A series based on just news and notes that came about from the race weekend. Key take aways, cool things, and lessons learned.
When the early forecasts predicted rain, there was a feeling the return to Marina Bay was going to be special. The race and qualifying were exhilarating. Standing water filled the track, making any overtake attempts extremely bold. Many anticipated Verstappen potentially clinching his second Driver’s Championship, but much of the weekend ended up about the rest of the field.
Singapore needs to stay forever
Purpose-built tracks generate some of the best racing with more overtaking opportunities and space for creative racing lines. Still, a street track showcases how on-the-limit drivers are due to the drivers getting so close to the barriers. The cars kissed the barriers often, the rear tires of the car often came so close to touching the wall. Most of the corners featured opportunities for oversteering, but some tighter corners led to understeering, especially from George Russell. The night race in Singapore was so beautiful as the light bounced off the cars and the track presented some really challenging slow corners. Monaco’s race typically are boring without rain, but Singapore’s challenging corners and weather allow for a true test of a driver.
The humidity and heat of Singapore looked uncomfortable when the drivers came out of the car after a practice session, but after a 70 lap race, the drivers looked completely sucked out. The track is so taxing on the drivers, yet they really seem to enjoy the challenge.
The track really highlighted how well Ferrari performs in slow corners while Mercedes’ struggles most with riding curbs and hitting the apex well. There is still a nice straight, but the track gives enough room for drivers to attempt dives and creative overtakes. Every result from Singapore is earned and nothing is really given at a track so challenging. Singapore is back on the calendar for the foreseeable future and the F1 calendar is better for it.
Ferrari stayed out their own way
Ferrari are the usual suspects of scrutiny from the F1 community. While some of it is undeserved, they cost themselves a true challenge at the title this season. Their car is amazing, it dances around low speed corners and constantly remained one of the most drivable cars on the field. The car deserves a true title challenge, but the team, through upgrades and strategy calls, failed to capitalize on the potential of the car.
At Singapore, Ferrari made a series of strong strategy calls. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc wanted to pit for slick tires extremely early into Q2, but Ferrari made the right choice by sticking with the intermediate tires. Ferrari kept it simple in qualifying and it allowed them to put the car in the best position they could. Leclerc did a flying lap deserving of P2 during Q3 and he ended up with pole due to a Red Bull misstep.
In the race, Ferrari were again patient with the tire strategy, waiting until Russell’s medium tires switched on and began to show their pace. Sainz wanted to get on those slicks really soon, mainly due to his struggles all race long with Hamilton on his tail. Ferrari waited until Russell’s tires showcased some pace and then joined everyone in pitting for fresh mediums. The only call which failed to pay off was an attempt to undercut Perez by pitting Leclerc a lap early. I appreciate the attempt to shake things up, but the over cut, given how long it took to get temperature in the medium tires, was the ideal strategy. Still, Ferrari achieved their first double podium since Miami and the team should look to continue to build on this solid performance.
Mercedes lost some of their momentum
Friday was promising for the German automotive company. Lewis Hamilton topped FP1, his first time leading a practice session this year. “Is Mercedes back?” is one of the season-long questions posed on F1 twitter because it is so puzzling how long the outfit has gone without a win. Their porpoising issue is non-existent now, a far cry from Baku where Lewis’ back aged twenty years after the bumpy race. With so many issued ironed out, Singapore looked like a place for them to get their first win.
According to F1 Pace, Hamilton was 6th in average lap time and George Russell, Mr. Consistent all year, was 14th in average lap time. Hamilton did mess up his front wing which seemed to affect his lap times after the second half of the race, but on a weekend where a win was being talked about, 6th place is a huge disappointment. Hamilton set his bar incredibly high; race mistakes seemed to avoid him like the plague during his championship runs. Going into the barrier trying to overtake Carlos Sainz due to frustration is just uncharacteristic for him.
Russell really struggled during qualifying, posting a lackluster flying lap which had him eliminated during Q2. Per the data at F1 Pace, Russell just lost too much time in those first 2 sectors. The race was no better for Russell, who ran wide while trying to overtake Bottas and Hamilton when going for a dive on Sainz. The team came so far from where they began this year, but this weekend was a definite step back for an organization which consistently delivers good performances.
McLaren and Aston Martin looked sharp
Danny Ricardo is back! After a few months of tough races, he finished top 5 for the first time this season and looked to have some life in his Formula 1 career. McLaren headed into the weekend locked into an intense battle with Alpine for 4th place. Alpine had an awful race, both of their engines let the drivers down, especially Alonso who was defending amazing against Verstappen.
McLaren, on the other hand, held steady the entire race. Ricardo showcased his experience as he managed to keep his car out of danger and went up 11 places as a reward. Lando ended up pushing Sainz for a potential podium, which is mind blowing considering their car is a considerable set back from last year. They benefited from a greatly timed safety car so they could pit onto slicks, but the team pulled it together for a really strong weekend overall.
Aston Martin’s season so far has consisted of being a backmarker team, far from where Lawerence Stroll’s money would project them to be this year. With Fernando Alonso joining the team next year, Aston Martin needs to showcase a viable project exists, not just talented people poached from other teams with lots of money. In a race featuring 5 cars crashing out, anyone who survived immediately got a chance at leaving with points. Still, Aston qualified really well at 12th and 14th place, showcasing some strides in pace. In the race, Stroll drove a really solid race and Vettel caused headaches for Hamilton and Max Verstappen. From where they started, this was a great moment for the team and more overachieving will give them momentum going forward.
Quote of the week: George Russell
Non-racing standout of the week: McLaren’s livery
At the highest level of motorsport, where glitz and glamour is the aim, this livery took the cake all weekend long. The hot pink chosen went so well with the papaya orange. The black elements already present in McLaren’s car also provided a nice contrast. The theme of “cyberpunk” came across very clearly, the digital font used for the sponsor “Onyx” looked like a computer glitch. Whoever designed this livery deserves a raise.
Red Bull might clinch their second driver’s championship at Suzuka soon, I really hope they bring back that amazing Japan livery.
Closing note: The FIA are not good at their job
The race at Singapore should have started much earlier than it did. The performance of the anthems and other normal race procedures made the event start one full hour late. I know there needs to be a time period for the teams to start ramping up again, but all of the other celebrations and the pit walk was just unnecessary given the late start. It stopped raining early on enough to get the track dry as fast as possible and get to racing, yet the FIA delayed the event an hour, which was at least 15 minutes too long. The FIA needs a late start procedure to trim the fat during delays.
Somehow, this delay was not the worst of it. The FIA ruled they were going to investigate Checo Perez AFTER the race was over for two different instances of safety car infringement. The rule states that one must be within 10 car lengths and Perez was clearly more than 10 car lengths two different times. Instead of looking at the film and passing a ruling, the FIA waited until after the race and podium celebrations to issue a verdict. The ruling was a 5 second time penalty, which Perez covered on Leclerc after Hugh Bird went on the radio to tell him to push.
I get that the FIA wanted to hear from the driver, but the rules are the rules. The main issue with the FIA is how much gray area there is in all of their rules, allowing for no definite process to happen. Sergio Perez broke the rules twice, which one time was deemed to be a 5 second penalty. If only one instance is punished, there is leeway for drivers to bend the rules in the future.
I don’t think Checo should be robbed of his win, he raced wonderfully and deserves the result, but the FIA needs to just call it like the rules say to do. I get that it was raining and his brakes were cold, but there should be rules for wet race safety cars. After Abu Dabi last year, the FIA are in desperate need of a serious evaluation of where they can tighten up their rules and how they enforce them. Without this urgency, they will deserve the backlash they get from the media and fans alike.
The Free pitstop 