By Will Davies
When it comes to Formula One races, Sebastian Vettel and his
InfinitiRed Bull Racing team have owned the Singapore Grand Prix.
This year, however, things are different.
Going into this weekend's night race in Singapore, the four-time
world champion is adrift in sixth place in the drivers'
championship, while Red Bull is second in the constructors' table,
on 272 points and far behind Mercedes, which has 454.
This is unfamiliar territory. Last season, Vettel and Red Bull
were unstoppable, winning 13 of 19 races, including nine in a row
as the 26-year-old German romped to his fourth consecutive world
title. New rules, including for smaller engines, have put Vettel's
2014 campaign into such a spin that Red Bull's best hope now lies
with its other driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is two years younger
than Vettel but 60 points ahead of him in the championship in third
place.
Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner told The Wall Street
Journal that the Singapore Grand Prix, staged at night on a street
circuit since 2008, provides one of the best opportunities of the
season for a return to the top of the podium, somewhere Vettel
hasn't been in 2014.
"Sebastian has set an exceptionally high standard for himself
over the last four years and with the new powertrains, a less
competitive package and a frustrating number of technical issues
he's found it hard to reach those heights this year," Horner said.
"Everything is in place for him to start winning races again. He
remains one of the most skilled, intelligent and driven individuals
I have ever worked with."
Horner added that Ricciardo, who has 166 points, faces an uphill
battle to contend for the 2014 title. Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg
and Lewis Hamilton are first and second in the drivers' standings,
on 238 and 216 points, respectively.
"Daniel has surpassed all expectations this year. The very fact
that we're talking about him as a championship contender at this
stage of the season," he said. "Daniel has put a marker down with
his performances and should be considered a championship contender
for years to come."
Since it began six years ago, the Singapore Grand Prix has
become an eye-catching date on the region's calendar, with extra
stardust landing with performances by the likes of Rihanna, Katy
Perry and even the Proclaimers. This year, the musical acts include
Ziggy Marley and the Pet Shop Boys. The weather forecast for the
weekend is thunder and lightning.
Practice rounds begin Friday evening, qualifying starts at 9
p.m. local time Saturday and the race begins 8 p.m. Sunday. During
practice, teams tinker with their cars, which are adapted to suit
the different conditions of every race. For Red Bull, this means
working closely with its operations room back in the U.K., where
engineers monitor the car, as well as those of rival teams.
Formula One has become increasingly reliant on data. With the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ruling that only 60
members of a team can attend a race, a lot of important analysis is
done far away from the track. While Vettel and Ricciardo race
around Singapore's streets this weekend, they will be fed tidbits
of information originating from Red Bull's operation room in the
English town of Milton Keynes.
For this, Red Bull has a partnership with AT&T, which
installs networks at every race. In March, the companies said an
expanded agreement would see AT&T this year providing
communications two-and-a-half times faster than last season. "The
network will play a crucial part in how we develop the car;
gathering data, learning from it and adapting will ultimately
determine our season," Horner said at the time.
Other teams have similar relationships with telecom
companies.
Alan Peasland, Red Bull's head of technical partnerships, said
the car for the Singapore Grand Prix would be radically different
to the one at the most recent race, in Italy on Sept. 7, with
different front and rear wings and altered bodywork to tailor the
vehicle to the track.
"Car development is always a compromise for every race
track...over the course of a season you never really get there with
the perfect car," he said Monday. "The challenge for every F1 team
is to try to get to the optimum car earlier in the season than the
competition...it is a case of tying in the real car performance to
the data from all of your simulation and analysis at the factory,"
he added.
With Mercedes so far ahead with just five races to go after
Singapore, Red Bull's challenge for a fifth-consecutive title is in
the dust. Horner said Red Bull and Renault aren't satisfied with
the power unit's performance this season, but the two are committed
to continuing their collaboration.
"Based on what we've seen this season we should be well equipped
for Singapore, it's a track which plays to our strengths as it
demands more of the cars' aerodynamics and less straight line
speed," he said. "Whether this will be enough to put us in
contention with a very strong Mercedes package remains to be seen,
but we're looking forward to what we hope will be a more
competitive weekend for us."
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