Singapore, a unique race for Mercedes
Regular but not performing well enough to compete for the podium, Mercedes is a distant fifth in the constructors' standings. However, the advantage of having had three days of testing at Magny-Cours as part of the young drivers' tests allows them to approach this intense end of the season outside Europe with optimism. Starting with an unusual Singapore Grand Prix.
After the last two European races in Belgium and Italy, where Mercedes scored 20 points, the German team has retained its 5th place in the constructors’ standings, with 126 points on the board. However, a total that seems too low to even consider climbing at least one rank by the end of the season. The Lotus team, currently 4th, is ahead of the Silver Arrows by 91 points. It’s rather in its rearview mirrors that the Stuttgart constructor needs to look: the Sauber team is in a positive dynamic, 26 points behind. And without the accident caused by Romain Grosjean at Spa, which reduced any chance of a Top 10 finish for the Swiss team, this gap could have been much smaller.
It is in this context that the team based in Brackley benefited this week from three days of testing, during the young driver days, during which Sam Bird – whom we interviewed [after the first](https://www.f1/actualite/14054-sam-bird-travailler-avec-schumacher-et-rosberg-est-bon-pour-moi-.html) then [after the second day of driving](https://www.f1/actualite/14064-F1-Sam-Bird-Il-ny-a-rien-qui-ressemble-au-pilotage-dune-F1-.html) – and Brendon Hartley – [also interviewed by our special correspondent in the Nièvre](https://www.f1/actualite/14058-F1-Brendon-Hartley-devrait-rouler-a-Magny-Cours-avec-Mercedes.html) – were able to accumulate kilometers. Ross Brawn, the team’s director, confirms the good progress of these tests: “We successfully concluded our young driver tests at Magny-Cours, and we have a lot of useful information that is now being studied at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth [the Mercedes engine plant, ed.] to help bring improvements to the car for the last seven races of the season.”
On this occasion, the work has been intense, as confirmed by Norbert Haug, vice president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “We have worked diligently since the last race, with Sam Bird and Brendon Hartley testing developments over three days at the young drivers’ test in Magny-Cours to further improve our car’s performance.” The F1 W03 has indeed been fitted with, among other things, a drag reduction system similar to Lotus’s, new exhausts inspired by those of McLaren and Ferrari, and a shark fin-shaped appendage on its engine cover. These innovations have been very rare in recent races, as the team with the star logo preferred to dedicate their practice sessions to finding good settings and understanding the Pirelli tires.
The focus is therefore on the city-state of Singapore and its race with such specific conditions. While Michael Schumacher considers the Grand Prix to be exceptional in many aspects, with the city, the night race, and the circuit itself, describing it as a superbly unusual race, Nico Rosberg talks about it as one of the highlights of the season and a really fun weekend: I really enjoy the Marina Bay circuit, it’s a street circuit, and with the intense heat and humidity, the large number of corners, and the race under artificial light, it’s really a challenge.
Obviously, a night event requires adjustments, a point addressed by Michael Schumacher: At first glance, everything seems more relaxed because the action takes place at night, but of course, it’s not like that at all. The reality is that you have to work hard to stay on European schedules and maintain the right biorhythms to perform well in the race – because it’s unusual to race at this time of the day. But for his teammate, adapting is not a problem: It always seems strange to race at night, to go to bed at 5 AM, and to wake up in the afternoon, but it’s surprising how easy it is to adapt. And for the rest of the team, it doesn’t seem to be a difficulty either: Now in its fifth year, the practice of a weekend working late at night and on European schedules has become routine, indicates Ross Brawn.
Inexhaustible, Norbert Haug describes, with the rigor and precision often attributed to Germans, the Marina Bay circuit and its demands: « Despite the relatively slow speeds, the circuit is a tough challenge for drivers and cars. There are a total of 23 turns, with 10 in the final sector alone, and drivers will shift gears nearly 5000 times during the race. Over 100 seconds, the lap time is the longest of the year, and only Monaco has a lower average speed. However, the previous race in Singapore [in 2011, editor’s note] recorded nearly three times more overtakes than the race in Monaco. The demands of Singapore, with many relatively slow corners, are completely different from those of the Monza circuit, with its long straights and selection of high-speed corners. »
In 2012, the Singapore Grand Prix marks a turning point in the season, after the conclusion of the European season at Monza. Michael Schumacher hopes to capitalize on the Italian performances: « After a reasonably encouraging weekend in Monza, we have good expectations for another promising result. I look forward to this night race. » The 2012 edition is also the first step of an intense final sprint leading to the championship’s conclusion in Interlagos. « This year’s Singapore Grand Prix marks the beginning of the final phase away from our bases in the 2012 season, which will include 7 races in 9 weeks » even specifies Norbert Haug. This will undoubtedly delight the F1 fans we are!
