Singapore considering layout changes

According to a report in respected Singapore newspaper Today, Marina Bay chiefs are considering making significant changes to the 3.152-mile layout of the Marina Bay circuit after this year's race to raise the track's average lap speed.

Formula 1's night-race venue is one of the longest on the calendar, with Fernando Alonso's lap record standing at 1m48.240s. Both the events held so far have run to nearly two hours - the FIA's stated maximum time limit for a grand prix.

The Singapore Tourism Board is not planning to make any changes before this year's race, but is looking at modifications to two areas of the track for 2011.

The light-right-left zig-zag from Turns Seven to Nine could be changed into a simple 90 degree left-hander around the War Memorial, instead of inside it.

But more significantly, the changes may also remove altogether the bus-stop chicane sequence that runs underneath the grandstand near the end of the track - near where Nelson Piquet crashed in 2008.

Justin Chew, the Singapore Tourism Board's executive director, told Today: "We are always looking to see how we can improve the Singapore Grand Prix. If it is for the good of the race and makes it more exciting for fans and drivers, we will consider it."