Description
Lights out – round 14 at night in Singapore
In the week where Lucas Di Grassi won the inaugural Formula E – all electric – E Grand Prix on a street circuit in Beijing, its older brother Formula One takes to the streets of Singapore for the fourteenth round of a tense and fascinating Championship.
Lewis Hamilton closed the gap on title hopeful and team-mate Nico Rosberg to 22 points following his win last week in Italy. With six rounds left there is all to play for and the Englishman will again be looking to capitalise on what would appear to be a psychological advantage following his win in Monza.
As Formula One announces a new look Championship calendar for 2015, with Mexico joining the ranks of 20 races, the F1 circus visits the home of its first night race round on the streets of the island nation. Practice for the race that is characterised by its humidity and the fact that the teams try as much as possible to keep to a European time-zone despite racing at night, starts at 18.00 (Bahrain 13.00) on Friday with the race on Sunday at 20.00 (Bahrain 15.00).
Yallabahrain and the lens men at Sutton Images will keep you posted on developments as they occur in what is bound to be a tight and tense event.
Day One – Hamilton fastest
Lewis Hamilton is determined to close the gap on Championship leader and team-mate Nico Rosberg this weekend around the streets of Singapore. The Englishman got just the start he wanted by posting the fastest time at the end of Friday’s second practice session in front of the stunning city-scape that illuminates Singapore’s Marina Bay waterfront circuit.
Rosberg failed to set a representative time on the super-soft fast tyre as the session was curtailed by a big accident involving the Lotus of Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. The German ended up in 13th place but is certain to be quick in tomorrow morning’s practice prior to qualifying.
Second under the lights was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Much attention centers on Alonso this weekend with talk of his departure from Ferrari. The Italian team is going through some seismic changes with the departure of Chairman Luca Di Montezemolo announced during the course of last week. Second place will therefore be a welcome boost to the team and the Spaniard as it will for Kimi Raikkonen who holds fourth just behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel is fifth, Magnussen sixth, Button seventh and Perez eighth. Where are the Williams twins one may ask? Down in a lowly seventeenth and eighteenth place and no doubt hoping for a performance improvement on Saturday.
Hamilton on pole under the lights in Singapore by the smallest of margins – 0.007 seconds
Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole position for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix after an intense and thrilling qualifying session under the lights of the Marina Bay track this evening. Hamilton, looking to pile pressure on his championship leading team mate Nico Rosberg as the two go head-to-head in the final six races of the season, snatched pole by a margin of 0.007 seconds in the dying seconds of the session to bump Rosberg into second with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo third.
Tomorrow’s race around the streets of Singapore is shaping up to be a real classic with Red Bull making serious in-roads into the pace of the Mercedes. Ricciardo and his team mate Sebastian Vettel will start third and fourth and will have the performance to push the two Mercedes drivers for overall race honours.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will start fifth and his Prancing Horse Kimi Raikkonen seventh after a much improved few days in which the team and the Spaniard have been the centre of much speculation. The Williams of Felipe Massa splits the Ferraris in sixth with Bottas eighth, Magnussen ninth and Kvyat tenth. Jenson Button is eleventh.
The race starts at 15.00 local time in Bahrain – 20,00 in Singapore. Make sure you find a place to watch. This has the ingredients of being a spectacular race!
Yallabahrain will bring you the results of the Singapore Grand Prix along with trackside images from our friends at Sutton Images.