on the map.

The Mercedes barrage must, however, still remain favourites, and the smart money is still with Lewis Hamilton for a win with Nico Rosberg all over him trying to do the same in the Silver Arrows pairing.

As I said last week Valtteri Bottas has extended his contract with Williams and the flying Fin, who has taken the mantle away from Raikkonen, could surprise us with a second place or even a win. If Felipe Massa is on form, he will also be right up there in the other Williams as they both have a very competitive car now.

Force India Mercedes, with drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, have also got a chance of being up in the top six or better, even a possible podium.

The biggest surprise, however, might come from an ever improving McLaren team with both Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen pushing each other harder than ever. Button is very good on a tight circuit like this and we all know he will also manage his tyres well, so we can expect a high placing from him.

Ferrari, have come in for big stick since the Italian Grand Prix and really have something to prove in Singapore. They have two of the best drivers in the world in Fernando Alonso and Raikkonen and might just be the joker in the pack this time around.

All in all, we should be in for a very exciting and brightly lit race this Sunday!

Race time is at 2pm on Sunday and qualifying is on Saturday at 3pm, or 4pm, subject to confirmation.