Vettel can close gap on F1 leader in the cauldron

● A night race on the streets of Singapore is one of the most spectacular sights in Formula 1 — and today’s race should be no different. (Start 2.10pm SA time.)

Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas this week described the Singapore circuit as “super twisty where the walls are close … you cannot make any mistakes”.

The temperature often exceeds 30°C. With humidity at 80%, and with race suits on, the drivers must endure temperatures of about 50°C in the cockpit.

Stoffel Vandoorne, who is to leave McLaren at the end of the season, has described it as the “Singapore Sauna”, while Bottas said a driver could “lose three and a half kilos” during the race.

With Sebastian Vettel under growing pressure to slash Lewis Hamilton’s championship lead, the heat, both literally and figuratively, is on. In addition, Ferrari will want to erase painful memories from last year.

Mercedes cars normally struggle at the steamy Marina Bay circuit, but in 2017 Hamilton won from fifth on a rain-soaked grid after a first-lap shunt scuppered both Ferraris and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Ferrari and Vettel are still smarting after Hamilton won at Italy’s Monza 10 days ago, despite the Marinello team locking out the front row of the grid at their home grand prix.

Record four victories

Vettel’s first-lap spin after contact with Hamilton enabled the Englishman to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings to 30 points and the German vowed to bounce straight back in Singapore, where he has won a record four times.

“For sure it’s a disappointment right now,” Vettel said after the race. “But I am turning the page and focusing on Singapore — I like the place and I am happy to go there.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff warned this week that Ferrari and Red Bull would have the edge on Mercedes on the tight, twisting street circuit. But with rain forecast again this week, anything could happen.

“Singapore has features that we've struggled with in the past,” said Wolff. “The short straights, the slow, tight corners and the bumpy surface all make the Marina Bay Street circuit one of the trickiest for us.

“On paper, the track should favour the Ferraris, but the championship fight is so close that predictions are almost meaningless.”

Vettel said he was not worried about the gap to Hamilton growing to 30 points with seven races remaining, and is relishing the chance to pounce on one of his favourite tracks.

“The points sound a lot, but actually it doesn't take a long time to get them down,” he said.

Red Bull will fancy their chances of picking up a second 2018 win to follow Daniel Ricciardo's triumph at Monaco’s similarly twisty street circuit.