Paul Hembery: “Singapore is a race that adds a unique and truly spectacular new dimension to the Formula One calendar. Because it is such a specific event, this makes it quite hard for teams to arrive at the best set-up and you often see some quite different solutions. Our tyres have to work equally effectively within a wide range of parameters, and this is one of the biggest challenges for us over the course of the year. A lot is made of the heat in Singapore, but what people tend to feel is actually the humidity, which means that our tyres should be comfortably within their working range when it comes to ambient and track temperature. The tyres will be working as hard as the drivers this weekend: many of the drivers say that this street circuit is even more demanding than Monaco. As we’ve seen in the past, particularly in Canada, the combination of soft and supersoft tyres provides plenty of opportunities for the teams to put in place some interesting strategies, with the supersoft in particular expected to provide an appreciable performance advantage. The free practice sessions in Singapore will be crucial, as the teams assess the effect of each of our tyres on their set-ups and overall speed.”
The men behind the steering wheel say: Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP): “The Singapore Grand Prix is definitely one of the highlights of the year and it’s a circuit that I enjoy very much. I had the best finish of my career at the first race here in 2008, so the race holds some very good memories for me. Driving the Marina Bay Circuit is quite tough as the track is physically very demanding and the conditions are very humid and warm. The circuit has the feel of a true street circuit; it’s tight, narrow and enclosed, with a stop-start nature that never gives you a chance to relax. It will be really interesting to drive here with the Pirelli tyres for the first time, and assessing the tyre degradation will be interesting. We will need to find a good solution, and hopefully we can continue the positive results that the team have shown over at the past two races.”
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