The Motorist Guide to Surviving the F1 Weekend – 2023 Edition

It’s Singapore's turn to host the F1 circus this coming weekend! Our race, the 15th in a 22 race calendar, is the first of the fly-away races after the European leg.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit has played host to the Singapore Grand Prix since 2008, and has seen several minor, but not-insignificant, layout changes. For the 2023 iteration, another update has been made, and sees the final sector of the track being shortened significantly.

This is to allow works to commence on the NS Square, which will take the place of the existing Marina Bay Floating Platform. The reduced track length also means our race will need more laps to meet the minimum 300 kilometre race distance as imposed by the FIA - it’d now be 63 laps long, two laps more than the races of the previous years.

Expectedly, being a street circuit in the heart of Singapore’s CBD, many of the roads that motorists typically use for commutes would be shuttered. You can refer to the handy diagram provided by the Singapore GP organisers on the affected roads.

Affected roads will close from 12.01am, 13 September 2023 for the set-up of race infrastructure and all roads will be fully-accessible by 5.30am, 19 September 2023. To allow for traffic access as soon as possible, race organisers will adopt a phased approach and progressively re-open affected roads after the race.

To facilitate morning and evening peak hour traffic, the following road corridors will be opened at selected hours during the road closure period:

Singapore GP and Motorist strongly urge race attendees to use public transport to get to the tracks. Expect heavy congestion in the areas around the road closures, and the limited parking space in the buildings on the track’s perimeter should be sufficient reasons to deter one from attempting to drive into the city this coming weekend.

If you must drive, look for the open-air car parks dotted about the city, as they generally have lower parking rates than in commercial buildings. You’d be at the track for hours, and it’d be prohibitively costly to park anywhere else.

You’ll be able to find food within the circuit itself, though expect the food to be on the pricier side. Cost-effective options are available outside the circuit, with a decent concentration of convenience stores and fast food chains located outside Gate 5 towards Raffles Place MRT.

As for the racing itself, Max Verstappen currently leads the F1 standings by 145 points over his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez. The team itself has a 310 point advantage over second-placed Mercedes. 

Photo Credit: Formula 1

F1 cars will take to the track for the first time this weekend on Friday at 5:30pm for FP1. FP2 is set for 9pm, with qualifying and the race to take place on Saturday and Sunday at 9pm and 8pm respectively.

Read More: The Motorist Guide To Surviving The F1 Weekend

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