Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Red Bull have ensured this race will be spicy on the strategy front even without the safety car that has happened in every grand prix in Singapore so far. 

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen start from second and fourth on the super-soft tyres while the Mercedes drivers and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen will be on the ultra-softs. 

Ricciardo said he was surprised more teams had not done it. ”It was always the plan even before the weekend,” the Australian said. “We expected other teams to do it as well, so I would say we were surprised we were the only ones. I don't know if it was 'cause they had enough super-softs to pick out. We did it at Monaco thinking it would be the right thing, but we didn't see it (in the race) because of the weather, so we will see."    

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

After Lewis Hamilton won the championship last season Nico Rosberg finished the year strongly, winning the last three races. 

He'll be hoping for a similar run this time, but could do with it starting it a little earlier. Over the course of the last seven races in 2015, Hamilton still had the edge as he took six more points than Rosberg.

His old team Manchester United may have just kicked off against Watford, but Rio Ferdinand's focus is firmly on the F1. 

Good man.

Image source, Getty Images

One thing Lewis Hamilton certainly cannot afford to have is another bad start. He has had four already this season - in Australia, Bahrain, Canada and Italy - and has only once before managed to recover to at least the position he started from.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Jenson Button was really not having a good weekend in Singapore, lagging the best part of a second - and sometimes more - behind team-mate Fernando Alonso. Until qualifying, that is, when Button finally found his feet and the gap was more normal. Alonso was still ahead, just not by that much, as usual. 

On their final laps in second qualifying, Button was about a 10th or so down on Alonso when he overcooked it in Turn 14, tapped the wall and broke his left rear wheel. That meant he qualified 13th, with Alonso ninth. Both are expecting a difficult race. 

“Toro Rosso and Force India are much quicker than us on long runs,” Button said. Alonso added: “Hopefully we can do a good start and good strategy and score some big points but at the moment the pace does not come too easy.” It was all a bit of a disappointment from a team who expected more from this weekend.

Image source, AFP

Romain Grosjean also drops down the grid having taken a five-place penalty following a gearbox change after qualifying. 

Here's how the grid looks after the penalties have been applied.

1) Rosberg 2) Ricciardo 3) Hamilton 4) Verstappen 5) Raikkonen 6) Sainz 7) Kvyat 8) Hulkenberg 9) Alonso 10) Bottas 

11) Massa 12) Button 13) Gutierrez 14) Ericsson 15) Magnussen 16) Nasr 17) Perez 18) Palmer 19) Grosjean 20) Wehrlein 21) Ocon 22) Vettel

Image source, Get

Sergio Perez qualified 10th on Saturday but he has been handed a combined eight-place grid penalty after being found guilty of two infractions under double yellows in qualifying.

The Mexican started his final Q2 runs just as Romain Grosjean's Haas hit the wall, bringing out the yellow flags.

While many others abandoned their laps, Perez improved his time to get into Q3. Stewards found that he had not slowed sufficiently and was given a five-place penalty before being found to have overtaken Esteban Gutierrez's Haas while still under yellows, resulting in an additional three-place drop.

All in all a pretty bad day for him!

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Ferrari came in for some criticism for leaving Sebastian Vettel out after he radioed in early on his first flying lap of qualifying to say something was broken in his car’s suspension. But Vettel said the team realised they had no time to change the broken rear anti-roll bar so he stayed out to try to get a lap in - “but I was going round on three wheels, which doesn't really work”. 

Vettel had been struggling in practice but he said the car felt better after dark. But he still admitted the gap to Mercedes - team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was a second off in fifth place - was “probably bigger than everyone expected, not just to us, but also to Red Bull”. 

As for the race starting from the back, Vettel said: “It is a long race and we can still fight back with strategy. We’ll see what we can do. With safety cars and so on you can always come back.” 

He has a new engine and gearbox, which Ferrari can do without penalty seeing as he is at the back.

Image source, Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel is the most successful driver in Singapore having won the race in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 but he has got plenty of work to do today.

He starts from the back of the grid having qualified slowest on Saturday after his Ferrari suffered a suspension failure.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Understandably, Lewis Hamilton was not in the best of moods after what was undoubtedly his worst qualifying of the season after Baku. “I really don’t want to go into it,” he said. “The more I talk about it, the more it will sound like an excuse. I just haven’t been quick all weekend.” And how did he feel about the race? “I don’t feel any type of way right now. I will see how it goes. If it goes well, it goes well. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Image source, Rex Features

As you can tell from below, the drivers are out for the drivers' parade as sky gradually gets darker above Singapore. We should be in full night mode in about 20 minutes.

The race starts at 13:00 BST, with live audio commentary online and on BBC Radio 5 sports extra.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Rex Features

Nico Rosberg said his pole lap on Saturday was one of the “top three” of his career. He should know, of course, but the 0.7-second margin to team-mate Lewis Hamilton suggested the sample might be rather smaller than that. 

Without scouring the records to check, it is pretty safe to say that you could count with the fingers of one hand the number of times Hamilton has been out-qualified by a team-mate by that much when there has not been an obvious problem with the  car. Even Daniel Ricciardo said Rosberg’s lap had been “pretty mega”. 

Having seen a 43-point championship lead turned into a 19-point deficit, Rosberg is not going down without a fight this season and he now has a great chance to retake the championship lead. The first big question is the start. On average, a Mercedes driver has made a bad getaway every four starts this season. Rosberg has not had a bad one since Germany in July. Can he keep the lead into the first corner? His victory chances might depend on it.

With Nico Rosberg ideally positioned to win his third successive race, should Lewis Hamilton be worried about his chances of defending the world title? 

A win for Rosberg would move him into the championship lead, but if Hamilton wins the pressure will be on his team-mate heading into the latter stages of this season. Could this prove to be a pivotal race in the title race?

Let us know your thoughts via #bbcf1, text in on 81111 (UK only) or post a comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's how it looks at the top of the drivers' championship, where Lewis Hamilton leads Nico Rosberg by just the two points.

The three above are also at the front of the pack for today's race with Rosberg on pole, Daniel Ricciardo second and Hamilton third.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

This could be a tasty one. It will certainly be a long one. Sixty-one laps of the Marina Bay Circuit takes very nearly two hours. Nico Rosberg took a stunning pole, but is under serious threat from the Red Bulls, which were quicker on race pace in Friday practice than Mercedes. 

Lewis Hamilton was downcast on Saturday night, perplexed by his mystifying lack of pace, but he will have reset overnight and be keen to prevent Rosberg taking the championship lead he has not held since before the Hungarian Grand Prix in July. 

Statistically, the chances of a safety car are 100%. Sit back, settle down and enjoy what could be one of the most spectacular races of the year.