Whilst the all-new Marina Bay Street Circuit has generally received an enthusiastic if cautious thumbs-up from the Formula 1 fraternity ahead of this weekend's inaugural Si🦹ngapore Grand Prix i🍰n the city-state, a number of areas have come in for criticism - not least of which being the 'dangerous' entry to the pits.

The pit-lane begins at the penultimate corner of t✃he 23-turn lay🐲out, clipping the apex of the fast double left-hander which completes the lap, and an 'off' for Sebastian Vettel as the Italian Grand Prix winner attempted to avoid a wayward Jarno Trulli prompted Scuderia Toro Rosso team-mate S?bastien Bourdais to describe the situation as 'incredibly dangerous'.

Whilst both Ferrari drivers tended to agree - title challenger Felipe Massa admitting the section is 'a bit critical' and def🦹ending F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen stating that both the entry and exit of the pit-lane 'are pretty difficult and we will have to be very careful' - Trulli was adamant that driving the wrong way on the circuit and crossing the pit-lane entry had been the wisest thing to do following his practice spin.

"I wanted to move off🔥 the racing line as safely as possible," explained the exp꧑erienced Italian, who found himself formally reprimanded and fined EUR10,000 for his actions, "so I decided to go down the pit-lane.

"I took the quickest and safest option available to me and the other cars. I have been penalised and I accept that, but I know I 💮did the safest thing for me and the other drivers. It is one of the quickest corners on the track, ✨and you don't want to have a crash there."

As he languished some way off the pace throughout the opening day's running, Toyota star Trulli admitted to having encountered diff✅iculties wit🅷h both driving after dark and the track's bumps and harsh kerbs, confessing: "I struggled a little bit with driving at night, because there are some dark spots which make it a bit harder than normal."

Adrian Sutil also revealed bruised legs at the end of the day, with the surface most notably catching out - aside from Trulli and Vettel - Heikki Kovalainen, Rubens Barrichello [see separate story - 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:click here] and Mark Webber, who became the first man to crash when he 'got into the 🦂little chicane a bit too hot' and damaged the right front suspension of his RB4 against the circuit's barriers inside the tunnel. Red Bull Racing team-mate David Coulthard clearly expects an eventful grand prix.

"It's like the cobbled streets of Paris," the veteran Scot reflected, "and v🌼ery unforgiving. I think there will be 🐼a lot of incidents during the race. Unlike Valencia, which was a smooth circuit with very good kerbs, the kerbs here are very aggressive, especially at turn ten. We've already seen a few people having incidents, and I think we'll see more of the same story during the weekend."