Singapore GP Tip: Jenson Button

Take away the night race element and Singapore is much like any other race track. The Marina Bay venue is a tight street circuit, not dissimilar to the others on the F1 calendar.

As noted in our preview piece, Singapore is one of the toughest grand prix with only 71% of the cars finishing. Along with fellow street circuits Melbourne, Monaco and Montreal, Marina Bay is an unforgiving track. It takes a particular skill to drive these tracks well, and looking at the last three years a particular driver keeps cropping up.

If you look at the top three finishers at each of these tracks dating back to 2009 and assign them the current points set (1st =25, 2nd = 18, 3rd = 15) you get an interesting result.

1. Jenson Button = 133 points
2. Sebastian Vettel = 104
3. Fernando Alonso = 73
4. Lewis Hamilton = 68
5. Mark Webber = 40

Famed for his smooth driving style, Button is well suited to the demands of a tight twisting track. You could argue that in 2009 he enjoyed a big advantage with the all conquering Brawn but remove that year from the analysis and he still fairs remarkably well. Since joining McLaren he has outscored his teammate Lewis Hamilton by 83 points to 43 on the same four tracks. A big difference if you consider they have identical cars.

Given a competitive car Jenson Button should always be of interest on a street circuit. He has finished on the podium in his last three races, so the raw pace is there. Back him each way at 8/1 with William Hill and get 1/5 of the odds if he makes the top three.