Autobayng News Team
The FIA has increased the pit lane speed limit for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
The speed limit for the Marina Bay street track was previously set at the lower limit of 60kph due to the limited space available in the pits. However for this year’s race the limit has been increased to 80kph.
The FIA confirmed it gave the go-ahead for the change after the circuit operators widened the pit lane by one metre. F1 cars are limited to a maximum width of two metres.
The change should reduce the amount of time drivers lose by making pit stops in Singapore. Under the lower pit lane speed limit drivers lost around 25 seconds coming in to change tyres. That made it one of the most penalising circuits to make a pit stop on the F1 calendar.
As drivers will lose less time making pit stops this year, teams may be willing to consider pitting more than once. However the difficulty of overtaking at the Singapore circuit may mean they prefer to stick to one-stop strategies.
This is the second race this year at which the FIA has raised the pit lane speed limit. It was also increased from 60kph to 80kph for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
The FIA also confirmed improvements have been made to the pit lane surface for this year’s race. The area between the working lane and the fast lane has been repaired.
The race organisers have also resurfaced several areas of the track. They have laid new asphalt between turns two and three, six and seven, through turn nine, from turns 14 to 16 and 16 to 19. Minor patches have also been laid at turns five, six, 13 and 14.
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