Singapore was a highly anticipated event, and everyone was looking forward to seeing how F1 racing would look at night time, and seeing how big the challenge of the track would be.
People were expecting Valencia to be a great track, but it ended up being rather disappointing. The track lacked character, it was too forgiving to driver errors, and overall it was just bland and didn’t produce a great race.
So the pressure was on Singapore to prove it wouldn’t end up going down the same route as Valencia.
Was Singapore a success?
Overall, I thought Singapore’s first weekend was a great success. It beat my expectations by a big margin.
Unlike Valencia, this was a proper street circuit. There were bumps all over the track. The barriers were dangerously close to the track in places, plus there were lots of slow 90-degree corners. These are all the characteristics you expect to find at a street track.
It was great to see drivers being punished for small errors and seeing the amount of work they had to put in over the whole lap. Just like at Monaco, the lap is very busy and there isn’t one moment where the drivers can have a rest.
Add in the heat and the increased length of this race, and the drivers had a huge physical challenge on their hands. At most street tracks, overtaking is very tough, and this was expected to be the same at Singapore.
Instead, we saw a lot of moves going into turn 7 and into turn 1, which was another bonus.
The night racing added to the spectacle, although it didn’t really change the race other than the drivers wearing different visors and having to change their eating and sleeping patterns.
For us at home, the night setting made the cars look shiny and spectacular, and for the first time in a while, we saw sparks coming off the cars. It was almost like a fireworks display.
The other thing to note spectacle wise was being able to see the drivers' faces through the clear visor. You could see the amount of sheer concentration in their eyes.
2 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Saraswathi Siriginia 9 months ago
Great job as always DC
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Daniel Chalmers 9 months ago
Cheers Sara, I haven't been around for a while as I have been on jury duty which really shook me.
It's great to be back on form writing articles again.
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