Singapore GP: Cosworth preview

Formula One travels overseas for round 15 of this year's world championship as Singapore hosts its third consecutive F1 night race around Marina Bay. Singapore Grand Prix from an Engine's Perspective Singapore is one of four street tracks on ...

Formula One travels overseas for round 15 of this year's world championship as Singapore hosts its third consecutive F1 night race around Marina Bay.

Singapore Grand Prix from an Engine's Perspective

Singapore is one of four street tracks on this year's Formula One calendar and, after Valencia, is the second circuit where Cosworth will be making its racing debut in 2010. The circuit was only introduced to the Formula One calendar in 2008, so the sound of a Cosworth V8 will reverberate around Singapore's Marina Bay region for the first time at this year's event.

Although the two power circuits of Spa and Monza are complete, there is no let up on engines in the final races of this season. Singapore's composition of 23 mainly slow corners mean that engines will be worked continuously with little time to breathe throughout the 5km lap. Cooling of the unit will therefore be at a premium with the situation exacerbated by the region's hot and humid climatic conditions.

Engines will be at full throttle for just over 50% of the lap with drivers navigating numerous slow speed turns, including a number of 90-degree corners. Engine responsiveness at low speed will be crucial to a good lap time. Gear ratios will be adjusted to allow drivers quick shifting at the lower end of the rev scale.

The track is similar in some ways to the rigours of Monaco or Valencia, demanding a high downforce aerodynamics package, but adds its own unique character by being a night race. Physically, the drivers will have to cope with the circuit's bumpy nature, the proximity of the barriers and the anti-clockwise direction of the track.

Fast Fact
Singapore is the first of four tracks in the final five races of the season to be run in an anti-clockwise direction. Korea, Brazil and Abu Dhabi are the other events to have anti-clockwise tracks, joining Turkey which took place back at the end of May.

This Weekend in History... 26 September 1999
Johnny Herbert defies expectation in a chaotic rain-hit European GP at the Nuerburgring to take the first and only race victory for the Ford Cosworth powered Stewart Grand Prix team. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello finishes on the podium in third.