The last round of the Formula 1 championship ended a string of rain-affected race weekends. But that may change again at the Singapore Grand Prix.
As always, the series’ visit to the Marina Bar Street Circuit will be very warm and humid weekend for everyone involved.It could also be a wet one, as the official weather forecast for the Singapore Grand Prix weekend predicts a rising chance of rain across the three days of track action.
There is a 20% probability that the Marina Bay street circuit will be rained on during daylight hours on Friday, with the first practice session not beginning until 5:30pm and two support series going out before then that can sweep away any standing water.
The Formula 1 cars are set to go out on track in temperatures of 32C during first practice, dipping to 29C at 9pm when second practice takes place under lights.
It’s a similar story on Saturday, with a 40% chance of daytime rain and F1 using the same session timing as Friday for third practice and qualifying. Forecasts predict it to be 30C for the final practice session and 29C for qualifying.
The chance of rain rises to 60% for Sunday, and some of those showers could be heavy and thundery. Whether they and the rain they deposit will linger long enough to affect the race, which starts at 8pm, is the key question. Temperatures of 30C will help to dry up any rain that does fall.
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Two of the last four Singapore grands prix have been affected by rain, in 2017 and last year. The event did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Singapore’s climate will not just make for a difficult time in the car for drivers, but also put the engines under stress with a lack of cool air that can enter them. However the low percentage of the lap spent on full throttle will help ease the strain on components.
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For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account.
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SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
14th September 2023, 7:16
Let’s hope it stays dry.
melanos
15th September 2023, 0:11
Not me, here I’m hoping for a wet race, better yet, a race with quickly changing and unpredictable conditions. Just not so bad it will bring a red flag.
MacLeod (@macleod)
14th September 2023, 7:45
If the rain falls it will not dry up fast due the humid factor but we will see what is going to happen.
Chris
14th September 2023, 10:08
Yes it will. I used to live there for years and have seen how fast it dries up after frequent rain! The temperature of the road surface does most of the work.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th September 2023, 10:54
Hopefully, rain won’t affect any session or, at least, neither qualifying & the race.
Generally, I’m somewhat surprised rain only affected track action for the first time in 2017, i.e., year 10 for Singapore GP.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
14th September 2023, 11:39
As an ex-biker I know that rain on your visor is bad, but rain on your visor with bright lights at night is a nightmare. I expect the drivers will be dreading rain in the race.
As usual, I ask for just a few light showers to create some mild chaos both on track and in the strategies.
Bone dry, or constant rain, both tend to give us a dull and predictable race weekend.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th September 2023, 19:25
Hopefully the rain will come, the more rain affected races and the more pirelli\f1 will have to look into how to fix the visibility\tyre problems.