Why F1’s old Singapore Sling chicane disappeared

At Marina Bay’s old Singapore Sling, one small mistake could send an F1 car over raised kerbs towards the wall. Organisers removed the double chicane after the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix, following complaints from drivers.

From the circuit’s opening in 2008 until the 2013 layout change, the Sling was a double chicane. Its extra-high kerbs were installed to stop drivers taking the sequence flat out, making it an extremely technical corner.

The chicane brought spectacle too: Kimi Räikkönen, Adrian Sutil and Kamui Kobayashi all crashed there. Some fans enjoyed the Sling, but drivers counted it among the calendar’s least popular corners. RacingNews365 reported that Lewis Hamilton called it “the worst corner he had ever driven through.”

Turn 10 remains, but its shape has changed. It is now a left-hand corner with a tight entry that leads into tighter Turns 11 and 12 before the hairpin.

Marina Bay’s latest major revision came in 2023, when the Esplanade and Bay combinations gave way to a longer straight. That redesign took the layout from 23 corners to 19, with lap times falling by about eight seconds.