With Sepang, 300 kilometres away, no long on the F1 calendar, Singapore will be the championship’s only visit to the region’s tropical rainforest climate this year.
Predicting the exact timing of the area’s characteristic thunderstorms several days in advance is always tricky. This time last year there was only a suggestion the race would be affected by rain for the first time in the 10-year history of the Singapore Grand Prix.At present, though the usual thunderstorms are expected over the weekend, they do not appear set to coincide with the evening track action. First practice at 4:30pm local time on Friday – always an unrepresentative session as it’s held before the sun sets – could catch the tail end of one shower.
Qualifying (9pm Saturday) and the race (8:10pm Sunday) should be held on dry tracks. But the conditions will be as sweltering as ever.
While midday temperatures will reach 31C it isn’t likely to be much cooler after the sun goes down – easily in the 28-29C region. High humidity will sap the drivers’ energy during what is usually one of the longest races of the year.
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For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account.
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sally
13th September 2018, 8:53
Hopefully it will rain or the race will be a boring procession
bukester (@bukester)
13th September 2018, 9:01
Pray for rain or Flavio and Pat to make an appearance . Otherwise yawn…
frood19 (@frood19)
13th September 2018, 9:09
@bukester I think that’s slightly unfair. granted, the race at the front is usually pretty dull unless something untoward happens, but the racing further down the field has often been very entertaining. the spectacle of the race is always worth a look too (the sparks, the bumps, the proximity of the walls) and the fact it is a bit of an outlier in terms of the heat/humidity and the length of the race. I would much prefer a shorter track though.
Jonathan Parkin
13th September 2018, 10:50
I don’t mind the track length. What I would like I’d for all the painted lines to be on the track and not for half of them to be burned off
gotit
13th September 2018, 9:10
Bit sad really rain always mixs it up. Plus it would suIt the bulls better. Rain in Q3 with LH And VET spinin off and startin last. That wood be fun. Still can but dream.
Tango (@tango)
13th September 2018, 9:52
Rain mostly ends up with ham winning nowadays
Chaitanya
13th September 2018, 11:24
On a wet track that Merc is a different beast. Rains would certainly spice up the procession.
Prarag Chopra (@prarag-chopra)
14th September 2018, 1:12
Hamilton is a different beast when it rains
SparkyAMG (@)
13th September 2018, 12:04
@gotit The ‘bulls’ have been nowhere in the rain this year so for once I expect they’ll be praying for it to remain dry.
joe pineapples
13th September 2018, 9:20
Bah!
Jere (@jerejj)
13th September 2018, 9:54
Good thing. BTW, ”always an unrepresentative session as it’s held before the sun sets”
– Yes, but nowhere near to the same extent as in Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi due to how stable the temperatures stay in this type of climate throughout the day (and year for that matter as well). Furthermore, even that session, as well as, FP3 still take place relatively close to the sunset (the former ends only approximately an hour before while the latter starts the same amount before, and subsequently ends just before the sunset) in Singapore. On the Middle Eastern venues, on the other hand, the (earlier) afternoon sessions are entirely useless due to how big the difference in track temperatures is there under direct sunshine Vs., how it is when the Sun is only a few degrees above the Horizon or below it.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
13th September 2018, 15:03
Weather trend in the region these days tends to had clear morning and heavy rain in the late afternoon. So don’t give up, guys. There might be no rain in the qualy nor during the race, but it highly possible we had damp track this weekend.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th September 2018, 13:42
@ruliemaulana Yes, but generally September is less rainy than in comparison March or April (when the Malaysian GP was held for 15 seasons.)