The bright lights of the Marina Bay street circuit provide the welcome this weekend as Formula 1 heads east for the sixth Singapore Grand Prix.
F1’s demanding season-ending schedule of seven fly-away races between now and the end of November begins in the tiny but dazzling metropolis and all the action from Singapore will be shown exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, with free-to-air highlights on BBC One.
After the high-speed demands of Monza, the streets of Singapore – the stage for the 13th round of the Formula 1 World Championship – offer a very different challenge.
With 23 corners, unforgiving walls and a lap time longer than at any other current grand prix, Marina Bay demands ultimate concentration from drivers, but Singapore does everything it can to shake that concentration.
Between the abundant undulations of the city boulevards, the glare of the lights, the high temperatures and the humidity, Singapore presents perhaps the sternest challenge of the racing year.
Since joining the World Championship calendar in 2008, the Singapore Grand Prix has been won by just three drivers, who are also the three men leading the chase for the 2013 drivers’ title.
Fernando Alonso won in 2008 and 2010, bracketing a win for Lewis Hamilton in 2009. The last two runnings of the race have seen Sebastian Vettel victorious.
In 2012 Singapore marked the start of a four-race winning sequence for Vettel that saw him steadily diminish Alonso’s lead in the drivers’ championship.
Vettel comes to Singapore this year in much better shape, off the back of wins in Belgium and Italy, both executed in imperious fashion.
In doing so the reigning world champion has established a lead of 53 points over Alonso and 81 over Hamilton.
Vettel isn’t expected to have it quite so easy on the streets of Marina Bay.
The strategic significance of track position, the ever-present threat of safety cars and forecast thunderstorms all contribute to make this grand prix potentially more complicated that those that have preceded it.
Even though the race is held at night, the heat and humidity at the Marina Bay street circuit are intense, and help make the race one of the toughest challenges on the Formula 1 calendar.
Follow all the action from Singapore with Sky Sports F1’s exclusive live coverage or by watching free-to-air highlights on BBC TV.
OFFICIAL F1 WEBSITE TRACK GUIDE LIVE TIMING
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FORMULA 1 2013 ON SKY SPORTS F1 HD
Sky Sports F1 HD has exclusive live coverage all the on-track action from this year’s spectacular Singapore Grand Prix around the Marina Bay street circuit.
Every practice session, Saturday’s qualifying and the race itself will be shown live in high-definition.
Simon Lazenby will present full coverage of the Friday practice sessions, qualifying and the race itself, where he will be joined throughout the weekend by Martin Brundle, Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill.
Ted Kravitz and Rachel Brookes – who replaces Natalie Pinkham for this race – will provide the latest news and reports and from the pit lane, while commentary on all sessions comes from David Croft.
Martin Brundle joins Croft in the commentary box for both qualifying and the race, while Karun Chandhok steps in for the absent Anthony Davidson and will call the practice sessions as well as offer his insights from the Sky Pad during the weekend.
During the race, a host of interactive additions, including on-board cameras, pit-lane feeds, the latest race stats and much more available via the red button and the Sky Sports for iPad app.
For those who won’t be at home, every second of the action can be seen via computers, laptops, mobiles and tablet devices on Sky Go.
Further information, news and video content can be found at skysports.com/f1, and viewers are encouraged to interact with the live programmes via Twitter – @SkySportsF1, #SkyF1.
Sky Sports F1 will also screen live action from the penultimate round of GP2 Series throughout the weekend with commentary provided by Will Buxton.
In addition, the latest installment of Steve Rider’s Legends of F1 series sees the veteran sports presenter interview former Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine about his eventful nine-year career in the sport.
Friday 20th September
F1: Singapore Grand Prix – Practice 1 | Start: 11:00
LIVE: 10.45am-12.55pm Sky Sports F1
F1: Singapore Grand Prix – Practice 2 | Start: 14:30
LIVE: 2.15pm-4.15pm Sky Sports F1
The F1 Show
LIVE: 5.00pm-6.00pm Sky Sports F1
Saturday 21st September
F1: Singapore Grand Prix – Practice 3 | Start: 11:00
LIVE: 10.45am-12.10pm Sky Sports F1
F1: Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying | Start: 14:00
LIVE: 1.00pm-3.45pm Sky Sports F1
Sunday 22nd September
F1: Singapore Grand Prix – RACE | Start: 13:00
LIVE: 11.30am-4.15pm Sky Sports F1
Legends of F1: Eddie Irvine
4.15pm-5.15pm Sky Sports F1
F1: Singapore Grand Prix – Highlights
7.00pm-8.00pm Sky Sports F1
BBC TV will broadcast free-to-air highlights of the 2013 Singapore Grand Prix on BBC One and BBC One HD.
Suzi Perry introduces all the action from the Marina Bay street circuit alongside David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan, who will both be on hand to provide analysis and discussion in the pits and paddock.
BBC One will broadcast extended tea-time highlights of the qualifying session on Saturday at 5.15pm, with comprehensive race highlights the following day, also on BBC One, at 5.00pm.
Commentary on qualifying and the race comes from Ben Edwards and David Coulthard, with updates from the pit-lane by Tom Clarkson, Lee McKenzie will conduct interviews with the drivers and team personnel and Gary Anderson will be on hand with the latest views on strategy.
McKenzie will also host the BBC’s preview programme Inside F1 on the BBC News Channel on Friday at 6.45pm and Saturday at 7.45pm.
The BBC Sport website will have live streaming of BBC One’s broadcasts, as well as additional video content including highlights of practice sessions, qualifying and the race, plus interviews and analysis.
All of the BBC’s TV coverage will be available to view shortly after transmission on BBC iPlayer.
BBC Radio 5 Live will also have live audio commentary of every on-track session from Singapore.
Saturday 21st SeptemberF1: Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying Highlights: 5.15pm-6.30pm BBC One Sunday 22nd September F1: Singapore Grand Prix – RACE Highlights: 5.00pm-6.30pm BBC One
