After placing at the top of the timesheets all throughout the weekend, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took pole position in qualifying and won Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix in the most exciting race of the Formula 1 season so far.
Sainz broke Red Bull Racing’s win streak that started at the end of the 2022 season, and broke Max Verstappen’s individual 10-race win streak after fending off McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the final laps. In an eventful weekend that saw Red Bull uncharacteristically struggling, F1’s top teams put on an exciting performance at the Marina Bay Circuit throughout the grand prix.
Ferrari continued their success from Monza, with Sainz and Charles Leclerc never dipping below P5 throughout the practices and qualifying. The Spanish driver earned his second pole position in a row, while Leclerc earned P3 behind Russell in his Mercedes. The Ferraris led the race in first and second until the safety car was deployed on lap 19 of 62 which allowed them both to go for a pit stop. Sainz’s stop was quick, but Leclerc had to be held due to pit lane traffic and reentered the race in P5. Both drivers used this one-stop strategy, leading Sainz to the race win and Leclerc to P4 after Russell’s unfortunate last lap crash. Ferrari continue to be on the upswing after an abysmal start to the season, and they remain third in the constructors’ standings with Sainz and Leclerc fifth and sixth respectively in the drivers’ standings.
George Russell had an excellent qualifying performance and was the quickest driver on the grid throughout the race, while Lewis Hamilton earned his 196th podium overall and seventh at the Marina Bay Circuit. Mercedes ran an excellent strategy throughout the race, with two double-stacked pit stops that increased their pace in the final laps to try to catch up with Sainz and Norris. Russell and Hamilton found themselves on the quicker and fresher medium-compound tires after a strategic pit stop on lap 43 of 62 when a virtual safety car was deployed. By lap 58, the two Mercedes drivers were on the tail of Lando Norris running in P2, and Hamilton appeared to be faster than Russell. In their one and only strategy blunder in a seemingly perfectly executed race, Mercedes decided not to switch the two drivers which would have given them a better chance at P2, or even the win. Instead, Russell stayed ahead and crashed out in the final lap, giving Hamilton P3 behind Sainz and Norris. Russell’s heartbreaking crash in the final lap cost him 15 points in the drivers’ standings, and allowed Ferrari to inch closer to Mercedes in the constructors’ standings.
After a difficult weekend at Monza for McLaren three weeks ago, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri returned to form in Singapore. After qualifying P4 on Saturday, Norris benefitted from the safety car deployment and was able to make a pit stop for hard-compound tires, and ended up finishing the race on them despite pressure from the Mercedes’ fresher and grippier tires. He moved into P2 and displayed an incredible defensive effort against Russell before the latter crashed out. Singapore marks his third P2 performance this season, and a win may be on the horizon for the British driver. Oscar Piastri provided an excellent showing for McLaren as well, and finished in P7 despite qualifying P17 when his fast lap was canceled due to Lance Stroll’s crash in the final corner on Saturday.
Making up 10 positions at a track like the Marina Bay Circuit is incredibly difficult, and he continues to demonstrate his potential at McLaren. He didn’t have the same upgrades as Norris this weekend, so he’ll be one to watch next weekend with the new upgrade package. The biggest story this weekend was the struggling Red Bull team. Coming off of 10 straight wins, Max Verstappen never cracked the top of the timesheets during practices and missed the third and final round of qualifying for the first time this season. He started in P11, while his teammate Sergio Perez started in P13 after a troubling Saturday. Both drivers ran the same strategy on Sunday, starting with the hard-compound tires and hoping for a late safety car in order to make their pit stops without losing much time. Their strategy proved ineffective after the early safety car, and they chose to stay out on old hard tires which propelled them to the front. They were overtaken quickly and chose to pit for medium tires later, sending Verstappen up to P5 and Perez up to P8. Overall, it wasn’t a bad result for the Red Bull drivers, but they expected much more out of the weekend. Around the rest of the grid, Liam Lawson of AlphaTauri had a great race, finishing in P9 and earning his first points in Formula One. With Daniel Ricciardo potentially returning next weekend, Lawson could be out of a seat for the rest of the season, or his teammate Yuki Tsunoda could be replaced after two DNFs in a row. The Williams drivers struggled for most of the weekend, earning P11 and P14 after a stretch of races in the top 10. Haas received a rare point from driver Kevin Magnussen, and Aston Martin had a weekend to forget after Lance Stroll’s scary crash in qualifying and Fernando Alonso’s P15 performance in the race. Most of the teams look to turn things around in Japan, while Ferrari and McLaren hope to repeat their most recent success.
