Sam Michael hopeful on Williams upgrades

Sam Michael, Technical Director: Previous Williams cars have been competitive around Singapore’s street circuit so the FW32 should be as well. With some further upgrades for the car which should improve our recent good form further, we’re looking to have both drivers in the top ten in qualifying and then fighting for points in the race. As the season has progressed, the level of competitiveness throughout the grid has increased with closer lap times across the board. We don’t anticipate this race to be any different.

Rubens Barrichello: Singapore is a lovely place to go and it’s completely different to the other races on the calendar. The track is a fairly typical street circuit and it benefits from a variety of corners. It can be a challenge to find the optimum set-up, but that makes it more interesting, and one of the reasons I like going there so much. There are some overtaking opportunities, like at turn four and towards the end of the lap. People also run different strategies which gives you the chance to gain position.

We suffered a bit with the light the first year we raced there, but the organisers have improved that now. Driving a night race is similar to watching TV in standard, not high definition; there’s just a bit less precision. In summary, Singapore is a lovely track to drive, there’s always plenty of fun during the race and it’s a good event for Formula One. There’s just something special about it.

Nico Hülkenberg: We had a good result in Monza. I’m feeling more and more comfortable in F1 and in our car which is helping me to get the most out of a race weekend. I’m definitely getting more out of the FW32 than I was at the start of the season and I hope I can convert that into some more point-scoring finishes for the team.

Singapore looks like a cool track. It will be my first time there, but I have been using the simulator so at least I know the layout already and I like street circuits. I drove a night race in GP2 Asia in 2009 so driving at night isn’t new to me and it makes the whole event a bit more special. Driving-wise, I don’t think it’ll be too different to normal; the key thing is to adjust to the timings; so going to bed in the middle of the night and then waking up at midday! Everything is out of our normal timeframe, but I’m sure it will be exciting. Everybody speaks very positively about this race, many people say it is the highlight of the year, so I really just want to go and find out for myself!