The F1 circus returned to Marina Bay, a street track which is often brandished as one of the toughest circuits on the calendar. Add to that a gentle sprinkle of rain, and you’re guaranteed a spectacle.
Want to find out where your favourite driver has ranked? Be sure to read up on the report cards for round 17 on the calendar:
Top of the Class:
Sergio Pérez – Qualifying: 2nd | Race: 1st
Checo and street circuits are quickly becoming a duo as famous as peanut butter and jelly. Unlike the other side of the Red Bull Racing garage, the Mexican had a strong, but more importantly consistent weekend. After qualifying second, he made a quick getaway at the start to lead into t1. Whilst Leclerc kept the pressure on for most of the race, it was Sergio who kept the lead through the entirety of it.
The only hiccups were the distance he kept to the safety car, which should never be more than 10-car lengths. Fortunately for him, he got away easy with those slip-ups. Receiving only a reprimand and a 5 second time-penalty, which due to the gap of more than 6 seconds to Charles Leclerc in 2nd leaves his victory undisputed.
This was a particularly important weekend for Sergio, as questions on his form were gaining traction as his gap to Max grew significantly following the purple patch around Monaco. It proved that whilst the Dutchman is usually the star of the show, the Mexican can most definitely be there to bring home the points when he needs to be.
McLaren
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 6th | Race: 4th
Daniel Ricciardo – Qualifying: 17th (starting 16th)| Race: 5th
Danny Ric might not have had the best Saturday, but he was on a roll on Sunday. He made a quick getaway at the start and a couple of strong opening allowed him to crack into the top 10. It arguably was his best drive of the season, which could definitely be advantageous in his quest for a seat… but more importantly, it brought his famous smile back.
Norris ever-so-briefly looked to be gearing up for a podium position, but it wasn’t quite meant to be. That doesn’t mean that he had a bad weekend, quite the opposite actually. He was quick, which was highlighted by the fact that he managed to create a gap of nearly half a minute between himself and his teammate.
Overall, McLaren will be packing up feeling pretty chuffed with themselves, as with Alpine grinding to a halt points-wise in the constructors, the papaya orange seems well on their way for a fourth position.
Aston Martin
Lance Stroll – Qualifying: 14th (started 13th) | Race: 6th
Sebastian Vettel – Qualifying: 13th (started 12th) | Race: 8th
Another team who had a very good weekend was Aston Martin. Lance Stroll finished in 6th, a nice result to add to his little collection of top-10 finishes this year. Sebastian Vettel didn’t have the qualifying he was hoping for, but he managed to gain five places whilst battling through the pack, which made his race more than satisfactory. Their total points haul of the weekend tallied up to 12, which moves them up the rankings of the Constructors’ Championship, passing both Haas and AlphaTauri.
This was a momentous weekend for Team Silverstone, which must have been a huge relief after the disappointing season they had thus far. Granted, the Safety Car timing came as a huge slice of luck, but both Stroll and Vettel keep their cars on track when their main rivals, and even those at the front of the field, could not.
Then for a honourable mention
The honourable mention of the day goes to Ferrari. Whilst recently they’ve been quite inconsistent in results, they’ve now managed another double podium. The last one was quite a few races ago, all the way back in Miami for round five, so it definitely was a much-needed result. Had Leclerc not lost the lead in the start, he would have most likely won, as he managed to keep up with Checo quite well. Which definitely is a promising prospect for the races ahead.
The Struggle Bus
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 8th | Race: 7th
The Dutchman distanced himself from Netflix hit Drive to Survive for several seasons due to his criticism on how the sport and drivers were portrayed, which left especially the coverage of the 2021 title battle feeling half-told and like a story unfinished. This was taken notice of, and after producers sat with Verstappen and promised to do better, the Dutchman agreed to take part. It might be a decision which he’s questioning now, however, as the infamous ‘Netflix curse’ came to haunt him this weekend.
Whilst the film-crew joined him in the pitbox and followed him around behind the scenes, his side of the garage had a decidedly off weekend. It started in qualifying, where Max was on a beastly lap in the last qualifying session, before jointly with his team deciding to break it off early in hopes of setting an even faster one just as the clock ticked down to 0. He was well on his way, but he then had to abandon the lap, as finishing it and having to do a cool down lap would mean that there wouldn’t be enough fuel left in the tank to adhere to regulations.
It meant that our resident world Champ would have to start in midfield. This usually wouldn’t be a problem, especially considering the decidedly damp conditions which normally play into his hand, but unfortunately for him, this wasn’t the case this time around. He had a rather slow getaway, dropping through the pack as a result. He then dutifully climbed his way back up surely but slowly, but then made a costly mistake whilst chasing Norris which dropped out of the points once more. He managed to scrape together some points before the chequered flag, but it wasn’t up to par with his usual form.
Whilst Verstappen doesn’t need to be checking over his shoulder anytime soon when it comes to the Drivers’ Championship, it most decidedly was not the birthday weekend he was hoping for, especially with the Netflix camera’s laying in waiting.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 9th
George Russell – Qualifying: 11th (Started in pitlane) | Race: 14th
Another driver who usually stars in wet conditions is our seven times WDC Sir Lewis Hamilton, but he couldn’t quite find his rhythm in Singapore. He went into the race with high expectations, qualifying third and perhaps even daring to dream of turning that into a win along the way, especially with how strong the car looked earlier on in the weekend. Instead, he ended up losing a place to Carlos Sainz, before later sliding into the barriers at turn 7 after locking up. He was able to continue the race, but had to settle for a 9th place at the end of it.
The other side of the Mercedes garage was set up for a recovery race. After a shoddy qualifying the Brackley-based team opted to take a penalty by swapping out PU components, meaning George had to start from the pitlane. The recovery part didn’t work out however, as an early switch to slicks left George slipping and sliding. Later on, a collision with Mick Schumacher most definitely put an end to any plans of gaining some points.
Alpine
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 5th | Race: DNF
Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 18th (started 17th) | Race: DNF
Both cars have retired… Do I need to say more? Probably not, but it’s still important to mention that it was all due to poor reliability. Fernando Alonso had to retire from the top 6, which is extra painful, whilst Ocon’s car gave the ghost with some smoke and a bit of spectacle.
This certainly wasn’t the way Fernando Alonso’s record-breaking 350th Grand Prix start should have finished. To add salt to the wounds, whilst the Renault engines went pop, McLaren were cashing in with a heft haul of points.
Then for dishonourable mentions:
The first dishonourable mention of the day goes to AlphaTauri. It wasn’t all bad, as Pierre still brought a point home, but considering he started seventh he was most likely aiming to go forwards rather than backwards in the standings. Teammate Yuki ended his race in the barriers due to a silly mistake for which he will most probably be cursing himself for.
The second dishonourable mention of the day goes to Williams. Albon gets a free pass, because driving the toughest race of the year just weeks after spending a night in the ICU is quite the feat, so him not being on his a-game is more than understandable. Latifi doesn’t have that same excuse, however, especially with him being to blame for not just his own retirement but Zhou’s as well. So the five-place penalty for Japan and the two points on his license are definitely deserved.
We won’t have to wait long for the next outing, as drivers and team personnel are already making their way to Japan for the 18th round of the championship. You’ll need to be an early riser if you want to catch the race live, however, as lights will be going out at 6am in the UK on Sunday the 9th of October.
