Singapore a happy hunting ground for Williams

This weekend's Singapore Grand Prix provides Williams with its best chance of the season to boost its mediocre points haul.

The British team, which lies only ninth in the Constructors' World Championship, has an excellent record at the Marina Bay circuit and will feel confident of backing that up with a double points finish via the talents of Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado.

Williams cars have missed out on the top 10 in qualifying only once; Nico Hulkenberg's 17th place last year. And it has also managed four points finishes from six individual starts.

Its finest hour came in 2008 when Nico Rosberg ignored a red light at the end of the pitlane while the safety car was out, and turned it to his advantage by using clear track to build up a massive lead before taking the resultant drive-through penalty and dropping to second. It was the last time a Williams finished on the podium.

Marina bay driver notes

• Sebastian Vettel will make his 50th start for Red Bull at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, a race at which small errors have cost him victory over the past two seasons. In 2009 he was caught speeding in the pits while he pulled away from a stop in second gear last year and finished second. Vettel has an impressive record on street circuits over the past two years, having never been off the podium at Monaco, Valencia or Marina Bay since 2009. He has won three of the five street races in that time.

• Mark Webber has reached the finish only once in Singapore, that achievement coming after an accident with Lewis Hamilton last year. His retirement due to brake failure two years ago was the last time the Australian was put out by a mechanical problem.

• Hamilton has usually gone well in Singapore, having won in 2009 and been on course for a podium finish last year before contact with Webber. This is the first year of the McLaren driver's F1 career in which he has failed to make the rostrum on a street circuit, but he could correct that statistic this weekend. Should Hamilton qualify second in Singapore, it would be the fifth straight race in which he has done so. The last time this occurred was in 1993, when Damon Hill achieved the feat from the British-Italian Grands Prix. Riccardo Patrese holds the record of six consecutive front-row starts without a pole, set in 1992.

• Jenson Button has never made the podium in Singapore, a fourth place last year for McLaren his best result.

Alonso is the master of Singapore © sutton-images.com

• Singapore has been a good track for Fernando Alonso in the past, and last year provided him with pole, a lights-to-flag victory and the fastest lap. The track provided him with his only podium of 2010 in a recalcitrant Renault while the previous year he took victory for the French manufacturer from 15th on the grid in a race marred by the deliberate crash of his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr and the controversy that followed. Aided by a pair of wins at Monaco, Alonso is the only driver to have scored points at every street track for the past three years.

• Felipe Massa has experienced a mixed bag of results in Singapore. In 2008 he started from pole and was on course to win, but ended up only 13th after his fuel hose was ripped off by an over-eager exit from a pitstop following a malfunction of his warning light system. He later received a drive-through penalty and a puncture. Last year he climbed from last to eighth, and has not had a podium on a street circuit since winning at Valencia in 2008.

• Michael Schumacher was taken off by both Saubers last year in Singapore and could only convert his ninth place on the grid into 13th in the race. He hasn't scored a point on a street circuit since coming out of retirement.

• Nico Rosberg was second in 2008, but ruined his chances of winning the following year when he bumped over the kerbs at the pit exit after a stop, crossed the crucial white line and received a drive-through penalty. Rosberg has only once qualified outside the top 10 in his 13 street circuit grands prix.

• Bruno Senna qualified last in Singapore for HRT last year, but started ahead of Massa following his countryman's technical problems. He crashed into Kamui Kobayashi's spun Sauber on lap 29.

• Vitaly Petrov has never scored a point on a street circuit in his F1 career, his best result being 11th in Singapore last year.

• Barrichello has finished sixth for the last two years in Singapore in Brawn and Williams machinery respectively, and started from inside the top 10 on each occasion too. In the last three years he has taken points six times out of eight on street tracks.

• Maldonado has finished 18th at both street tracks he's raced at in F1 this year.

• Adrian Sutil crossed the line eighth in Singapore last year, but was dropped to ninth after he was given a 20s penalty for cutting the chicane. It is his only finish at Yas Marina.

Sebastian Vettel has his first 'match point' © LAT

• Paul di Resta's street circuit experience this year has resulted in a 12th place at Monaco and 14th at Valencia.

• Kobayashi was 10th on the grid last year in Singapore, but was eliminated when Senna hit his spun car at a blind corner.

• Sebastien Buemi has qualified 13th in Singapore for the past two years, but has never scored a point; 14th place bin his best finish. Buemi will start his 50th grand prix this weekend and has the record for Toro Rosso appearances.

• Jaime Alguersuari was 12th last year and retired with a brake failure in 2009. The European Grand Prix earlier this year brought him his first F1 points on a street circuit with eighth place.

• Heikki Kovalainen has not scored a point in F1 since finishing seventh in Singapore for McLaren two years ago. Last year his Lotus spectacularly caught fire during the closing stages.

• Jarno Trulli must hate Singapore; hydraulic failures having ended his race for the past two years. He has never beaten his team-mate in qualifying.

• Vitantonio Liuzzi has never got near the top 10 in qualifying at Marina Bay, and he's not performed much better in the races either. Last year he retired following a first-lap collision with Nick Heidfeld while in 2009 he finished 14th.

• Timo Glock finished right behind Lewis Hamilton in both 2008 and '09 by finishing fourth and second; the latter result being the German's last points finish.

Marina Bay team notes

• Red Bull has never won in Singapore, its second and third places for Vettel and Webber last year constituting its best result at Marina Bay.

• Two years ago Hamilton started from pole and won for McLaren. The team has never had a car fail to make the top 10 on the grid and has taken four points finishes out of six in Singapore.

Hamilton was won once in Singapore © sutton-images.com

• Ferrari has had only two points finishes in Singapore, although one of them was Alonso's victory last year. It has had a mixed bag in qualifying too, with one pole, a third spot and three places outside the top 10. The team has not had a pole since Alonso last year at Marina Bay.

• Ross Brawn's team has never finished higher than fifth in Singapore, the outfit scoring that result as Brawn in 2009 and as Mercedes last year.

• Renault has had only a two top 10 starts in Singapore, with Alonso fifth in '09 and Robert Kubica eighth last year. Race results have been somewhat better with Alonso winning in 2008 and taking a podium finish the following year - the last occasion on which he led for the French manufacturer.

• Force India has never had a top 10 grid spot in Singapore, and only managed its first points via Sutil's ninth place a year ago.

• Both Saubers were eliminated in accidents last year, having previously recorded three top 10 grid spots.

• The only Toro Rosso driver who has qualified in the top 10 and scored points in Singapore was Vettel, who came home fifth in 2008 after starting sixth.

• Last year brought retirement for both HRT and Lotus cars, while Lucas di Grassi was the only Virgin driver to make the finish.