Round 18 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore is in the books. Though it may not have been the most exciting race that fans were hoping for, Singapore had a lot to take away while also giving fans a lot to be excited for looking ahead to the rest of the season. McLaren were able to extend their lead in the Constructors' Championship while Max Verstappen was able to limit the damage to his Drivers' Championship lead.
Before we jump into how teams did in the last race in Baku and take a look into what to expect at the Singapore Grand Prix, a couple of things to mention:
Authors Note 1: The Formula One Season has two main championship competitions. The first is the Drivers' Championship, which is a competition between the individual drivers. The drivers who finish in the top-10 each weekend will score points (the higher you place, the more points you get). These points are added up, and whichever driver finishes with the most points at the end of the season will win the Drivers' Championship. The next is the Constructors' Championship , a competition between the teams. The number of points the drivers within a team get each race is combined, creating the total points for the team (E.g., Lando Norris has scored 279 points, and Oscar Piastri has scored 237 points, giving the McLaren team 516 points in the Constructors' Championship). The team whose drivers accumulate the most points combined for their team will win the Constructors' Championship.
Author's Note 2: 22 drivers will be listed in the Drivers' Standings, as Oliver Bearman was a replacement driver for Carlos Sainz for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and Kevin Magnussen for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Also, Franco Calapinto has replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams for the remainder of the season.
Here is a look at the current Drivers' and Constructors' standings after this weekend:
Drivers' Championship Standings:
Max Verstappen 331 points
Lando Norris 279 points
Charles Leclerc 245 points
Oscar Piastri 237 points
Carlos Sainz 190 points
Lewis Hamilton 174 points
George Russell 155 points
Sergio Perez 144 points
Fernando Alonso 62 points
Nico Hulkenberg 24 points
Lance Stroll 24 points
Yuki Tsunoda 22 points
Alexander Albon 12 points
Danny Ricciardo 12 points
Pierre Gasly 8 points
Oliver Bearman 7 points
Kevin Magnussen 6 points
Esteban Ocon 5 points
Franco Colapinto 4 points
Zhou Guanyu 0 points
Logan Sargeant 0 points
Valtteri Bottas 0 points Â
Constructor's Championship Standings:
McLaren 516 points
Red Bull                             475 points
Ferrari 441 points
Mercedes 329 points
Aston Martin 86 points
Racing Bulls 34 points
Haas 31 points
Williams 16 points
Alpine 13 points
Kick Sauber 0 points
Standings were found at F1.com.Â
Alpine
Alpine had the type of weekend fans expected from them: a very anonymous weekend near the back of the grid. Esteban Ocon qualified 15th and finished 13th, while Pierre Gasly qualified 18th and finished 17th.
Alpine seemed to have thrown in the towel on the 2024 season. They seem content with these kinds of results as they are most likely looking at how to improve the car for the 2025 season. Both drivers were lapped in the race, putting up little to no competition with the drivers in front of them.
Alpine fell off a cliff from the start of the season, and the climb back to at least where they were last season (6th in the Constructors' Standings with 120 total points by the end of the 2023 season,) has proven to be too far to reach. With Ocon leaving the team for Haas next year and Jack Doohan replacing him as Pierre Gasly's teammate, Alpine does have something to look forward to, just not this year.
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Aston Martin
Aston Martin had another half-solid week, with one driver performing well as the other continues to struggle. Fernando Alonso qualified 7th and finished 8th, while Lance Stroll qualified 17th and finished 14th,
Aston Martin has been able to put out a car with enough pace to fight for points. Alonso has done a great job managing the car, with this weekend being no different. He was able to sustain his points finish, beating drivers like Nico Hulkenberg in the Haas and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.
On the other side of things, Lance Stroll has been struggling majorly, as the conversation about whether or not he deserves an F1 seat is back up and running. The last three races have not been kind to Stroll, as he finished 14th in Singapore, did not finish in Azerbaijan, and finished 19th in Monza (19th being last place since there was one driver who did not finish the race). Lance Stroll, though holding enough talent to survive in the sport, has been thought of to be a beneficiary of nepotism within the team, as his father [Lawerence Stroll] is the owner of the Aston Martin F1 team. For years now, Stroll has built a reputation of underperforming in a car that should be fighting for points, and though he has had his highs, his lows are too much for the team to succeed consistently in the future. Aston Martin has put themselves in a great situation to improve their car in the near future with the signing of brilliant engineer Adrian Newey and the contract extension of Fernando Alonso. However, if the team wants to really start competing at the top of the grid within the next couple of years, Lawerence Stroll may have to make an impossible decision.
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Ferrari
After a terrible start to the weekend, Ferrari was able to recover nicely in the race. Carlos Sainz qualified 10th (after he crashed his car in the third qualifying session,) and finished 7th while Charles Leclerc started 9th due to his lap time being deleted (exceeding track limits) and finished 5th.
Singapore did not bring the results Ferrari was hoping for. Unfortunately, the disaster in qualifying made it difficult for both drivers to make significant ground in terms of positions, as the Marina Bay Street Circuit is known for its overtaking difficulty. Leclerc and Sainz were able to make something positive happen, as they walked away with a decent amount of points. However, both drivers need to be better if they want to make ground in both Championships.
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Haas
Haas also had an up-and-down weekend in Singapore. Nico Hulkenberg qualified 6th and finished 9th, while Kevin Magnussen qualified 14th and did not finish the race after he received a puncture in his car from hitting the wall coming off a corner.
Singapore was another example of one driver brilliantly driving the car, with the other being too aggressive. Hulkenberg continued his incredible pace in qualifying, outperforming expectations once again in both qualifying and the race. Kevin Magnussen did what was expected, though, as he cost himself the race after being too aggressive. From where they were projected to be at this point in the year, Haas has a lot to be proud of, and should be looking forward to ending the season on a positive note.
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Kick Sauber
Kick Sauber had a...decent weekend? Valtteri Bottas qualified 19th and finished 16th, while Zhou Guanyu qualified 20th and finished 15th.
A "good" weekend should be taken lightly here, as qualifying still put the Kick Sauber's horrible pace on display. However, neither driver finished last, which is a major win for the team. Zhou also finished ahead of his teammate, which is something that has not happened much this season (this race being his 7th time in 18 races). Kick Sauber, as stated before, is just buying their time until Audi replaces them in the sport, however, this weekend can remain a positive one for the team.
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McLaren
McLaren dominated the Singapore Grand Prix weekend from start to finish, further solidifying themself as the best team on the grid. Oscar Piastri qualified 5th and finished 3rd, while Lando Norris qualified 1st and finished 1st.
McLaren was absolutely rapid this weekend, with no other team posing any sort of competition. Norris finished the race with a 20.9 second gap to second place, leading every lap and maintaining complete control over the race. Though there were two different instances where Norris almost ruined it for himself, he as well as the team should be ecstatic with his dominating performance. Piastri also had a stellar race too; gaining two hard-earned positions and finishing 19.2 seconds in front of the 4th place finisher George Russell. McLaren are clearly the team to beat right now, and as long as they don't get in their own way, should run away with at least the Constructors' Championship.
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Mercedes
Mercedes had another solid week in Singapore but still seem to be off the pace of the top teams fighting for race wins. George Russell qualified 4th and finished 4th, while Lewis Hamilton Started 3rd and finished 6th.
Mercedes left a lot on the table this weekend. Though Russell had a very solid weekend, Lewis' race strategy was not the right one as the team decided to start him on the soft tires instead of the medium tires. This cost Lewis a fight for a podium, as he went wide on a corner early in the race, lost multiple positions, and had to take the rest of the race to fight for where he finished.
For reference, there are three types of tires teams use in dry conditions, soft, medium, and hard. The soft tires give the most grip with the least amount of lifespan, the medium tires give you a little less grip but a little more lifespan, and the hard tires give you the most lifespan but the least amount of grip.
In Hamilton's case, the soft tires were the wrong decision since the track layout caused the tires to lose grip too fast causing Hamilton to sacrifice race pace to manage the tires. If he and the team had decided to start on the medium tires, Hamilton might have been able to increase his race pace and compete for a podium finish.
These kinds of mistakes have been costing Mercedes all season. With a major upgrade to the car coming soon, they need to get their act together if they wish to finish the season fighting for wins.
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Racing Bulls
RB was another team that saw one driver thrive while the other struggled. Yuki Tsunoda qualified 8th and finished 12th, while Daniel Ricciardo qualified 16th and finished 18th (which was last place due to the two drivers who did not finish).
Three big topics of conversation came from the Singapore Grand Prix for RB. One of them being Tsunoda's pace. Tsunoda seemed to have gotten his pace back, producing a brilliant performance in qualifying which also gave the team a solid result in the race.
The other two are the more pressing matters. First, controversy arose with RB and Red Bull, as RB ordered Ricciardo to pit for soft tires and set the fastest lap of the race, which was being held by Lando Norris. The driver with the fastest lap of the race receives an extra point, and if Lando kept the fastest lap it would have cut into Max Verstappen's lead even more. Every point counts now, which is why people were outraged when RB made Ricciardo sacrifice his race to take the fastest lap point away from Norris. What people are questioning is whether or not Red Bull should be allowed to have a junior team in the sport. For those unfamiliar, RB basically acts as a tryout team for two drivers that Red Bull believes could have a seat on their team one day. All season long, Tsunoda and Ricciardo have been competing against each other to prove to Red Bull that they deserve the Red Bull seat when one becomes available. This is the first time where these two teams seemed to have worked together to sabotage another team in order to help Red Bull.
In other news, what is swirling around the RB team is that Singapore may have been Ricciardo's last race. The rumor is that Ricciardo has a performance clause in his contract that RB can utilize after Singapore, meaning it is an opportunity for the team to replace Ricciardo without having to pay extra money to terminate his contract. After the race, Ricciardo was blunt and acted as if this was his last race in F1. With young driver Liam Lawson, who impressed many last year, waiting and ready to go, Ricciardo may have driven his last race in Formula One.
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Red Bull
Red Bull had seemed to have gone back to their typical ways in Singapore. Sergio Perez qualified 13th and finished 10th, while Max Verstappen qualified and finished in 2nd.
Though both drivers were miles off the pace of the McLaren, Red Bull was able to cook up a nice weekend for themselves, and a much-needed one at that. Verstappen limited the damage to his Drivers' Championship lead, giving his best performance since the end of the summer break. Perez, however, struggled once again, and was not able to provide any sort of pace whatsoever. Red Bull could be in for more weekends like these to end the year, which is better than they've been since the end of the summer break, but may not be enough to compete for the Constructors' Championship.
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Williams
Williams came back down to Earth this weekend in Singapore. Alex Albon qualified 11th and did not finish the race due to a cooling issue in his car, while Franco Colapinto qualified 12th and finished 11th in just his third race.
Williams has been on a strong run of form since replacing Logan Sargeant with Colapinto, however, this weekend seemed to be a small bump in the road. A bold and aggressive, but legal move on the first corner of the race from Colapinto caused him to move up a position, but also caused Albon to run wide and lose multiple positions. Albon expressed his frustrations on the team radio, as he believed Colapinto's move was a move that should not have been done against a teammate. He may have a point, but the move was legal, and no contact was made. Williams can still fight for points, but have to manage the emotions that have resulted from this weekend and find a way to work together.
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Catch you next time!
-Matt Hylen
Do you think anything will happen in regards to the RB situation? Seems like it is bad for the sport