Why the Singapore Grand Prix is ​​the toughest of the year

In the absence of the Malaysian Grand Prix since 2017, the Singapore event has become the most difficult on the calendar, both for the bodies and minds of the drivers. Between the intrinsic nature of the route, the suffocating humidity of the tropical climate, and the nighttime schedule of lights out, Marina Bay constitutes a unique challenge.

Published on 16/09/2023 à 14:36

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Why the Singapore Grand Prix is the toughest of the year

The Singapore Grand Prix, festival of lights and difficulties for the drivers. © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

You just have to scan the pilots' Instagram stories to realize it: Singapore is a physical challenge as much as a technical one. In 2022, in a Monegasque gym, next to Novak Djokovic who must have been extremely surprised by the outfit chosen by Nyck De Vries, the Dutchman worked physically… a hat on his head and a good wool on his shoulders. Same winter tunic for George Russell which dripped like a poorly wrung towel, while Carlos Sainz, he filmed himself pedaling on an elliptical bike in a hammam. The 20 dragsters on the grid know it: due to the proximity to the Earth's Equator, the humidity level is constantly close to 80% during the Singapore Grand Prix, while the temperature almost never drops below 30° vs. Bodies suffer, so we might as well prepare them to withstand the 60 degrees of ambient temperature recorded each year in the co