Marina Bay Street Circuit

The Singapore GP was the only new race on the 2008 calendar and with it came a revolution to the sport. The first ever night race, that too on a street circuit meant either a lottery as a race or some gripping moments. Fans and Fernando Alonso who won the inaugural race in 2008 would agree it had a bit of both!

Creating a F1 race track in the heart of the city was always going to pose problems, but with Monte Carlo to emulate, Singapore put up a great show. The pit area is located in an empty plot of land off the Republic Boulevard and next to the Singapore Flyer. A temporary track leads from the pit area and under the Benjamin Sheares Bridge to Republic Boulevard and turns onto Raffles Boulevard. It then proceeds along Nicoll Highway, Stamford Road and Saint Andrew's Road around the Padang, past the City Hall.

The track then goes onto the Anderson Bridge, past the Fullerton Hotel and make a tight left turn to Esplanade Drive beside the Merlion Park. It joins Raffles Avenue and cut right after the Esplanade to the front of the The Float at Marina Bay and return to the pit area via another temporary road around the Singapore Flyer. The track layout is unique in that in between turns 18 and 19, the cars race underneath a section of grandstand of the Floating Platform.

The track was widely criticised by F1 drivers to be excessively bumpy, resulting in a very unforgiving circuit, especially given the hot and humid conditions. Post the first GP, there were many concerns raised by drivers including Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Aloso aobut the high and harsh kerbs at the turn 13 hairpin and the chicane at turn 10 of the street circuit.

The entry of the pit lane, which begins at the penultimate corner of the 23-turn layout, was deemed difficult by several drivers due to the fast nature of the corners where they were situated. This led to a modification of the pit entry before the qualifying. In March 2009, three of the circuit's corners were given names after a competition amongst local fans. Turn 1 was named Sheares after Benjamin Henry Sheares, the second president of Singapore; Turn 7 was named Memorial due to its proximity to a Second World War civilian memorial; and Turn 10 was named Singapore Sling!

Recent Results:
2009: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
2008: Fernando Alonso (Renault)