The Formula 1 season moves to Singapore this weekend, where the Marina Bay Street Circuit will play host to the 14th round of the 2014 campaign.
Recognised as the calendar's only 'true night race' by Formula1.com, the Singapore Grand Prix offers something a little different, although Nico Rosberg will still hope to emerge with an even greater lead at the head of the drivers' standings.
Practice will see the action begin on Friday and lead right through to Sunday's climax, with full schedule, viewing details and talking points of the upcoming extravaganza discussed below.
Practice 3
Saturday, Sept. 20, 11 a.m. BST/6 a.m. ET
Sky Sports F1 / NBCSN
Qualifying
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2 p.m. BST/9 a.m. ET
Sky Sports F1 / NBCSN
Race
Sunday, Sept. 21, 1 p.m. BST/8 a.m. ET
Sky Sports F1 / NBCSN
SingaporeGP.sg
Formula1.com
Formula One's 'Quietened Era' Postponed
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The latest move engineered to produce the most entertaining Formula 1 spectacle saw plans for a ban on radio messages tabled in recent weeks, but the change won't be arriving in 2014, it's been announced.
The Telegraph's Daniel Johnson quoted 2014 leader Rosberg supporting a strategy aimed at forcing drivers to rely more on individual talent and less on instruction from their teams.
Lars Baron/Getty Images
However, the FIA released a statement on Friday, just hours before first practice was set to get underway at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, per The Guardian:
Messages concerning a driver's own performance will not be allowed, but the expected ban on those relating to car performance will now be postponed until 2015 to give teams more time to prepare.
Rosberg's team-mate Lewis Hamilton is also in support of the limits on radio communication, per Sky Sports F1:
'It's back to the old-school,' says Lewis Hamilton as he & Rosberg hope radio silence increases chances to gain edge http://t.co/VsbU6osfps
- Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 17, 2014
The sentiment behind the change is to create a rawer sense of competition in the sport once again, a connection between man and machine, perhaps as opposed to men and machine.
The late hour of the announcement comes as a surprise and undoubtedly drains some of the excitement from Sunday's meeting.
Mercedes Tensions on Red Alert
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As Rosberg and Mercedes team-mate Hamilton continue to clash for top billing in the drivers' standings, tensions remain at an all-time high between the two.
BBC Sport calls it 'the most fractious intra-team Formula 1 title battle' the sport has seen for years, and Mercedes' team boss Toto Wolff is quoted confirming the rivalry runs as strong as ever:
It has changed from, let's say, an almost amicable relationship at the beginning of the season to a very intense moment, where it was almost like realising these two are enemies competing for the world title.
It's also a learning process. These boys have been calibrated their whole life that their main priority is to win the drivers' championship in F1. And here they go - they are in the same car, competing against each other for that trophy and one is going to win and one is going to fail. This is a new experience for them - a difficult experience maybe.
Those tensions came to a head in Spa when the pair came into contact with one another during the Belgian Grand Prix, the blame placed on Rosberg for that incident and no make-up period evident, it appears.
With 22 points separating the pair in first and second with just six stages left this year, the clock is ticking down for Hamilton to launch a revival, and Rosberg will no doubt be determined to ensure that doesn't come to pass.
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