The paddock headed to the newly re-configured Marina Bay Circuit for round 15 of the 2023 season. The removal of the stadium section double chicane saw the lap count increase to 62. The punishing streets around Singapore saw four cars from three different teams fight for the win, find out who prevailed:
Top of the class:
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 1st | Race: 1st
Well, Red Bull’s streak came to a crashing end and it was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who took the all-important 25 points on Sunday. Astonishingly there’s not much to write home about this.
The Spaniard dominated qualifying, topping both Q2 and that all-important Q3. Sunday’s race felt like a 62-lap game of chess to which Sainz was rarely threatened out front.
Carlos executed the victory with perfection, leaning on previous ties with former teammate Lando Norris to create a DRS train to hold off the rapid Mercedes. Sainz knew Norris was in no real position to challenge for the win, but sufficiently holding the Brit in DRS range ensured that the faster drivers on two-stops were thwarted.
Seeing four cars from three different teams running so close at the front felt rather refreshing, even if there was little in the way of wheel-to-wheel battle. Taking his first win of 2023 rather capped a brilliant return from summer for Carlos and has tipped the team battle against Charles in his favour for now.
McLaren
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 2nd
Oscar Piastri – Qualifying: 17th | Race: 7th
McLaren’s relentless development rate continued following their breakthrough with the Austria package, as the British squad brought an upgrade package to the track one race earlier than planned. It was Lando’s side of the garage that took on the package, which is to be expected as Norris is the more experienced driver of the team. He rewarded the team with an excellent result.
Norris took a brilliant P4 in Qualifying, getting ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. He then drove an accomplished race, holding position from the cars behind and was running P3 before sticking with a one-stop following a late Virtual Safety Car.
With the charging Russell behind, Lando resisted many attempts from his fellow Brit to take P2 from him following a late stop from the Mercedes driver. With the DRS aid from former teammate Sainz ahead, and a mistake from George, Norris came home second – his third podium of the season.
Oscar Piastri starred in the old-spec McLaren, having been hampered by a red flag in Qualifying, the rookie was looking at a difficult recovery drive on Sunday. With a well-executed pit strategy and some good overtakes, Oscar climbed 10 places to finish 7th.
A combined haul of 24 points saw the gap between McLaren and Aston Martin close to 78 points, making for an exciting final stretch of races for the Woking-based team in their hunt for P4 in the Constructors.
Liam Lawson – Qualifying: 10th | Race: 9th
AlphaTauri brought their significant upgrade package to Singapore, along with super-sub Liam Lawson who was filling in once again for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
The New Zealander didn’t just out-qualify teammate Yuki Tsunoda in his third race, but he also beat both Red Bulls on Saturday which consigned them to their worst qualifying since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, at a track he’d never driven prior to Free Practice.
Sunday was just as strong for Liam, whilst he was ultimately dispatched by both Red Bulls in the race, he pulled off an excellent two-stop strategy to take home P9, becoming the 350th driver to score a World Championship point.
Honourable mention goes to Max Verstappen, it won’t mean much since it was his worst points result since Silverstone 2022, but the Three-Time Champion in waiting pulled off a very mature recovery driver to 5th in a car that has never really suited the Marina Bay Circuit.
The struggle bus:
George Russell – Qualifying: 2nd | Race: DNF
Whilst Ferrari took all the glory on Sunday, I’d actually argue the Silver Arrows were the strongest overall package over the weekend and had a glorious opportunity to win the race. Ultimately, the team walked away with a P3 and another car in the wall.
It was George Russell who ended up in the wall, throwing away P3 on the final lap at the Singapore sling whilst pressuring to take 2nd from fellow Brit Lando Norris.
The Mercedes driver had started the race on the front row for the first time since Australia, putting an end to a dismal qualifying run that has seen numerous Q2 knockouts. and took the risk late on to lose two positions with a stop for fresh medium tyres in the hope he could fight back to win.
He dispatched Leclerc with ease, but couldn’t find a way past Norris. He clipped the wall when in pursuit and skated off into the barriers for what was his second non-points finish in three Grands Prix.
Ultimately with the pace both he and teammate Hamilton had on their new tyres, George getting stuck behind Lando should have prompted a switch for position as Lewis was able to manage his tyres better closing the gap. Russell took the biggest punishment throwing points away but he also blocked his teammate attempting to go for the win which may cost them dearly in the standings.
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 7th | Race: 15th
Lanco Stroll – Qualifying: 20th | Race: DNS
Without a doubt this was the team’s worst result of the season, compounded by numerous car and team faults over the weekend whilst their rivals were picking up buckets of points.
Alonso once again was outperforming the car, lining up 7th, and was doing well to hold on to points in the opening stages after suffering suspension damage on lap 1.
Then his weekend fell apart, collecting a five-second penalty for crossing the pit entry line, followed by a slow pitstop which dropped Alonso to the back of the pack. He would take the chequered flag 15th, the last of the runners who completed every lap.
Lance Stroll didn’t even take the race start following a hefty shunt in qualifying. He was looking to improve on his P20 time when the Canadian ran wide at the final corner and speared off into the barriers. Lance was not passed fit to race which saved the mechanics a repair job.
Dishonourable mention goes to Sergio Pérez, Red Bull’s poor weekend saved them from a double entry because Max had a solid race to take home good points which they didn’t deserve on car performance, however, Sergio made numerous mistakes in the race which prevented him from taking a higher finish.
Lap 1 contact with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda went unpunished despite the Japanese driver retiring with hefty sidepod damage, it was a clumsy move on William’s Alexander Albon at turn 13 on lap 58 which saw the Mexican pick up a five-second penalty.
In the end, he came home eighth and although the penalty didn’t drop him down any further, he finished over 30 seconds behind Max.
The win streak may be over but Red Bull will be looking to bounce back to re-establish their dominance. What better venue to do that than their second home race at Suzuka, Japan? The 16th round of the season takes place on Sunday 24th September, lights out at 6 am UK time.
