Singapore Grand Prix: all you need to know about F1’s OG night race

Set the scene for me.

F1 is so unpredictable at the moment that not even the title contenders are guaranteed a shot at victory: championship leader Max Verstappen was well off the pace in his struggling Red Bull last weekend in Baku, but his closest challenger - McLaren’s Lando Norris - missed out as well after a yellow flag in qualifying ruined his weekend. Oops.

That left his teammate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to dice it out for the win, and oh my did they put on a show. Leclerc dominated the early stages from pole but the young Aussie hit back with a mega move on the brakes after his only pit stop, and then he defended the lead like a seasoned pro thereafter to take the chequered flag for the second time in his fledgling career. He’s a star in the making for sure.

And so F1 arrives in Singapore with Verstappen still 59 points ahead of Norris, but with McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all capable of making the podium, the reigning champ is far from comfortable.

Singapore is usually a tough one for Red Bull as well. Might this be the place a decisive points shift finally ignites the title battle good ‘n’ proper?

Meanwhile the FIA has declared that McLaren’s so-called flexible wing (footage last week showed it bending on the straights) complies with the rules, and rumour has it that Daniel Ricciardo’s time at RB might soon be up. Watch this space.

What time does the Singapore Grand Prix start?

Singapore might be several hours ahead of the UK, but as it’s a night race that’s good news for British fans. The grand prix gets underway at 1pm BST on Sunday 22 September, with qualifying the day before at 2pm.

The first practice session is at 10.30am on Friday, with FP2 at 2pm and FP3 10.30am, just a few hours before quali.

Is it going to rain?

Well now. According to the weather forecast there are thunderstorms in the area over all three days of action, and while most of the rain is set to fall in the mornings, there’s an outside chance that we could get some showers during qualifying and the race itself. Which would certainly spice things up a bit.

Gimme some history in 100 words or fewer.

The Singapore Grand Prix is the original F1 night race, running for the first time under the floodlights in 2008… yep, the year Renault allegedly fixed the result. Eep. In 2018 Lewis Hamilton set possibly the greatest pole lap of the modern era here (seriously, go look it up on YouTube) and a year later Sebastian Vettel scored his 53rd and last F1 win on these streets. And in 2023, Carlos Sainz invented a whole new way to win, deliberately giving the car behind the DRS in order to defend from the even faster cars behind that one. Genius.

The top three will be…

Hmm. Ferrari and McLaren looked especially quick in Azerbaijan last week, so let’s assume their street track form carries on this weekend. We’re going for Leclerc for the win: he’s one of the very best over a single lap and history shows that if you grab pole in Singapore, you’re going to be almost impossible to overtake. Norris to finish second and Piastri third, possibly with some team orders in play.

Shock of the weekend?

Red Bull will follow Mercedes, McLaren and RB and unveil a last-minute, one-off livery. Except it’ll be a No Livery livery, designed to shed weight and gain back a few precious thousandths of a second in lap time.

Where can I watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

If you’re watching from the UK, you can either fork out for Sky Sports’ F1 channel or fork out for Now TV. Either way, it’ll cost you. The free option is to wait for Channel 4’s highlights show: the race round-up will begin at 5.30pm on Sunday, with quali highlights shown on Saturday from 6.55pm. Failing that, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra will have commentary of the race from 12.45pm on Sunday.

Or… it’s (possibly) not too late to hop onto a plane to Singapore, and splash out on a high-rise hotel room with a view of the track. Lot of effort though, eh?