New schedule for the weekend in Singapore

The fear of a lack of F1 single-seater driving practice in the darkness of the Singapore Grand Prix has diminished as the city-state has revised its schedule for the various practice or qualifying sessions.

The initial schedule alternated Fridays and Saturdays between a day session and a night session. That is, free practice sessions 1 and 3 were held during the day, while free practice 2 and the qualifying sessions were scheduled a bit later, after nightfall.

Although the scheduled daytime sessions were intended to introduce the circuit to the teams and drivers, there were still concerns about a lack of nighttime driving.

With this initial schedule, there would have been only an hour and a half of driving in night-time conditions before the crucial qualifying session on Saturday evening.

The expressed concerns have been the subject of discussions between the teams and the FIA, with the team manager of Scuderia Toro Rosso, Massimo Rivola, leading the charge as he witnessed a Moto GP night race in Qatar at the start of the season.

« Personally, I am not comfortable. There are still some points to discuss, » he had declared at the time of the Moto GP race.

« The most important thing is that our schedule for the F1 race is entirely at night, rather than half during the day and half at night. Sunset in Singapore occurs at 19:00. »

These concerns have led to a revision of the weekend schedule. F1 teams were informed of the latest version of this schedule in Turkey and although there is still a possibility of modification, reliable sources claim that this will be the version used.

The new schedule is as follows:

Free Practice 1, Friday between 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM

Free practice 2, Friday between 9:30 PM and 11:00 PM

Free practice 3, Saturday between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM

Qualifications, Saturday between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM

Race, Sunday at 8:00 PM

This schedule change brings new challenges for the teams, particularly on Fridays, as they will only have a one-hour break between the two practice sessions. The current gap is two and a half hours.