Formula One - No safety car in Singapore for the first time since '08.

The F1 circus returns to the hardest race of the year as humidity and heat push everyone and everything to their absolute limits. Red Bull need a big result as McLaren and Lando Norris continue to close the gap.

SPECULATION FOR RICCIARDO

Very little breaking news this week in F1, however the biggest news was the circulation of a rumour that Singapore would be Daniel Ricciardo’s last race in this F1 season, and possibly of his career. It was suggested that RB reserve driver Liam Lawson would step into the VCARB for the rest of the season. Various reasons have been hurled as to the reason for this switch, including the possibility that RB contractually have no choice but to give Liam Lawson race time this season or his contract with the team would be nullified.

Photo: Scuderia Ferrari

QUALIFYING

Qualifying one was a game of who was last to cross the line as the Singapore street circuit was incredibly slow for the initial runs. Late session track evolution saw pace improvements of around a second, meaning that whoever got over the line had the best chance of progressing into Q2.

Out in Q1: Ricciardo, Stroll, Gasly, Bottas, Zhou

Hamilton took an early lead in qualifying two, which was a notable improvement from the first qualifying session where the Mercedes duo really struggled. Verstappen had a snap of oversteer coming through turn seventeen which was very reminiscent of Stroll’s crash in qualifying two from last year. However Verstappen was able to keep it out the wall, albeit having his lap time deleted.. Verstappen recovered with his second lap to go to the top of the timing table with five minutes to go before being pipped by Piastri at the very end of the session. VCARB managed to get a car into Q3 for the first time since Hungary earlier this year as Yuki Tsunoda continued to unlock noticeably more pace than his team mate.

Out in Q2: Albon, Colapinto, Perez, Magnussen, Ocon

Sainz turned qualifying three into a one shot session as he caused the only red flag in qualifying with eight minutes remaining, and only two cars completing their first laps. As the remaining nine cars flooded out on track for their final laps, Norris sat at the top of the times with the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg sitting in second courtesy of being the only other driver to finish a lap before the red flag. Norris retained his position at the top of the leaderboard through to the end of the session and took pole for the first time in Singapore, just ahead of title rival Verstappen. Leclerc fell foul to track limits on his final run which saw him tumble to ninth, just ahead of his team mate Sainz. 

Top 10: Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Sainz

Photo: XPB Images

RACE

Lap one began after a long grid formation as the front row, and title contenders Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were sitting in their grid boxes for more than thirty seconds before the red lights started ticking on. As the lights went out Norris finally got a good start and held the lead not only into turn one but also for the whole of the first lap, making it the first time he has ever led the first lap while starting on pole. Colapinto in only his third race for the Williams team made an incredible move on the inside into turn one, and found himself three positions up, and into ninth ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. His team mate Alex Albon found himself being squeezed onto the runoff on the inside of turn two and lost five positions as he was forced the long way around the rejoin arrow as specified in the race directors notes.

Albon’s race never really recovered as he struggled for pace, and after making his pitstop on lap fifteen he started to struggle with extreme power unit overheating and the Williams team were forced to retire the car on lap seventeen to diagnose the cause of the heat increase.

Many drivers in top cars who started further down the order chose to stay out in hopes of a safety car, which would make sense as every single Singapore Grand Prix since Marina Bay made its debut on the calendar has had at least one safety car intervention. Leclerc was one of those who stayed out longer, remaining on his medium tyres and held up both Max Verstappen and George Russell for multiple laps before pitting from fourth to switch to the hard compound. Piastri was also left out by McLaren as they sacrificed the chance for him to come out ahead of Russell and Hamilton to gain a bigger tire delta, but come out behind both of the Mercedes’ after his pit stop. Many assumed that McLaren were leaving Piastri out for so long in order to switch to the softs at the end of the race, but on lap thirty-nine Piastri came in to switch from his heavily worn medium tires to a new set of hard tires.

Piastri came out of the pits and was immediately on the back of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and made the overtake for fourth on lap forty. Piastri immediately started closing the gap to George Russell for the final step on the podium and made the overtake on the sister Mercedes car on lap forty-five.

On lap fifty Charles Leclerc found his way past Lewis Hamilton for fifth place as Hamilton’s early stop came back to bite him, as he had predicted when Mercedes gave him the strategy. Tires continued to be a heated discussion point during the race weekend as multiple drivers complained about tires being inconsistent from session to session. Russell started the complaints last week at the Baku Grand Prix, but this was backed up on the streets of Marina Bay by Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton, Albon and Magnussen. Neither of the McLaren drivers complained about the tyres, and this resulted in Norris crossing the line for a dominant win, 20.945 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo managed to snatch the fastest lap from anyone else on the final lap of the Grand Prix, which could hurt Lando Norris’ chance of the championship.

Photo: McLaren F1

NORRIS' CHARGE

Norris’ win closes the gap to fifty-two points in the drivers’ championship, however the point gain this weekend is below the expected amount of points Norris needs to gain to take the 2024 title. Norris now needs to gain at least nine points more than rival Max Verstappen each race weekend in order to claim the championship. The win, along with Piastri’s third place moves McLaren forty-one points clear of Red Bull, and further establishes their dominance in the constructors’ championship. 

TO THE LAND OF COWBOYS

We now enter the unofficial autumn break, with four weeks until we will next see cars on track when the F1 circus returns to the Circuit of the Americas for the second of this year's three Grand Prix held in the United States of America. It is the first of the three sprint race weekends in the last six races of the season which give Norris additional opportunities to make up the deficit in his necessary points per race weekend.