F1 chief reveals 'BIGGEST CHALLENGE' at Singapore Grand Prix

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has revealed that 'the biggest challenge' of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend revolves around the team's decision to remain on European time.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit is one of the few night races on the calendar, with Sunday's action getting underway under the lights at 20.00 local time.

Singapore is six hours ahead of Monza, where the Italian Grand Prix took place last time out.

READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Albon EXCITED by new Williams F1 project as star driver enjoys extra responsibility

And with the Japanese Grand Prix around the corner as well, Formula 1 teams such as Aston Martin have a difficult task on their hands when it comes to adapting their timings.

Singapore Grand Prix's biggest challenge

"With it being a night race, we eat and sleep on European time in Singapore," McCullough told Aston Martin's in-house media. "The curfew times are based around the session times, and the session times are late in the day while FP2,

"Qualifying and the race start take place at 20:00 or later local time. We offset everything to deal with this."

"The biggest challenge is going back to the hotel when daylight breaks," he added. "You don't want to be taking in too much natural daylight before you go to sleep as three sessions take place under darkness.

"Sometimes, after Qualifying, it's easy to think about lots of extra ‘what if?' scenarios, get back too late and walk back in the daylight. That plays havoc with your sleep pattern.

"We travel to Japan early next week so there's time to get used to the jet lag. There's so much work to do between races – analysing, debriefing the Singapore race, preparing for the Japanese Grand Prix – that you're so busy and kept awake by adrenaline. It keeps you going.

"I tend to find it's fine in the moment; once you finish the Japanese Grand Prix and try and get back to your home time zone, that's when you feel it. You've been on the go for many days in a row, physically and mentally – it's quite hard to recover from that quickly."

READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Verstappen setup quirk which allows Red Bull to make car even fasters

Related

Singapore Grand Prix

Key F1 figure charged in CORRUPTION case

• October 8, 2024 08:27

Red Bull

'PECULIAR' Ricciardo decision prompts rival calls for major change

• September 25, 2024 09:55