Singapore 2014 - GP Preview - Ferrari

With the European part of this season consigned to history, it’s time for the Formula 1 circus to leave home and tackle the final six Grands Prix of the season, which involves criss-crossing the globe from the Far East to the West and back to its Middle East finale.

The first of those appointments is at the photogenic and floodlit Marina Bay circuit in Singapore and involves a move away from the tracks where power and top speed are the key factors, as Scuderia Ferrari’s Engineering Director Pat Fry explains. “After the two races in Spa and Monza, run on low downforce circuits, we now go to Singapore which is at completely the other end of the spectrum,” says the Englishman. “It’s a street circuit requiring very high downforce, where we will be running the Soft and Supersoft tyres on a track with similar characteristics to Monaco. There are hardly any high speed corners and only two turns that have combined lateral and longitudinal acceleration and therefore the challenge is more about straight line acceleration and good traction.”

The two standout features of the Singapore weekend are the fact that track action takes place at night and, being in the Tropics, it’s very hot. The former element is something that over the years has proved easy to adapt to, while the heat is tough on drivers, team personnel and the cars. “Even though it’s a night race, the temperatures are still very high, in the high 20s or low 30s, which puts heavy demands on the cooling systems for the engine and the ERS,” says Fry. “In addition, the start-stop nature of the layout puts a high loading on the brake systems, with the front brakes in particular taking a real pounding.”

The characteristics of the 5.065 km street track should be better suited to the F14 T than the fast flowing circuits of the past month. However, nothing can be taken for granted at what is one of the hardest events on the calendar and for the Scuderia crew the motivation to do well is clear. “Monza was a tough weekend for us,” admits Fry. “So now we are regrouping and we will keep pushing forward, concentrating on getting the best out of the package we’ve got.” While the team clearly wants to finish the season as high up the order in the Constructors’ classification, there are other reasons for wanting to push hard to the very end of the year. “At this stage of the season, the focus in the factory is shifting more towards next year’s car,” reveals Fry. “However, there is still quite a lot we can learn from track testing, therefore we will be bringing some specific test components for next year and other developments for the F14 T, which will help our understanding for next year.”