About Marina Bay
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a street circuit around Marina Bay, Singapore, encompassing the planning areas of Downtown Core and Kallang. It is the venue for the Singapore Grand Prix. The track is unique in that the race is held at night, illuminated by thousands of powerful projectors that replicate daylight conditions.
It is one of the most physically demanding races on the calendar due to the bumpy street surface, the humidity of Singapore, and the sheer number of corners. The race often runs close to the two-hour time limit. The layout threads its way past iconic landmarks like the Singapore Flyer and the Anderson Bridge.
The circuit requires high downforce and excellent traction. There is very little margin for error, with concrete walls lining the entire track. Safety Car interventions are almost guaranteed, adding a layer of strategic complexity. Modifications in 2023 removed four corners in the final sector to create a new straight, slightly increasing the average speed.
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a joint venture between Singapore GP Pte Ltd, controlled by Singaporean tycoon Ong Beng Seng of Hotel Properties Limited, and the Singapore Tourism Board, which contributes roughly 60 per cent of the annual event hosting cost from public funds. The current F1 contract, renewed in January 2022, runs until 2028 and represents Singapore's second decade-long commitment to the race, with the government-published economic impact study showing an average of 210 million Singapore dollars per weekend in incremental tourism receipts. Ong himself was the driving force behind bringing Formula One to Southeast Asia after a chance meeting with Bernie Ecclestone at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, where he reportedly promised Ecclestone "a race in a place where nobody sleeps" over dinner at the Hotel de Paris.