F1 – Road to…Singapore

From the Frankfurt Motor Show, Carlos Ghosn has announced that the partnership between Renault and Red Bull is over without adding more details about the future of the French Constructor. Surely Red Bull is now in a difficult situation, without a Power Unit in mid-September. I don’t think this is an unexpected news to Horner’s staff, who at first had long approached Mercedes and then Ferrari. Toto Wolff won his battle with the top brass of Mercedes. He effectively has never concealed his dislike about supplying a rival hungry for winning. I’ll be in Singapore and I’ll try to collect more information to be more clear.

The Engine-pool will be the acme in Singapore one of the most beautiful, choreographic and spectacular Gp. It is the first nighttime Gp and has opened a new era of visibility. I am pleased to recall that all this is feasible thanks to an Italian group from Romagna, DZ Engineering. That of Singapore is a circuit with a lot of unpredictability. The Marina Bay, with its 5065 mt and its 23 bends (13 on the left, 10 on the right) is the most demanding circuit of the World Championship, as drivers themselves declare. Even more than Montecarlo. It has all the complications of a town circuit: white strips of road sign, drains and safety-car. And we have to add also the humidity (around 80%) and outdoor temperatures around 35°C. Reliability will be the center of attention even due to haze and pollution that could “smother” the engines.

There are many unknowns that will make the week-end opened to any scenario, even if Mercedes remains the favorite with the usual internal battle between Hamilton and Rosberg. Nico has to be competitive at his best to keep the World Championship alive. On the shoulders of Hamilton and Rosberg I hope to see a growing Ferrari that has to halve its gap from Mercedes. Be careful about Red Bull, even if surely it won’t have any update until the end of the World Championship. Toro Rosso will try to gain that points that it has missed so far due to its lack of reliability. Force India instead is going above its expectations. About tires, Pirelli will suggest its Super-soft and Soft, as it did in 2014. Last year Hamilton won with the SS-SS, he mounted the Soft tires only in the last 10 laps.