A first look at the Singapore GP track ahead of this weekend’s race has highlighted the changes made since 2022.
From the run off theEsplanade Bridge, drivers will turn right as normal.
However, rather than being then faced with The Float complex, which wound its way around a grandstand before ducking underneath, they’ll blast down Raffles Avenue to the final chicane unhindered.
The track changes are a result of construction work beginning on The Float @ Marina Bay, delays of which mean the revised layout will be in place until at least 2027.
In the interim, the circuit now boasts another highspeed blast into a comparatively heavy braking zone.
It’s a change that Mercedes engineers predict will help protect the tyres, and potentially mean drivers will have to manage them less over the course of a lap.
“It certainly changes the flavour of that final sector,” Riccardo Musconi, Mercedes’ head of trackside performance, explained.
“In previous years, we’ve been getting towards the end of the lap just trying to survive. The final six corners really took the tyres to the edge so in the final turns, you were really fighting oversteer.
“The new straight into what is now turn 16 will give the tyres a bit more of a rest,” he added.
“That means we should arrive there in a slightly better place and stand a better chance of keeping a better balance with the car.”
There are cooling implications for the car too, with fewer braking events and greater opportunities for airflow to ease that burden.
Drivers too are expected to have it marginally easier with four fewer corners, and another opportunity for a brief respite on a busy lap in hot conditions.
Nonetheless, the Singapore GP is expected to last close to the full two hours allotted for the race come Sunday, even with the revised layout.
Discussion about this post