Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Ricciardo relishing 'physical' Singapore challenge

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Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo is a fan of Singapore, both the on-track action and the opportunity to enjoy the city's nightlife.

"It’s surprising what you can do at 4am in Singapore!" laughed the Australian as he looked forward to life back on the road, as Formula One resumes its long haul flyaway races after Monza signalled the end of this year's European leg.

"The city’s great. Good restaurants, good atmosphere, great nightlife. Yeah, my kind of place!" he said. "The longer the race has been there, the more familiar the city has become with our schedule and more restaurants and bars are staying open later."

Despite the change in time zone, the drivers and teams get to stick to a broadly European schedule for the Singapore weekend, with the race itself taking place late at night under powerful floodlights.

"It’s a pretty crazy schedule," admitted Ricciardo of the timeshifted arrangements. "I’ll end up chilling by the pool perhaps, when we get back at 4am before going to bed – but it’s not as if we’d have any action on those nights if it were an afternoon race."

Other than the weather and the floodlights, the other significant feature of note in Singapore is undoubtedly the weather, which is notoriously hot and humid placing a strain on the drivers throughout the weekend.

"I think it’s all those tall buildings downtown – the heat doesn’t have anywhere to go," he mused.

"It’s the most physical challenge of the year. It’s the only race of the season where you crack open your visor to let in some cool air and instantly wish you hadn’t because it’s hotter outside.

"By the warm-up lap your chilled drinks bottle is the temperature of a freshly-poured cup of tea. It’s a tough place to race – but I love the challenge. I think most of the drivers do.

"I like the track," he added. "Street circuits are fun: you’re bouncing off the kerbs, kissing the walls, it’s cool."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.