Despite making just its fourth appearance on the Formula One calendar, the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore has delivered some incredible storylines. In 2008, it became F1's first night race, as well as the 800th race in series history. That event also played witness to the infamous Renault scandal, in which Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash so that teammate Fernando Alonso would gain a significant advantage over his rivals.
The track is a complex venue with 23 turns and very narrow quarters. It's understandably one of the most difficult circuits to overtake on, as well as one of the toughest to come to grips with, as Red Bull's Mark Webber explained to reporters:
"The Singapore night race is a challenging one. The track's bumpy, and although the 1,500-odd lights do a good job at illuminating the circuit, it's not like racing in daylight and that makes it tiring. It's also the longest race of the year, running close to the two-hour time limit set by the FIA, and the intense heat and humidity makes it pretty warm in the cockpit. You have to watch your hydration during the build-up to the race."
Last year, Alonso led from start to finish, narrowly holding off Sebastian Vettel for victory. It was the first grand slam of Alonso's career (pole, win, fastest lap and led every lap), and it continued his comeback in the drivers' championship. This weekend, Alonso could very well be Vettel's biggest challenger, as he has done remarkably well at this course.
The two-time world champion has won here twice, once amidst serious controversy. Nevertheless, no driver has more points earned here than Alonso, and he's reached the podium in all three events. While many others will be trying to learn the intricacies of the course this weekend, Alonso will merely be working on perfecting his attack.
This season, Singapore will mark the sixth anniversary to the day of Alonso's first world title. It was significant in several ways: Not only did he become at the time the youngest champion in F1 history, but he also dethroned Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.
Now, Vettel is on the verge of a second world title, and could clinch at Marina Bay depending on what others do in the race. Vettel must gain 13 points on Alonso, eight each on Jenson Button and Webber and lose no more than one point to Lewis Hamilton to claim the crown. It's certainly a tall order, and much of that likely is out of his control.
If Vettel does leave Singapore as this year's world champion, it would be one of F1's most dominant seasons ever for a driver. With five events still to go after the city circuit, it would be tied for the second-earliest title clinching in F1 history, behind only Schumacher's 2002 campaign, when he clinched with six races left.
Perhaps no driver will ever match Schumacher's run that year. His 11 wins were at the time a single-season F1 record, and he never finished outside the podium in 17 races.
One driver who will be soaking up as much as possible this weekend is Force India's Paul di Resta. He's got momentum behind him, having scored points in two of the last three races after collecting just two points in his first 10 F1 events. He has outscored veteran teammate Adrian Sutil in the past three races, and has just a single official retirement to his name in 2011. That's fewer than Button, Hamilton and Felipe Massa.
The streets of Singapore have not been kind to Force India, however. Vijay Mallya has seen one of his cars fail to finish in all three events, and the team has earned just two total points in three years there. All three accidents were severe enough to bring out the safety car, and it's no doubt proved to be a costly race for the team.
