SINGAPORE, Sept. 19 -- Round 15 of the 2019 Formula One World Championship sees the teams and drivers head to Singapore this weekend for 61 grueling laps around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Uniquely among F1 races, the Singapore event takes place in the evening under floodlights, and with the bumpy, 23-corner circuit hemmed in by unforgiving concrete barriers at every turn, there is very little margin for error.
This year's race will be the 12th Singapore Grand Prix, which made its F1 debut in 2008 and has since become one of the championship's stand-out events. Mercedes driver and current championship leader Lewis Hamilton will be looking to make it a Singapore hat-trick, having triumphed here in 2017 and 2018 to add to his previous wins in 2017 and 2008.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel is also a four-time winner at Marina Bay, while his hotshot young teammate Charles Leclerc will be eager to continue his upward trend after taking his first two F1 wins at the previous two rounds in Belgium and Italy.
Asian interest in the race comes in the form of Red Bull's Alex Albon, though the London-born Thai racer has never driven the Marina Bay circuit before.
"It doesn't look an easy track," Albon told Xinhua and assorted media on Thursday. "We'll take it step by step. I'm sure I'll be a bit off the pace initially, but we'll aim to tidy everything up for qualifying and the race. The car is better suited to this track than the previous two races, so we'll see."