ALL SET TO GO RACING IN THE DARK!
Monaco, Monte Carlo: Monday, September 19, 2011
Paul heads to Singapore this week, just eight days after finishing eighth in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, to prepare for the only night-time race on the Formula One calendar.
Before heading to the Marina Bay Circuit, Paul spoke with Jim McGill about his thoughts of the circuit, racing at night, and reflected on his success at Monza.
"Monza was pretty well perfect for both me, and everyone in the Force India team," Paul explained. "To be honest, I don’t think we could have achieved any more; that’s where our performance level was, and the strong point is we all performed at our maximum to get the best out of what we had.
"We struggled in general with the car’s performance and we were fighting all the way through the weekend and the race, so picking up four points was a great result.
"There were a lot of different approaches going on in that race with some teams concentrating more on race pace than qualifying. It shows you can never underestimate any team.
"This weekend is going to be something completely different; racing a Formula One car at night under the Singapore streetlights is something I have never experienced before.
"It's going to be a bit of a challenge, because I've also never driven the Marina Bay Circuit before; so I've a bit of learning ahead of me.
"Having said that, I've spent some time on the Force India simulator, and watched a number of on-board videos. Plus, I was in Singapore last year and at least walked the circuit, so I have a good idea of the layout.
"It's also one of the longest laps on the calendar, so hopefully the weather will stay dry in the run-up to the race and I can spend as much time on-track as I can on Friday and Saturday before qualifying.
"I definitely know it's one of the toughest races of the season for the brakes and gearbox. In the final sector alone we have to negotiate 10 corners in the space of 1500 metres, and there's very little margin for error.
"Singapore is a fantastic place to visit, let alone race in an F1 car. I don't think there's anywhere else on Earth which has the diversity of cultures as Singapore does.
"The one thing which is really quite surreal, is we all tend to keep our watches on UK/European time, which helps us keep our body clock in synch with racing at a European time — even though the Singapore race actually starts at night.
"It also means we end up doing some rather strange things, like having lunch when it's actually 8.30pm local time in Singapore!
"And it's buzzing; it's a place which never seems to sleep at night and the atmosphere everywhere is electric.
"As you probably know, Singapore is the only night race of the F1 season, so I think we could all be in for something very special this weekend."
Paul
Credit: Paul Di Resta (www.pauldiresta.com)
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