Race 2018 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Full Race Replay
Race 2018 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Full Race Replay
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Race Info
Date 16 September 2018
Official name Formula 1 2018 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix
Location Marina Bay Street Circuit
Marina Bay, Singapore
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 5.063 km (3.146 miles)
Distance 61 laps, 308.706 km (191.821 miles)
Formula One Singapore Grand Prix 2018 What to Watch
Lewis Hamilton will be looking for his fourth win in five races as F1 heads to Singapore this weekend.
The reigning champion has a 30-point lead over Sebastian Vettel at the top of the drivers’ championship following victory at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month.
The year’s race marks the 10th anniversary of the first night race in the sovereign city state.
The 2017 Singapore Grand Prix is probably best remembered for the huge shunt at the start of the race, which eliminated both Ferraris and Max Verstappen at the first corner, while Fernando Alonso retired a few laps later as a result of damage sustained in the same incident.
Despite starting from fifth place, Lewis Hamilton was able to grab the lead behind the safety car due to the early incident that occurred on the wet track where the race began. After the first lap, Daniel Ricciardo finished in second place and managed to keep Valtteri Bottas at bay the entire time. Carlos Sainz finished in fourth place, which was his best finish of the race.
Jolyon Palmer of Renault had his highest career finish at this race as well, finishing an outstanding sixth for the team—his sole point total of the year. At the next race, the team said that Sainz would take his place for the rest of the season.
Ahead of this year's race, turns 16 and 17 have been altered, cutting the Marina Bay Formula 1 course by two meters. The turns that Nelson Piquet Jr. purposefully crashed at during the first race in Singapore are the most well-known.
Although last year's race didn't run the entire distance because to the wet conditions and safety car intervals, the race is still planned to go 61 laps despite the reduced track length. The chequered flag was raised three laps ahead of schedule.
Additionally, certain places have been resurfaced, such as turn 1, which may cause uneven drainage and varying grip levels in certain spots of the track in the event of another rainstorm.
For this race, Pirelli has chosen to employ non-consecutive dry compounds, excluding the supersoft tires that were used in Singapore the previous year in favor of the soft, ultrasoft, and hypersoft tires.
As a result, the teams have employed a variety of strategies. With only six sets of the softest choice, Mercedes has adopted what may be the most conservative strategy of any team, although Ferrari appears to favor the pink-striped tire.
Most drivers made several visits into the pitlane due to the wet weather at the beginning of last year's race, but Hamilton and Bottas both gained positions by extending their initial set of inters for nearly 30 laps before moving on to hypers.
Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson each made four pit stops during the race last year, but neither driver was able to earn any points. The majority of the top 10 finishers required two or three pitlane trips.
Although the resurfaced circuit may cause unpredictable tire wear, this year's race may be a two-stop race even in dry conditions due to the softer tires, especially if certain teams find it difficult to keep the hypersoft tires in place.
With heavy rain and thunderstorms predicted for Singapore over the next few days, it appears highly likely that there will be some rain this weekend.
In addition, Saturday and Sunday are expected to see a lot of rain during the day, with the possibility of a downpour during the race. Teams may find it especially challenging to determine the optimal tire and setup choices for their vehicles in the mixed circumstances leading up to Sunday's race.
The most successful driver at this track is Sebastian Vettel, who has won four of the ten races since the track's opening in 2008—three of which were while he was a Red Bull driver. However, Mercedes has recently been the best team in Singapore, taking home three of the last four races.
Since the safety car has appeared at least once at every Singapore Grand Prix thus far, including on the opening lap in the previous two years, it is quite likely that we will see it. With only 12 cars finishing the race last year, this is one of the races that usually sees fewer finishers due to the high likelihood of crashes.
Red Bull has acknowledged that this race represents one of their best chances to win the rest of the 2017 campaign.
Even though Haas has been one of the best midfield players this season, they might regress if their floor is altered for this competition. At the end of the Italian Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean was disqualified from the final results because he had an illegal floor, and the team was protested by Renault. Although they are contesting the disqualification, Haas had stated they would be able to make the required adjustments in time for this race. They might lose performance if the floor was providing them with an edge.
Force India, on the other hand, has already demonstrated a significant improvement in form over the last two races, and they may be one of the teams going forward.
After being able to pay suppliers after a new owner arrived last month, the team anticipates having new parts on the car this weekend. Since Sergio Perez has scored in each of his prior games in Singapore, he will be optimistic about continuing that run.
After it was confirmed earlier this week that Kimi Raikkonen and Charles Leclerc will be switching positions next year, there is little doubt that discussions about the 2019 driver roster will continue this weekend. Toro Rosso revealed the Honda engine partnership during this race last year, so further information may be revealed this weekend.