Hulkenberg: Singapore is the toughest race of the year

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg has explained how the Singapore Grand Prix is, to him, the toughest race of year mainly due to the length of the race and the unusually high amount of corners around the 5.073km street circuit. The Marina Bay street circuit consists of 23 corners, albeit taken mainly at a low to medium speed for the majority of the lap.

The 25-year-old German has only raced around the daunting street circuit once throughout his career, during his debut season in 2010 with Williams. In a race that was won by Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg was able to finish 10th for Williams, around a track the German finds both mentally and physically demanding.

“It’s a very long lap with some tricky bumps and kerbs, and you need to get close to the walls if you want to be quick.” Explained Nico Hulkenberg, “So getting the perfect lap is not easy. It’s anti-clockwise, too, although it’s not as demanding on the neck as somewhere like Interlagos because most of the corners are low to medium speed. For me Singapore is the toughest race of the year - physically and mentally. I think it’s because there are 23 corners on the track and it’s one of the longest races of the year – always close to the two hour limit. So you certainly feel it after the race because of the high temperatures and humidity.”

Nico Hulkenberg endured a frustrating Italian Grand Prix, starting from the back of the grid after a mechanical issue on the car during qualifying. This came only a week after the German driver recorded his best finish of his career, with 4th at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hulkenberg, who is currently 14th in the Drivers’ Championship with 31 points, will be understandably striving for yet another competitive result at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1