Bridgestone Previews Singapore Grand Prix

Following recent revelations about last year’s inaugural Singapore night race, the spectacle of Formula One’s visit to the country has been somewhat tarnished retrospectively. This weekend will see the sport return to the site of Nelsen Piquet Jr.’s act of, allegedly forced, hara-kiri with undoubtedly a similar sense of occasion. Hopefully this year, the drivers will live up to the show put on by the organisers, whose number includes Bridgestone, the Championship’s official tyre supplier, which will bring its soft and super soft Potenza tyres.

This allocation has previously been used in Monaco, Budapest and Valencia and will suit the requirements of the 5.07km street course which weaves its way through the Marina Bay area of the sovereign city state.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – director of Bridgestone Motorsport, said: “Last year’s Singapore Grand Prix was Formula One’s first ever night race and it was a tremendous success. Singapore is an important hub in Asia so having a race here is very beneficial for enhancing Bridgestone’s brand awareness in the region. We are looking forward to visiting Singapore once more and seeing many more fans introduced to this fantastic sport.”

Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tyre development said that, because the track is set on the street, “finding a good set-up [is] difficult as the track condition is a moving target.” He continued, “we will see a lot of circuit surface evolution and improvement as the track is first cleaned by cars running, then racing rubber is laid, meaning better grip.

“There are the usual considerations for a venue which is not solely designed for motor racing. This means we bring the softest tyres from our range, both of which are lower temperature working range tyres. Last year we saw that the track was quite bumpy. This adds an additional requirement for the suspension set-up as an uneven surface can bounce the tyre out of contact with the track, which means less grip.”