A new surface, an additional DRS zone and the importance of driver confidence: Breaking down this weekend’s key themes
Welcome to The Briefing, where you can get a jumpstart on the Singapore Grand Prix with our guide to the key topics.
Every race weekend, we’ll speak to one of our engineers to discuss the key talking points ahead of the upcoming Grand Prix and simplify them so that you can dive straight into the action with a better idea of what to expect and what you should be looking out for.
This week, powered byGoogle Cloud, Henry Fidler will talking us through what we can expect from the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which has been resurfaced for 2024. Henry will be looking into the impact of this and how it will guide our setup choices for the weekend. We’ll also be looking at the new DRS zone, the importance of driver confidence and why we have to prepare for Yellow and Red Flags.
Here’s what we’ll be working on and what you need to know…
1. The impact of resurfacing and a new DRS zone
This is our second street circuit in a week, but Singapore is a very different prospect to Baku. One of the main talking points heading into this weekend is that much of the Marina Bay layout has been resurfaced.
We don’t have a lot of information on the new surface – crossing the road is about it! You can see they’ve washed some of it to make it less slippery, which is a technique that’s been effective at quite a few circuits with new surfaces in recent years. The new sections of asphalt go from Turn 3 up to Turn 8, around Turns 11-12 and then down the ‘new’ straight from Turn 14 to Turn 16.
The latter also features a new DRS zone, which brings the total up to four. The extra zone will influence how you bias the setup, though it can go either way: if the extra DRS zone makes overtaking easier, you’re less biased towards Qualifying and might consider running a little less downforce. Alternatively, being able to raise the flap for a longer part of the lap in Qualifying might push you towards running a little more downforce. It’s something we’ll need to find out.
The extra DRS zone may also have an impact on our setup. It goes through a kink at Turn 15, which has some bumps and is laterally loaded. It’s somewhere the drivers will have to approach cautiously at the start of practice – though the reality of the Marina Bay Street Circuit is that this is good advice everywhere.
2. Deciding on our setup for the weekend
The circuit looks like being a choice between the maximum downforce package that we would run in Monaco, or one step down from that, with the sort of rear wing that would typically be used at high-downforce permanent circuits. From our aero-scans, we think high downforce (one step below maximum, one step above medium) will be quicker than maximum downforce.
Regardless, there is a benefit to running a maximum downforce setup at the start of practice, and for the same reason, we also won’t be pushing the limits of stiffness immediately. Track evolution is very high, and driver confidence is really important. We’ll give them a car they can have good confidence in for the start of FP1, and then see where the opportunities exist to dial-in stiffnesses, ride heights and things like that. With a standard event that has three practice sessions, there’s a decent amount of time to work on this stuff.
This circuit is very bumpy - in terms of ride, it is one of the most severe circuits we visit. We’ll need to learn, particularly after the resurfacing, how stiff can we go while still tolerating the bumps, how low we can run the car before it begins to upset braking, and whether the bottoming is too much through the higher-speed final corners, causing instability.
3. Driver confidence will be key
Driver confidence brings lap-time with it, as they naturally get closer and closer to the walls across the sessions. With that in mind, we’ll try to give them as many laps as we can, as losing track time is more penalising here than it would be at a ‘normal’ circuit. That’s particularly the case on Friday, but by the time we get to FP3, the drivers will usually be dialled-in and comfortable, but early in the weekend, those extra laps will be valuable.
4. We have to prepare for Yellow and Red Flags
The other consideration that makes us want to be out on track as much as possible is the very high risk of Yellow and Red Flags. You don’t want to sit in the garage for five or six minutes waiting for the optimal moment to go out, and then immediately lose the run to a Red Flag.
If we do lose time to Red Flags - as was the case in practice in Baku - or to weather – the forecast isn’t brilliant – then most likely our number one priority for whatever (dry) running we do get will be low-fuel driving preparation. This is a Qualifying-biased event, and getting that right takes priority.
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5. Working out the optimum strategy
Next on the list would be understanding the Medium tyre at high fuel: making sure we know how to look after it, and achieve the stint length for the presumptive one-stop race that is usually the strategy in Singapore.
We know the Hard tyre is robust but if the race follows last year’s preference for a Medium>Hard race, we would want to arrive on Sunday knowing how we need to drive that tyre, and what setup will ensure it can last for a decent length stint.
Of course, we’re not taking strategy for granted, but the one-stop does look favourite. The pit-loss is very high here because the pit-lane speed limit is very slow, and obviously overtaking is difficult, and these factors drive you towards a one-stop. If overtaking is easier with the extra DRS zone, then it will prevent drivers being able to back off their pace and manage the tyres – but the likelihood is it’s still a Medium>Hard one-stop.
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