Because the 2023 Components 1 season heads down the autumn stretch, maybe the remaining drama is to be discovered within the respective battles for second place. Within the Drivers’ Championship, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are attempting to chase down Sergio Pérez. On the Constructors’ facet of issues, Mercedes is hoping to fend off Aston Martin and Ferrari.
All whereas Max Verstappen and Crimson Bull, respectively, run away from the sphere.
With the grid heading to the Marina Bay Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix, Mercedes Staff Principal Toto Wolff supplied a short recap of the Italian Grand Prix earlier than outlining the staff’s expectations for this weekend, in addition to the remainder of the season, of their race preview.
“We maximised the lead to Monza with the bundle we had. That will likely be vital throughout the remainder of the season to safe second within the Constructors’. At a circuit that didn’t essentially go well with the traits of our automotive, we had been nonetheless aggressive,” mentioned Wolff.
“It’s encouraging to see that the W14 is performing nicely throughout a variety of tracks,” added the Mercedes boss. “We’ve had a while to debrief an intense double header and we’re now heading into one other one.”
As for what to anticipate at Marina Bay, Wolff made it clear that the Singapore Grand Prix is among the hardest exams on the schedule, for quite a lot of causes.
“Singapore is a singular problem for each staff. The recent and humid situations are robust on the drivers, staff members and the automobiles. It’s a bumpy monitor and there are some adjustments to the format for this yr, too. It ought to make the lap extra flowing and barely kinder on the tyres.”
With respect to these monitor adjustments, the earlier format at Marina Bay featured a fast sequence of corners through the third sector from Turns 16 by 19. That sequences has been eradicated, changed with a straight by that part of the monitor:
That change reduces the variety of corners on the circuit from 23 to 19. Analysts anticipate lap occasions will likely be faster as nicely, with race promoters estimating the qualifying lap time to clock in round 1:27.
Over the last dry qualifying session, again in 2019, Charles Leclerc secured pole place with a lap time of 1:36.217.
As for Mercedes’ season, Wolff reiterates a typical theme from the staff these previous few weeks: The objective is second within the Constructors’ Championship. Whereas the battle is tight, he believes that the W14 is nicely geared up to make this a aggressive exhibiting for Mercedes at Marina Bay.
“The battle with our nearest rivals is extremely shut. It’s laborious to foretell simply how the order will shake out every weekend,” added Wolff. “Nonetheless, we usually carry out higher on excessive downforce tracks, so we’re hopeful of a aggressive exhibiting.”