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Reminder this is the new layout for the street circuit in Singapore

Reminder: this is the new layout for the street circuit in Singapore!

10 September 2023 at 12:53
Last update 10 September 2023 at 13:24
  • Sam Godber

The next Grand Prix weekend scheduled is from 15 to 17 September in Singapore. The race will be held at the street circuit Marina Bay Street Circuit and has undergone some major modifications for this year's edition, to help overtaking.

New layout in Singapore

On a street circuit, overtaking is often difficult and this was also the case on the streets of Singapore. This often resulted in races with a bit less action than desired, and to change this from now on, the circuit has been significantly modified for the 2023 edition of the Singapore Grand Prix. This includes fewer corners and more straights, which should encourage overtaking.

The third sector of the Marina Bay Street Circuit is the part that has been taken care of. Here, the former turns sixteen to nineteen have given way to a straight, which is 397.9 metres long. As a result, the number of corners drops by four from 23 to 19. The track is over 100 metres shorter due to this change. As a result, there will be 62 laps this coming weekend instead of the original 61.

New Singapore circuit much faster

The street circuit in Singapore is known as a physically demanding circuit because of its many, especially slow, corners. Due to the low average speed, the Singapore Grand Prix was previously the longest race on the calendar, however, the new modifications will shorten the lap time considerably.

The time for pole position, in dry conditions, is expected to be a 1:27.2. This expectation was made using a simulation with a 2020 car on the new layout (the current cars, however, are slower than the 2020 cars). In 2019, the last dry qualifying session was in Singapore and then Charles Leclerc clocked the fastest time with a 1:36.217, some nine seconds slower than the simulation.