Singapore Grand Prix Preview

 

Second leg of the double header takes place at Marina Bay in Singapore.

• Toto Talks Singapore
• Fact File: Singapore Grand Prix
• Stat Sheet: Singapore Grand Prix

Toto Talks Singapore

We head straight to Singapore for the second race in this double header. Although a street circuit like Baku, Marina Bay is a different challenge. Physically, it is incredibly demanding on both the drivers and team members. The heat and humidity play a big role in that but so does the track itself. It is bumpy in places, contains a mixture of both low and high speed corners, and the walls are waiting to catch you out.

After a mixed weekend in Azerbaijan, we will take the learnings from Baku and aim for an improved performance in Singapore. At times, our pace was strong but we couldn't deliver that consistently. Our main challenge was controlling tyre temperatures and something we know we need to improve upon. It is encouraging that, when we get the car working, we have the pace to be competitive. Whilst we came away with a podium though, we know that it was fortuitous and we were P5 on merit.

We have additional motivation heading into this weekend too. Singapore has become a key race for our Title and Technical Partner PETRONAS in recent seasons, as the closest event to Malaysia. We are excited that this year we will be part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. We have enjoyed a record-breaking partnership with them since Mercedes returned to F1 as a works team in 2010. We have achieved incredible success together over the past 15 seasons and that relationship continues to grow as we push forward with our sustainability ambitions both on and off track, including the exciting work around sustainable fuels for 2026. We have several exciting moments planned as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations over the next week and look forward to sharing them with our fans.

Fact File: Singapore Grand Prix

• Last year's Singapore Grand Prix featured a new layout as redevelopment works took place in the vicinity of the track.
• The circuit between what was Turns 16 to 19 became one long 397.9m straight, reducing the number of corners from 23 down to 19.
• The circuit length was reduced from 5.063 km to 4.928 km and the number of laps of the Grand Prix increased from 61 to 62.
• Lap times were reduced by roughly 10 seconds due to the changes.
• The new layout was beneficial for the tyres; previously, they would begin to overheat towards the end of the lap, but the removal of four 90-degree corners helped them stay closer to the optimum operating window.
• Track evolution is incredibly high in Singapore, given that it is a street circuit. The surface can ramp up by as much as three seconds between FP1 on Friday and Qualifying on Saturday evening.
• The Singapore Grand Prix is one of the most physically demanding races of the season. The intense humidity, warm temperatures, combined with the stop/start nature of the track, make it very challenging.
• Due to these factors, drivers can lose around 5kg of weight during the race through sweating alone.
• That stop/start nature, with a requirement for constant re-acceleration, ensures the circuit has one of the biggest fuel effects of the year. In simple terms, that means the amount of time you lose each lap is higher for every kilogram of extra fuel in the car.
• Owing to the large amount of time spent in corners, just over 50% of lap time is spent at full throttle - only Monaco and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico have lower amounts.
• The track is also very bumpy. That adds to the stress that the drivers and cars are put through - that is particularly true with these new generation cars that run lower to the ground.
• With a speed limit of 60 km/h, and a layout that feeds in at turn two, the total pit lane time is the highest of the season at 25 seconds.
• Marina Bay is one of four circuits on the calendar to have a 60 km/h pitlane speed limit, owing to its tight nature. The others are Melbourne, Monaco, and Zandvoort.
• Being a street track, it is perhaps no surprise that all 14 of the previous Singapore Grands Prix have featured at least one Safety Car deployment.
• In the last six editions, we have seen 11 Safety Car deployments.
• The team has achieved four wins around the streets of Marina Bay. Three times with Lewis (2014, 2017, 2018) and once with Nico Rosberg (2016).  

Stat Sheet: Singapore Grand Prix

2024 Singapore Grand Prix
Session	Local Time (SST)	Brackley (BST)	Stuttgart (CEST)
Practice One – Friday	17:30 – 18:30	10:30 – 11:30	11:30 – 12:30
Practice Two - Friday	21:00 – 22:00	14:00 – 15:00	15:00 – 16:00
Practice Three – Saturday	17:30 – 18:30	10:30 – 11:30	11:30 – 12:30
Qualifying – Saturday	21:00 – 22:00	14:00 – 15:00	15:00 – 16:00
Grand Prix - Sunday	20:00	13:00	14:00

 

Race Records - Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team at the Singapore Grand Prix
	Starts	Wins	Podiums	Pole Positions	Front row places	Fastest laps	DNF
Mercedes	12	4	7	3	7	4	5
Lewis Hamilton	14	4	7	4	6	3	3
George Russell	3	0	0	0	1	1	2
MB Power	14	5	12	5	10	6	18

 

Technical Stats - Season to Date (Pre-season Testing to Present)
	Laps Completed	Distance Covered (km)	Corners Taken	Gear Changes	PETRONAS Fuel Injections
Mercedes	5,178	26,539.084	85,619	253,196	107,400,000
Lewis Hamilton	2,593	13,323.442	42,884	126,562	104,000,000
George Russell	2,580	13,186.677	42,680	126,454	103,200,000
MB Power	19,741	101,123.239	324,894	964,539	788,680,000

 

Mercedes-Benz in Formula One
	Starts	Wins	Podium Places	Pole Positions	Front Row Places	Fastest Laps	1-2 Finishes	Front-Row Lockouts
Mercedes (all-time)	310	128	296	139	262	109	59	82
Mercedes (since 2010)	298	119	279	131	242	100	54	80
Lewis Hamilton	349	105	201	104	176	67	N/A	N/A
George Russell	121	2	14	3	11	8	N/A	N/A
MB Power	580	220	609	228	465

Azerbaijan Grand Prix Results, Baku, 2024

 

Podium after dramatic day in Baku

• George Russell finished third and Lewis Hamilton ninth in today’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
• George started from P5 on the Medium tyre but suffered with rear tyre temperatures throughout his first stint.
• It was a similar story for Lewis who, having taken a new power unit ahead of the race, started from the pit lane on the yellow-walled compound.
• Both ditched the Medium tyre at the end of lap 13, swapping to the Hard compound tyre and went to the end of the race.
• A gentle introduction in the opening laps paid dividends in the closing stages with George amongst the fastest runners and closing on the top-four.
• As that group concertinaed together, contact between Sainz and Perez ended with both in the wall and promoted George to P3.
• Lewis worked hard to battle his way through the pack, but his progress came to a halt when he reached the Williams of Franco Colapinto.
• However, a puncture for the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg plus the Sainz/Perez incident elevated him to P9 and two hard-earned points at the flag.
• We now head to Singapore where the team will celebrate PETRONAS’ 50^th anniversary at what has become something of a home race for our Title and Technical Partner.
  

Driver	Grid	Result	Fastest Lap	Start Tyre	Stop One
George Russell	P5	P3	1:46.628	Medium	Hard (L12)
Lewis Hamilton	PIT	P9	1:47.236	Medium	Hard (L12)

George Russell

It was a really strange race today. It was very difficult on the Medium tyre in my first stint. I was over one second off the ultimate pace and finding it hard to control the rear tyre surface temperatures. On the Hard tyre in my second stint, the car felt brilliant. In the final 20 laps, I was lapping one second quicker than those at the very front. It is hard to work out exactly why this was and is a little frustrating.

We were fortunate to get onto the podium and I am glad that both Carlos (Sainz) and Checo (Perez) are OK. We were having a relatively quiet run to P5 after I got past Verstappen, but we will take it. It is a good reward for all the efforts of the team after a challenging weekend on the whole.

Lewis Hamilton

Today was a difficult race. We had a good day on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was tough. We made some changes heading into Saturday that didn’t work out, but we had to live with them. We also knew it would be challenging to overtake today. Despite the long straight, it is hard to follow through the second sector. Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, who I was racing for a lot of the afternoon, did such a great job. It is great to see the youngsters like them coming through and doing so well. For their first and second races, it was very impressive.

Despite how tough my own race was, the positives are that George had a decent race and was able to score some good points for the team. We’ve also got lots of data to work through ahead of Singapore. We’ve got some upgrades coming before the end of the year so hopefully we can make a step closer to those at the front soon.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

We will take the positive from today that we were able to get one car on the podium. We saw that it was getting feisty at the front and that ultimately ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected but we are not fooling ourselves that, on pace today, we were P5.

We will analyse the race and weekend as a whole. The second half of our Grand Prix on the Hard tyre was encouraging. George was able to keep the temperatures under control and, having driven within himself early in the stint, was able to deliver strong pace in the closing stages. It was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he faced but at moments, he showed good speed. We now head to Singapore, and it is another difficult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will dig through the data from this weekend, aim to improve the car balance and have a stronger weekend there.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It was nice to get a car on the podium, but we aren’t fooling ourselves; this weekend hasn’t been good enough and we need to improve. The first stint for both drivers was weak. We couldn't stop the rear tyres from overheating, and, at one point, it was looking like we were in for a very difficult afternoon. 

The Hard tyre suited us much better. George had clean air to work out how to get the best out of the tyres and maintain them in a good window. That served him well later in the race. We'd lost too much time early on in the race to stick with the leaders, but it was good to get the pass on Verstappen done and that proved crucial for the podium.

Lewis' race was difficult as he kept bumping into DRS trains and just couldn't make it through them. The closer he got to the cars ahead the more tyre overheating he suffered with. Regardless, we were not strong enough here to get a podium on merit and that's what we need to put our efforts into resolving. We've got a different challenge in Singapore next week but are looking forward to getting back on track.

Preview Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2024

 

Frantic Friday in Baku

• The team took to the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan for the first day of this weekend’s on-track running.
• Both drivers ran the Medium and Soft compound tyres in a thrice red flagged FP1 session.
• Lewis was happier with the overall car balance, clocking the second quickest time with George in P8.
• Ahead of FP2, the team made a precautionary power unit change on George’s car after an irregular oil sample; that delayed the start of George’s session by 25 minutes.
• He nevertheless still managed to complete running on both the Hard and Soft tyres in that second session, posting the ninth quickest time.
• Lewis was able to complete an extra six laps in FP2, on the same compounds as his team-mate, and set the third quickest time, just 0.066s shy of the pace-setting lap set by Charles Leclerc.
  

Driver	FP1				FP2
Lewis Hamilton	19 Laps	1:45.859	P2	Medium, Soft	22 Laps	1:43.550	P3	Hard, Soft, Hard
George Russell	18 Laps	1:46.516	P8	Medium, Soft	16 Laps	1:44.536	P9	Hard, Soft

Lewis Hamilton

Today was a really good day. I enjoyed it from the start as the car felt strong from the first laps on track. We made some positive incremental steps on the set-up. There was nothing we had to come back on, and we continued to build throughout.

Pace wise, we didn’t complete a huge number of laps on our long run in FP2. We will have to do some comparisons tonight therefore to see where our relative speed is. Our usual competitors looked strong, but I think we are there or thereabouts. That is encouraging and was our hope coming into this weekend. We will stay cautious and vigilant though. We will work hard tonight to try and find more gains and see what we can do in qualifying tomorrow.

George Russell

Today wasn’t the smoothest Friday we’ve ever had. Unfortunately, we lost a little bit of running time with a precautionary power unit change ahead of FP2. Once we were out on track, I wasn’t completely happy with the balance of the car. I was struggling to get the tyres in the right window and was lacking a little confidence. I’ll work hard overnight to improve on that, step my game up for tomorrow and close the gap.

The good news is that Lewis was looking very quick out there. It encourages us that the car is strong, and we can be competitive this weekend. It looks very close between several teams, with Ferrari in particular looking strong. If we can make improvements overnight though we can aim to be in the mix for qualifying and the race on Sunday.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Lewis had two decent sessions and finished the day happy with the car. His pace also looked sensible although we know the areas we've got to work on. Overall, we're pleased with how his weekend has started. As has been the case in recent races, it looks very tight at the front in terms of single lap, so we'll be working hard overnight to find every bit of lap time.

In comparison to Lewis, George had a more challenging day. He wasn't very happy with the balance of the car in FP1, so we spent that session trying to improve it. Shortly after FP1 finished, we spotted an issue with the power unit that led us to take the cautious approach of swapping it out for FP2. That unfortunately cost him 25 minutes of valuable track time and whilst we got to run both tyres, the programme was compromised. We'll be aiming to recover some of the lost ground with George tomorrow in FP3.