GreenBkk.com Ferrari F1 | Singapore GP - Roadworks on the street circuit

Singapore GP - Roadworks on the street circuit

Singapore, 24 September - The challenges of the Marina Bay circuit make for an impressively long list: a bumpy surface, barriers close to the track, high temperatures and extreme humidity, an unusual timetable with practice and racing all taking place at night under lights. With any street circuit, drivers want to do as many laps as possible in free practice to gain in confidence when it comes to pushing the cars to their maximum, sometimes millimetres from the barriers. However, today, concerns over kerbs at a couple of corners reduced the length of the first free practice session from 90 to 60 minutes, while some of the kerbing was modified. Later in the session, race officials stopped the session to have another look at the situation and there were further interruptions as the slippery track surface, normal on the first day, caught out the unwary, resulting in several cars hitting the barriers. Felipe was one of those who, in his own words “kissed” the barriers at one point, fortunately without doing any damage.

All these unforeseen events meant that Scuderia Ferrari had to squeeze a busy work schedule into the time available, doing the best they could to produce the all important car data to move forward for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. Overall, even if not every item on the list had a tick beside it by the end of the evening, the general impression was a positive one, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa taking their 150º Italias to second and fourth fastest respectively in the second session. Topping the time sheet was championship leader Sebastian Vettel: the Red Bull driver and the Spaniard were the only two men to duck under the 1m 47s barrier. Lewis Hamilton split the two Prancing Horses, third in his McLaren, while Mark Webber was fifth for Red Bull ahead of Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes.

One more hour of free practice awaits on Saturday at 19h00, before the excitement of qualifying under floodlights at 10 at night.

Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)