F1 | GP SINGAPORE, GIAN CARLO MINARDI “IS MCLAREN PREPARING TO OPEN A NEW CYCLE? HERE KEEP AN EYE ON THE WEATHER”
From Azerbaijan to Singapore, the Formula 1 World Championship is stopping at the Marina Bay Circuit street circuit for the eighteenth round. For the first time after 55 grands prix, McLaren lines up at the start as the leader of the World Championship.
Thanks to Oscar Piastri’s win and Lando Norris’ fourth place in Baku, Andrea Stella’s men have overtaken Red Bull.
Despite the modifications carried out last season that reduced the length of the track to 4,940m and the 19 bends (against the previous 23) it is still one of the most twisty and insidious tracks of the season.
The first novelty this year is the introduction is the fourth DRS zone (between bends 14 and 16), which has the aim of facilitating the spectacle and overtaking. At Baku the drivers gave us an exciting race run on the edge of tenths of a second. On this track I also expect a struggle on the edge of tenths, if not hundredths of a second. It will be interesting to see if they manage to continue the positive trend without the entry of the safety-car. A week ago, it did so only at the end, the collision between Pere and Sainz led to the use of the VSC.
On the tyre front, Pirelli has opted for the softer compounds, (from C3 to C5) and it will be interesting to see on how many pitstops the strategy will be based on a track that improves considerably session after session. Watch out also for the weather that represents another unknown factor, due to both the layout of the track and because it is run at night. The risk of rain will be present for all the weekend with a very high probability for the Sunday.
It will be interesting to follow the weekend of Red Bull and Mercedes, at the present time the ones most in difficulty, compared to the McLaren (currently the car to beat), and good competitiveness from Ferrari. Right now, the priority for McLaren is the constructors’ title. Historically, when a team is about to open a new winning cycle, it starts by taking the constructors’ title and only then concentrate solely on the driver’s title. Amongst other things, they must also perfect some things that range from the management of the drivers and strategy, which are not always perfect.
Gian Carlo Minardi