F1 | SINGAPORE GP, GIAN CARLO MINARDI: “EVERY POINT STARTS TO COUNT”

After Sepang, the Formula 1 World Championship stays in Asia and moves to Singapore where the Sprint Race is also scheduled for this weekend. This situation is completely different from Malaysia: Marina Bay is a very demanding street circuit characterized by many corners, braking points and acceleration zones, with the barriers very close to the track and limited opportunities for overtaking. The changes introduced in 2023 made the third section faster, but Singapore is still one of the most demanding races for the drivers.

The Sprint format will make all this even more complicated. In fact, the teams will have only one session of free practice before the real action begins, with the Sprint qualifying and race taking place between Friday and Saturday. It will therefore be crucial to quickly find the right set-up of the car, without having much time to make adjustments.

Even the tyres will be interesting, Pirelli will bring the C3, C4 and C5 compounds, Hard, Medium and Soft respectively. Marina Bay is medium to high level of roughness for a street circuit and a marked change of the levels of the grip over the course of the weekend. Add to this the chance of intermittent rain, typical of the equatorial climate, which could quickly alter the conditions of the track.

Wear of the tyres should not be particularly high, and a one-stop strategy remains the benchmark. In any case, this year the Softs could play an even more important role in the race itself, thanks to its performance in recent races and the capacity of the current racing cars to make better use of the softest compound. It will therefore be interesting to see how the teams will interpret this factor, especially over a weekend in which the Sprint Race will provide further insight on the behaviour of the cars.

Kimi will need to carry on racing as he has done so far, without letting his lead affect him. At Sepang, he handled a difficult race very well and he took home a second place which, in light of Russell’s retirement, has taken on even greater significance.

For George, however, Singapore is his first chance to bounce back. The retirement in Malaysia came at the worst possible time, after having narrowed the gap from his teammate in Baku. Now he must try to make the most of a circuit on which precision, speed and skill at handling pressure can make all the difference, even though he will be hampered by the replacement of the power unit.

It will also be interesting to see if Red Bull and Verstappen will be able to continue the form shown at Sepang on a completely different circuit. The win in Malaysia confirmed the competitiveness of the team, but Singapore will present a different testing ground.

For Ferrari, after Hamilton’s third place and Leclerc’s fourth place at Sepang, and for McLaren that comes off a weekend that fell short of expectations, it will instead be important to see to what extent the street circuit could shake up the pecking order once again.

Singapore will therefore be a particularly interesting round: there is little time to find the right set-up, a Sprint Race which will already award points as early as Saturday and technical characteristics that are very different from those in Sepang. Following a Grand Prix that further extended Antonelli’s lead, the championship would give us new insights on the Title race.

Gian Carlo Minardi