Pre Race
Singapore nights, racing lights!
You know what? It’s Race Weekend! And after finishing outside the points in a frustrating Baku race, Nico Hulkenberg is more than ready to take on another street circuit when the lights go out at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix – the original night race, and one of those tracks where experience really makes the difference…
“There’s something unique about driving under the Singapore night lights, with the city all around you. The track is a proper challenge, with walls that leave zero room for mistakes and corners that demand full focus,” says Nico Hulkenberg, who also points out another factor that has always made the Singapore Grand Prix particularly demanding:
“The heat and humidity is another element to consider, but we prepare well for these conditions. After a tough weekend in Baku, I’m eager to get back into action, fighting hard in an incredibly competitive midfield,” the German adds.
The Singapore Grand Prix is already underway with the first two practice sessions today, Friday, followed by another practice session and Qualifying on Saturday. Sunday’s 62-lap night race will go green at 20:00 local time (GMT+8).
Singapore fun facts:
- Nicknamed ‘the original night race’, the Singapore Grand Prix was the first Formula 1 Grand Prix to run after sunset. The inaugural event was held in 2008 and was a massive hit with the teams – with Fernando Alonso taking the win after starting all the way down in 15th.
- Do you like action-packed races? Then Singapore has something for you. Based on the last six races, the Safety Car probability here is 83 percent…
- The Singapore Grand Prix has had five different winners across the last five races. The most successful driver remains Sebastian Vettel – the now-retired German world champion with five Singapore victories to his name.
Qualifying
Let’s do this!
Quick update from Singapore, where Nico Hulkenberg delivered a strong performance in Saturday’s Qualifying, putting together clean laps in Q2 to secure P11 – missing out on Q3 by just 0.065s. That’s a starting spot right on the edge of the points for the Admin By Request-powered German Sauber driver!
“I’m quite happy with today’s qualifying. My laps were tidy and showed good progression throughout. Starting from P11 isn’t a bad place, and we’ve got an extra set of soft tyres for tomorrow. With everyone going into the race a bit less prepared after yesterday’s red flags, when nobody was really able to perform proper long runs, there might be some surprises. As always, strategy will depend on how things unfold, but we’ll be pushing hard to make the most of it,” said Nico Hulkenberg.
All set for tomorrow – let’s do this, Nico! Sunday’s 62-lap night race goes green at 20:00 local time (GMT+8).
Race Day
“There’s always things to learn”
Recap from the Singapore Grand Prix, where Nico Hulkenberg endured a tough race under the Marina Bay floodlights. The German Sauber driver started P11 but spent most of the race stuck in a DRS train and, towards the end, made contact with an Alpine that caused a spin and a heavy loss of positions.
“It wasn’t our day today. Without track position it’s always tough for us, especially on a street circuit like this where overtaking is nearly impossible unless you’ve got a big tyre advantage. In the end, when I got close to Franco [Colapinto], he braked quite early – a bit of a surprise – and I lost a lot of rear downforce, which caused a big lock-up and the spin,” said Nico Hulkenberg.
“We’ll have to review the strategy, but overall we didn’t quite have the pace this weekend. Still, even on tough days like this, there’s always something to learn and take forward into the next races,” the German added.
The good news? There’s already a chance for a comeback next week as the US Grand Prix gets underway in Austin, Texas!
📸 Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber
