The Marina Bay circuit was lapped with some of the quickest times in its eight-season history today, following some track modifications and corner re-profiling from Turns 10 to 13 this year. The fastest time of the day was set by Red Bull driver Daniil Kyvat, who set a time of 1m46.142s on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre (compared to the equivalent fastest
FP2 time last year of 1m47.490s). The top three in FP2 were within just a tenth of a second of each other, after a closely fought session.

With Marina Bay being a street circuit used for normal traffic during the year, the surface was quite ‘green’, especially in FP1, which led to a high degree of track evolution as usual. More rubber was laid down in FP2 enabling the cars to go even faster, although there were also one or two drops of rain – a consequence of the naturally high humidity levels – which had no effect on the running.

As usual in Singapore, track temperatures fell progressively during the session, meaning that the conditions in FP2 were most representative of Sunday night’s race. Consequently, the teams especially focussed on understanding tyre behaviour during this evening session, held between 2130-2300 local time.

Unusually, both Mercedes were out of the top three in FP2, although they went quickest in FP1, with all the teams working through a programme designed to replicate race pace for Sunday, in order to formulate the optimal strategy. Currently, there is a performance gap of 1.5 to 1.6 seconds between the two compounds, although this may come down as more rubber is laid on the circuit tomorrow.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: “We found conditions as we expected them to be in Singapore tonight, with a very green and slippery track that evolved rapidly. So far, it’s about a second and a half between the two compounds, which is again broadly in line with our expectations. This leads to a few strategy options, in a race that is always unpredictable. In other news, we’re obviously very pleased to see that the procedure for measuring tyre pressures during the race has been formalised and clearly communicated to all the teams; this is very important to eliminate any grey areas.”

Pirelli fact of the day:
One of the big talking points in Singapore today has been PSI – which has nothing to do with tyres, as it also stands for Pollutant Standards Index. Despite predictions of smog due to farm fires in Indonesia, conditions are expected are expected to remain clear for the rest of the weekend. For those more interested in the other type of psi in Singapore, the minimum starting pressure is 18psi on the front and 17psi at the rear.

FP1: 			     FP2:
1. Rosberg 1m47.995s Soft    1. Kvyat 1m46.142s Supersoft
2. Hamilton 1m48.314s Soft   2. Raikkonen 1m46.181s Supersoft
3. Ricciardo 1m48.331s Soft  3. Ricciardo 1m46.256s Supersoft

Tyre statistics of the day:
			    Supersoft Soft  Intermediate Wet
kms driven * 		    1486      3414	
sets used overall ** 	    19 	      59
highest number of laps **   	      22 26

* The above number gives the total amount of kilometres
driven in FP1 and FP2 today, all drivers combined.
** Per compound, all drivers combined.