Formula One Supporters Club: Singapore Formula One Grand Prix Weekend

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Formula One Supporters Club

This weekend sees the unfolding of the Singapore Grand Prix. This street circuit located in the Marina Bay area hosted it's first GP in 2008.

Here are some interesting facts about the circuit:

Circuit Name: Marina Bay Street Circuit
First Grand Prix: 2008
Number of Laps: 61
Circuit Length: 5.065 km
Race Distance: 308.828 km

Lap Record: 1:45.599 - K Raikkonen (2008)

2012 Top 10 results:

2012 Singapore Grand Prix - Formula One World Championship

September 23rd - Marina Bay Street Circuit

Number of Laps: 61

Race Distance: 192 miles [308.994 km]

Leader board - Final		Points	Time/Lag	Avg. mph

1	Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull	25	2:00:26.144	149.043

2	Jenson Button - McLaren	18	+8.959 Sec	148.859

3	Fernando Alonso - Ferrari	15	+15.227 Sec	148.73

4	Paul di Resta - Force India	12	+19.063 Sec	148.651

5	Nico Rosberg - Mercedes	10	+34.784 Sec	148.329

6	Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus	8	+35.759 Sec	148.309

7	Romain Grosjean - Lotus	6	+36.698 Sec	148.29

8	Felipe Massa - Ferrari	4	+42.829 Sec	148.165

9	Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso	2	+45.820 Sec	148.104

10	Sergio Perez - Sauber	1	+50.619 Sec	148.007

Did you know.....

The Marina Bay Street Circuit covers an area of 799,000 square meters the equivalent of 112 full-size football pitches?

• The Singapore Grand Prix has been run five times previously, all at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The inaugural event in 2008 was the first F1 race to be run at night under floodlights and was won, somewhat controversially, by Renault’s Fernando Alonso.

• The infrastructure required to hold a race on Singapore’s streets is considerable: over 10 kilometers of debris fencing is used, as well as around 2,600 concrete barriers, over 1,600 TecPro barriers and around 1,500 lights to illuminate the circuit.

• The Marina Bay Street Circuit has 23 corners - the most of any circuit on the calendar.

• The safety car has been deployed at least once in every Singapore Grand Prix to date. There have been eight deployments in total over the five previous Marina Bay races.

• The pit lane delta time in Singapore (the time it takes a driver to enter the pits, make a stop and return to the track) is the highest of the season.

•The two leading contenders in this year’s world championship - Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel - have each won the Singapore Grand Prix twice. Lewis Hamilton is the only other driver have won the race and you can read how he did it here.

• In fact, Alonso has only failed to reach the podium once in five appearances in Singapore - that was in 2011 when he finished fourth.

• Red Bull are the only team to have won the Singapore Grand Prix more than once. Renault, McLaren and Ferrari all have one win.

• Mercedes have yet to make the podium after their three previous races at the circuit.

• Nearly two-thirds of the 303 laps that have taken place in Singapore Grand Prix history have been led by either Vettel (98 laps) or Alonso (93 laps).

• The lap record in Singapore was set by Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari in 2008 and stands at 1m 45.599s. Turn 10 has been modified from a chicane to a single corner ahead of this year’s race so we’ll see a new lap record.

• In terms of average lap time, only Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium takes longer for an F1 car to lap than Marina Bay.

• No Singapore national has ever started a world championship Grand Prix.

• The furthest back on the grid any Singapore Grand Prix winner has started is 15th. That was Renault’s Fernando Alonso at the inaugural event in 2008, although his achievement was subsequently overshadowed when it was discovered that team bosses had asked Alonso’s team mate Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash to bring out the safety car at a convenient moment. Still, only seven drivers have won a Grand Prix from further back on the grid…

• Alonso is the only driver to have scored a grand chelem (pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap) in a race at Marina Bay. He did it in 2010 in a Ferrari. It remains the only time in his F1 career that the Spaniard has achieved the feat.

• In the five races at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the pole-sitter has been victorious three times (2009, 2010, 2011).

• According to Mercedes, the drivers are on full throttle for 48 percent of the lap distance. The longest time at full throttle is nine seconds. Drivers make an average of 80 gear changes per lap, which equates to 4,880 gear changes over the 61-lap race.

• Each car’s starting fuel load in Singapore is generally higher than at any other Grand Prix because of the nature of the circuit and duration of the race.

• The heat and humidity in Singapore is so high that drivers can lose up to 3kg of fluid during the race. That, combined with the circuit’s bumpy surface and multiple turns, makes the race one of the most physically demanding of the year for the drivers.

• A small number of milestones have been recorded at the Singapore Grand Prix:

- Two drivers have recorded significant race-start milestones in Singapore: Jenson Button celebrated his 150th race start at the night race in 2008, whilst Michael Schumacher recorded his 300th race start there in 2012.

• And finally, Ferrari edged ever closer to McLaren’s 64-race point-scoring record at Monza by recording their 60th consecutive race with at least one car in the top ten. Will they get closer again in Singapore?

A few Pics.....