New Changes In Track Layout of Marina Bay Street Circuit | Singapore Grand Prix
Every year we see changes in Formula 1 whether it be in car regulations, designs, tyre compounds & allocations, or in the track layout of the circuits to make races more entertaining, dramatic, thrilling & exciting for fans & drivers as well.
This year we saw changes in the Barcelona circuit, Spain GP in which the few penultimate corners of the track were removed by the management of Spain GP and converted into high-speed corners that increased the speed of the cars and provided more opportunity for drivers to overtake their opponents.
Due to this change, the Lap times dramatically become quicker as compared to the previous year's best lap times.
However, as the lap times became quicker than before, each driver tried his best to use this new change to his advantage but saying this was easier than getting it done, as most of the drivers faced difficulty in tackling those high-speed corners and faced several lock-ups, crashes & a trip to the gravel.
However, this little change made a big impact on breaks, engines, car balance & tyer management due to which strategies are also adapted accordingly to this change in the layout to ensure their success in the race.
Also, we fans enjoyed these changes well because we were able to see more overtakes and cars moving blast past in front of our eyes roaring their engines which made the Spain GP interesting.
Therefore, considering these impacts on cars & entertainment factors Singapore GP management decided to change their track layout again.
Yes, again, Singapore GP was first inaugurated in 2008 and since then, a lot of changes have been made to this track, in which they removed or reprofiled some parts of the track according to the size of cars.
However, this year's track layout change is interesting & exciting as the section between Turns 16 and 19 of the 2022 layout will now become one long 397.9m straight, reducing the total number of corners from 23 to 19.
This also reduced the circuit length from 5.063km to 4.928km, with the number of laps in the Grand Prix likely increased from 61 to 63. Therefore, these new changes will put more stress on different elements of the car like cooling, brakes & car balance which will be an important factor this weekend.
Also, if we talk about lap times then according to the simulations based on a 2020 Formula 1 car, the race promoters estimate the new best qualifying lap time will be around 1m 27.7s — that compares with Charles Leclerc’s pole of 1m 36.217s in 2019, the last time the venue staged a dry qualifying session.
So, let's hope for the dry venue this weekend so that we can see if drivers can surpass those theoretical times or not.
Also, do you know who has the fastest lap record in Marina Bay Street Circuit, if not then no worries let me tell you about it…
Back in the 2018 Singapore GP, it was qualifying day and everyone was on their last flying lap to seal the pole position. As everyone crossed the line only one man was left to cross the checkered flag who struggled in his previous flying laps and had no option other than to give everything he had.
That man was none other than “Lewis Hamilton” who then pulled a mighty lap with a lap time of 1 min & 35 sec making a record of the fastest lap time in the Marina Bay Street circuit.
Watch this video;
And since then no one has been able to break that record, however, with these new changes we will see a dramatic change in lap times like we saw in Barcelona GP.
Here is the lap time comparison between the 2022 layout & 2023 layout of the Singapore GP
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While you are at it check out the following stories, if you are completely new to the Formula 1 world or if you are curious to more about the World of Formula 1;
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