Magnussen: Easy to make mistakes at Singapore

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Renault's Kevin Magnussen is targeting an error-free race at Singapore's Marina Bay Street Circuit next weekend, hoping that the track's unique characteristics could help him finish in the points if he can stay out of trouble.

"The track itself is fun and I always enjoy driving on street circuits. That said, it’s also a pretty tricky circuit to get right with a lot of corners where a mistake can be easily made.

"Grip levels evolve throughout the weekend so the key is set up and getting the balance right. Hopefully it’s a track where we can better our performance a little bit after a disappointing last European race."

After recovering from a heavy crash at Spa two weeks ago, Magnussen's outing at Monza last weekend had ended up being handicapped by his proximity to an early crash involving his team mate Jolyon Palmer and Sauber's Felipe Nasr.

"The beginning of the race wasn’t ideal as I was running very close to both Jo and Felipe Nasr when the incident happened. It was a shame for Jo but also for me as it blocked my way as well.

"In the end it didn’t change much for me as when I got racing again I was at the back of the field and I didn’t have many cars to race against. It was a pretty frustrating Sunday afternoon."

Magnussen has one previous outing at Singapore under his belt where he managed to finish in the points for McLaren in 2014 despite having to overcome technical issues with the car during the race.

"It didn’t go very well as I had an overheating issue in the car – on top of hot conditions!" he recalled. "A radiator seal had broken and there was hot air coming into the cockpit. It was extremely hot!

"This year I’m hoping for a solid race where we can fight in the pack. I really look forward to being in Singapore," he added. "It’s a really cool circuit and being a night race in Singapore, it makes Formula 1 look even more spectacular.

"The entire city lives and breathes F1 during that week and you can feel it in the atmosphere everywhere when you are downtown."

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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.