With the Gran Premio Heineken D’Italia 2017 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza last weekend and back-to-back podium finishes at Belgium and now, Italy, Lewis Hamilton has surged ahead of Championship leader Sebastian Vettel, with 238 points on the table. Vettel is not too far behind though, with 235. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, Lewis’ teammate, is at 197 points.
These results also translate to Mercedes leading the Constructor Standings with 435 points, followed by Ferrari with 373 and Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer with 212 points.
Lewis Hamilton was ecstatic while talking to former F1 race driver Martin Brundle on the podium immediately after the prize distribution, “Yeah, you know what, I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans, particularly the Ferrari fans, they’re fantastic. This energy is like nowhere else we ever really get to see, apart from maybe Silverstone, so I respect it, I appreciate it. But I’m happy. We did a great job. The team did an exceptional job this weekend and me and Valtteri―Valtteri also did a great job―I think we owe it all to them (sic).”
Ross Brawn, Managing Director Motor Sports, Formula One, said in his post-race sum up on the F1 online magazine, “Eight days ago in Belgium, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel had fought it out from lights out to flag fall and an equally close duel had been expected in Monza. However, at Ferrari’s home race, the Mercedes team and its English driver were utterly dominant. On Friday, it looked as though the two teams might be evenly matched, but in Saturday’s wet qualifying, Hamilton carved out a canyon-sized gap to his rivals, with Vettel and Ferrari clearly struggling.” Incidentally, Lewis Hamilton surpassed the pole position record he had equalled with Michael Schumacher’s 68, in Belgium, with his 69th pole position in Italy.
The European season of F1 races has come to a close and the scene shifts to the Asian region with Singapore, Malaysia and Japan in the schedule. After this, the circus will move to US, Mexico, Brazil and the season finale at Abu Dhabi.
Night race at Singapore
The Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore will see all the hi-octane Formula One action from September 15 to 17. While the practice sessions will be on Friday and Saturday, the qualifying race will be on September 16, Saturday, and September 17 being race day.
The first Grand Prix was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in 2008. The circuit, with a length of 5.065 km features 61 laps of intense racing during the night on flood-lit race tracks, with the cars running a race distance of 308.828 km. The lap record here is held by Daniel Ricciardo 1:47.187 in 2016.
The Singapore Grand Prix is Formula One racing’s original night race, staged on an exciting street track in the heart of this colourful and cosmopolitan city. The race is floodlit, and the bright lights of the city’s financial centre in the background give the race a unique atmosphere.
“It’s a very physical circuit―more than I expected, actually," says world champion Lewis Hamilton. “You need to put a lot of work into the car to get a good lap―I’d say it requires double the energy of Monaco over a single lap. One lap around here is like two laps of Monaco!”
"The visibility is great and you don't really feel you are driving at night with all the lights on the track,” adds 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen (quotes courtesy: www.formula1.com).
The track makes use of two bridges across the harbour, the famous Padang Park and its permanent pits complex is built alongside the ‘Singapore Flyer’, the city state’s answer to the London Eye Ferris wheel.
