F1 Singapore GP: Follow the sprint race at Marina Bay circuit with live timing

"Current plan is to do two formation laps behind the safety car," we're told. Hopefully this will work out better than last time...

Russell now removing his crinkly silver jacket. Like The Who, he won't get foiled again.

Antonelli now sitting pretty in his cars while the rest of the drivers, who encamped in the garages, scramble to get their gear on.

Oh very good, the FIA confirms that the formation lap will begin at 17:30 local.

Famously, of course, it was after the deaths of Marc Bolan and Bing Crosby that a drug-addled Bowie became convinced he was some kind of angel of death, and took himself off to Berlin - where he recorded three of his best albums.

Random WhatsApp message from a former colleague: "Did you know David Bowie's 11th-biggest-selling single by chart performance, downloads, etc, is Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy, his duet with Bing Crosby?"

I did not know this.

There will be another inspection at 17:15.

That's set off this earworm from the mid-1990s: Leftfield's Inspection (Check One).

Those viewers in Europe who delayed breakfast until after the sprint race will be questioning their life choices now.

Well, everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face.

Turns 2/3 continue to be the principal area of concern, we're told.

Cheers from the crowd as the medical car goes out on schedule. And the F1 TV images of it going around illustrates the quandary facing race control. It is indeed a lap of two halves, one wet and one dry.

Another track inspection is planned at 17:05 local.

Various different approaches from the drivers to this hiatus. Antonelli still sitting in his car, others have taken to the garage. Russell is gadding about in a silver coat that makes him look like an extra from TV's Blake's Seven...

The working headline for that column, by the way, was "Malaysia: Let's Come Back, But With Proper Cars".

Can it really be less than a week since I wrote this?

"Indeed, you're more likely to encounter Lord Lucan riding Shergar down your local high street than you are to witness the blue-sidewalled wets being fitted to an F1 car."

"There is a large amount of standing water around Turns 2 and 3" is the rationale given for delaying the start.

We have a delayed start, but the actual start time is unspecified. Our track team report that at the time of writing, only part of the track is wet - so one part of Esplanade Drive is under water, the other end is bone dry.

Speaking of Gazebo, has anyone heard their cover version of Boney M's seminal 1970s hit 'Daddy Cool'?

Those paddock people who dressed in beige tones today now questioning their life choices as the cars sit under temporary gazebos on the grid.

The FIA says the medical car is going out on track to "assess conditions".

Well here we go - it's actually raining.

The sun is starting to set in Singapore and the lights are on. Threatening grey skies overhead - but tricky to discern whether they contain rain or another load of burned-tree particulates from Indonesia.

Lando Norris berated himself after sprint qualifying, saying he simply didn't do as good a job as McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Mercedes is running split car specs this weekend as it tries to understand the performance of its latest upgrade. George Russell has reverted to the previous spec, while championship leader Kimi Antonelli is running the latest one (albeit with the previous rear wing in sprint qualifying).

Antonelli qualified seventh for the sprint and that was "everything he had", said the team. It looks like the upgrade has made the car more nervous. But because it involves under-the-skin changes too, the team can't swap Antonelli back.

We're wondering what mental gymnastics the conspiracy theorists who think Mercedes is favouring Antonelli over Russell will perform to explain this to themselves.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images

WELCOME TO SPRINT RACING IN SINGAPORE

And after a dramatic sprint qualifying session yesterday, Max Verstappen claimed his first pole position around the tropical city state. Mercedes had to come to grips with the flaws of its latest update package. And the FIA had to eat another portion of humble pie after timing glitches and "human error" with Overtake Mode made for chaotic scenes in the first knock-out segment of sprint qualifying.