welcome to the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix preview tread
race start 27 september 2009. 20:00 SST (local)



The 2009 Singapore Grand Prix (formally the 2009 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix) will be the fourteenth race of the 2009 Formula One season. It will be the second Singapore Grand Prix to be part of a Formula One Championship and the second Formula One race to be held at night. It is to be held on 27 September 2009 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the Marina Bay area.

Fernando Alonso of Renault is the only previous winner of the race but recent controversy has surrounded the race. Last year's pole sitter Felipe Massa will sit out the race with injuries sustained in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The previous street circuit races this year were won by Brawn GP with Jenson Button taking the chequered flag in Monaco and Rubens Barrichello victorious in Valencia.

Button leads the Championship by 14 points from team-mate Barrichello. Sebastian Vettel lies 12 points behind the Brawns and is their closest challenger. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari is looking for a 5th podium in a row having scored ¾ of his 40 points this season in the last 4 races.
Brawn lead the Constructors' Championship on 146 points, whilst Red Bull are 40.5 behind on 105½. Ferrari and McLaren are 3rd and 4th respectively.

The inaugral F1 Rocks concerts will be held in Singapore. Headlining acts include Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas, ZZ Top, Simple Minds, N*E*R*D, No Doubt, Jacky Cheung and A*Mei which takes place September 24th through 26th nightly at Fort Canning Park.
Other SingaporeGP Season events include the Fuel Festival headlining Underworld Live, Will.i.am, New Order, Bloc Party, Guru Josh, and Johnny Vicious which takes place September 24th at Suntec Convention Centre as well as September 25th through 27th nightly at the National Museum of Singapore. Singapore GP itself is offering a showcase featuring Backstreet Boys, Travis, Carl Cox, and John Digweed on the 25th through 27th nightly throughout the track side areas.wiki

Circuit
Singapore’s all new street circuit weaves through the Marina Bay area of the city in an anti-clockwise direction. Similar to Monaco in its layout, the 5.067km lap of Singapore is dominated by slow speed corners (24 in total, 14 left and 10 right) and has only a handful of higher speed connecting stretches, the highest of which being Raffles Boulevard on which the drivers reach 190mph. Despite so many braking events, the average lap speed is around the 110mph mark with 50% of the lap spent at full throttle.

Over and above the clear demands provided by a night race, Singapore’s creative layout brings its own challenge in that four fifths of the track take in the city’s streets, while the remaining one fifth has been built specifically for the Grand Prix. The combination of cambers and bumps characteristic of a street track and the smooth asphalt of a designated racing circuit can therefore complicate set-up direction over the weekend. With the region notoriously humid, rain is often expected most evenings which further exaggerates the set-up conundrum. source williamsF1

Location (Google maps+Quickmaps)


Circuit data
Length: 5.067km* (3.148 miles)
Race distance: 61 laps (308.95km)
Track width: 10-15km
*Start and finish lines are not in the same place.

Full throttle: 44%
Top speed: 297kph
Longest flat-out section: 9s / 650m
Right/left-hand corner: 9/14

Tyre wear: medium
Brake wear: very high
Downforce level: very high
Gear changes per lap: 40

Source: BMW 2008

2008 tyres: Soft (prime, no stripe), Super-soft (option, stripe)
2009 tyres:



Weather forecast

BBC



Championship Standings







Earlier previews:
Italian GP Preview
Belgian GP preview
European GP preview
Hungarian GP preview
German GP preview
British GP preview
Turkish GP preview

edit: changed massa for liuzzi. (no votes we're casted on massa yet)

McLaren has some great mechanical grip, so I think it is going to be fight between Lewis and Brawn.

It'll be Hamilton against the Brawns again. But this time the front runners should all be on similar strategies. I really don't expect anything from Red Bull.

I vote Rubens.
BTW SingTel?
As in Nelsons sings, Symonds tells?

Have they altered the first complex?

Not that I know of, why do you ask this?

http://www.flagworld.com/news/?p=11084

EDIT: More specific -> http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/02/02/pit-...s-at-singapore/

I don't think the track suits them but RBR have a large update due.

If a midfield team base their strategy on a morethan probable SC, that could work for them

As will almost all the teams.

Brawn are certainly set for their final major update.

Mclaren are also set for some updates, BMW are certainly due for some, the big changes they have been waiting for.

Not too sure on the rest, but since it's the first of the final fly-aways its very logical to think all teams will introduce the final big updates here. Especially since Suzuka is only the next weekend.

Hamilton on pole.

Barrychello for the win





Well, that's what happened at Valencia and Monza

IMO Button will win, he is good on street circuits and drove on hell of race here last year, just missing out on the points.

Alonso

Button or Barrichello seem like the best choices.

Williams should get a boost being back at a high downforce circuit, they showed well in Valencia before we went to the lower downforce tracks.

Alonso wins after Grosjean crashes and SC is called.

C'mon, this joke is cheap. Also, I don't think Renault will participate.

Nice OP

Could be quite a few contenders but basing it on the kerbs and the fact that Mac are bringing an update I've gone for Lewis. Nico would be good too, or an RBR. No safety cars please, the jokes would be too painful .

Kimi will be in the mix at this circuit. But yes, McLaren will be strong and it seems Brawn has made another push. But I went with Kimi because he's in the zone right now and pulling 100% out of the package.

Brawn have to be favorites, it will be real hot there so their tires are going to work great.

About the poll, Massa is included, Liuzzi isn't.

The track cools with it being at night and the late afternoon rain, IIRC it was about 27 or so last year. That might be better for Rubens than for Jense.

second

kimi finished on podiums on the street circuits so far this year

27track temperature? what ambient temperature?

I'm going to take a stab at it being Jambo who also voted for Kaz...

Round about 30 I think.

Aww... you're just sore someone else got there first

dont know about track temps but air temp will definitely be hot. possibly maximum cooling.

Once again, Kimi leads the poll battle

I'm gonna go for Barichello. He's in great shape, won two of the three last races. I bet Kimi will be on the podium, though.

some 2008 articles on temeprature
http://www.forumula1.net/2008/f1/f1-news/h...pore-challenge/
“The surface temperature of the track will be very low and normally Formula 1 tyres work best in higher temperatures,” said Howett.

http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/2008/singapore/preview.php
"There is the potential for the temperature to drop, but I suspect it will still be warmer at 21:00 in Singapore than during Friday practice at Monza! We expect the ambient will be around 30 degrees centigrade, the track temperature will cool down for the evening but will still be close to 40 degrees centigrade, unless there is rain. If it rains, there is the unknown of whether there will be a problem with glare or the sparkle of light from droplets of rain that is greater than you would ordinarily get. To manage this potential, we are using coatings for the visors that won’t allow droplets to collect."


actual temperatures:
Singapore GP Singapore, 27th September 2008
Qualifying session Weather: air temperature 29 °C, track temperature 32 °C, partially cloudy

Singapore GP Singapore, 28 settembre 2008
Race Weather: air temperature 29/32 °C, track temperature 29/31° C, overcast

It will be either Rubens or Jenson. Hamilton and Raikonnen will fight out third.

What about fuel consumption?

what can we compare this circuit to? hungry? monaco? valencia?

I put in Sutil, even though it's a far shot, FI came so close twice, I do hope they can pull it off.

Grosjean crash Alonso win.

I don't think Renault will be in Singapore.

well, it has a lot of tight corners

Melbourne?

Button back on top

melbourne is a quicker track with more speedy corners

I think a comparison with Valencia would be the most useful. maybe other circuits are more similar, but car development influence the data too much to be able to draw conclusion from them.



Here the race chart. Red Bull, McLaren and Brawn on the pace. red bull struggling with engines problems and a slowish middle stint from Webber because of tyres (if I remember correctly).

Temperatures will be a lot lower in Singapore, especially track temps. Valencia was in the 45C area, where for Singapore it will be around 30. The red bulls don't convince as of late, they we're supposed to do great at spa but somehow stuffed qualifying and therefore the race. they need a problem free weekend to produce results whereas brawn can turn things around from a bad start. Therefore I believe Brawn will be 1, McLaren 2, Red Bull 3, Ferrari 4. Williams 5.

Looking at the track layout, I think KERS will be very beneficial. However, have already seen how strong Brawn are on street circuits. I still fancy a Brawn to win, but think McLaren and a Ferrari (Kimi) will be up there. RBR, Williams and of course Alonso in the Renault should feature in the top eight in some shape.

IMO, it's more like Hungaroring than anything else.
Lots of slow corner with short bursts of acceleration in between.

Somebody is going to name one corner after Piquet aren't they?

video preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPW81uzbf4

on another note:
anyone found any info on the alleged changes in the first turn(s)?

http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137370.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137367.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137371.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137368.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137358.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137369.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137361.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137363.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137365.jpg
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/137359.jpg

Thanks.
Seems it'll be a more conventional chincane now.

thanks for the images!

Looking at the current poll results, brawn has the most chance of winning (two driver combined 26%)
Red bull only around 6% chance. Faith in webber and vettel has really dropped as of late, did they looses the development race, or did they look good because brawn made mistakes?

Turn 17 maybe ?

I'm hoping Alonso wins

1. Lewis 25.2% - 1:3.75
2. Kimi 20.47% - 1:8
3. Rubens 14.17% - 1:7
4. Jenson 12.60% - 1:7
5. Fernando 7.87% - 1:30
6. Vettel 3.15% - 1:12
7. Jamie 3.15% - 1:500
8. Mark 2.36% - 1:18.5
9. Nico 2.36% - 1:50
10. Kazuki 2.36% - 1:250

comparing the result from the poll with the bookmakers' odds (only top 10)

If you interpret the percentage of people who voted for any particular driver as his chances of winning as percieved on this board, it can be multiplied with the odds to give some kind of number of profit.

1. Jamie 3.15 * 500 = 1575
2. Kazuki 2.36 * 250 = 590
3. Fernando 7.87 * 30 = 236.1
4. Kimi 20.47 * 8 = 163.76
5. Nico 2.36 * 50 = 118
6. Rubens 14.17 * 7 = 99.19
7. Lewis 25.2 * 3.75 = 94.5
8. Jenson 12.6 * 7 = 88.2
9. Mark 2.36 * 18.5 = 43.66
10. Vettel 3.15 * 12 = 37.8

Best to put you money on Jamie!

Disregarding the drivers with smaller chances of winning; Kimi and Fernando bring good value.