Favourites find the need for speed on the streets of Singapore

Doubts may linger about the future of the Singapore Grand Prix but there is no question Sunday night's action is likely to be a closely contested affair, writes Gary Meenaghan.

Jenson Button twisted and bounced his McLaren-Mercedes through the Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore during practice on Friday night.

SINGAPORE // Doubts linger regarding the future of the Singapore Grand Prix, but if the sport's only night race is dependent on the quality of Sunday's action, negotiations between Bernie Ecclestone and the event organisers will be resolved without issue.

Singapore's contract with Formula One expires Sunday evening and discussions are believed to have stalled due to Ecclestone's financial demands. A news conference is scheduled to take place this evening, but whatever the outcome is, the 14th contest of the season looks destined to be a thriller.

During the weekend's first two practice sessions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Friday, the three teams who have tossed around the advantage in the constructors' and drivers' championships showed exciting, enticing pace as less than 0.8 seconds separated the five quickest cars. It appears that, as the championship begins to rush towards its climax, Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes are all ready for a final push for the finish line.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull's reigning champion who qualified poorly in Belgium and endured disappointment in Italy, rediscovered his speed Friday night to finish fastest in both sessions, while McLaren's Jenson Button, forced to retire at Monza and having arrived in Southeast Asia downplaying his team's chances, was just 0.3 seconds behind in the second of the two practices.

Button had predicted Red Bull would return to the fore at a circuit that has favoured them in recent seasons and the Englishman was proved correct.

Vettel, however, was as quick to play down his team's pace as he was to display it on the bumpy asphalt.

"We can be quite happy, but let's see what we do [Saturday]," Vettel said. "It is not very conclusive, especially around here because people might be in traffic and get stuck. All in all, the car seemed to work on either tyre and we go from there."

Fernando Alonso - Mr Consistent in a season of unpredictable results - took his Ferrari around the 5.073km track third quickest, placing himself narrowly behind Button and just 0.058s ahead of Vettel's teammate Mark Webber.

Lewis Hamilton, with two wins from the previous three races, was fifth quickest.

Webber said it is a return of the usual suspects fighting at the front, but hopes that, unlike in recent weeks, his marque can push on. "We never take anything for granted," he said. "We have a fresh day, we have to be ready for that. Normally we find a bit of a step from Friday to Saturday, with the exception of the last few events, and we are looking forward to putting up a good challenge this weekend."

The order of the field appears perfectly poised to produce a race that will, under nightfall, light up a championship contest already in direct contrast to last season. When the F1 fraternity arrived in Asia in 2011, Vettel had such a dominant lead he could have sealed the championship with five races to go. Instead, despite winning, he was made to wait until the following race in Japan, yet this year, he arrives in fourth place and 39 points behind leader Alonso.

At Monza two weeks ago, Alonso spoke of giving away an "easy" pole position after suffering mechanical issues during qualifying. Here he said while Ferrari do not appear as competitive as they were in Italy, the overall performance should be seen as positive.

"Testing the tyres over a long distance is very complicated on a track like this because of the traffic, therefore it is difficult to make a direct comparison to our main competitors," the Spaniard said.

It also appears Alonso's home country will lose one of its two grands prix next season after a provisional calendar was leaked that saw Valencia's European Grand Prix removed in place of an American race in the state of New Jersey.

The Etihad Abu Dhabi Grand Prixappears tentatively scheduled to take place on November 3, paired - like this year - back-to-back with India. Singapore, despite the doubts, appears on the provisional calendar and should take place on September 22.

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