In Pictures: Singapore 2023
NAIL-BITING. What. A. Race. Sainz, Ferrari, and strategic masterclass end Red Bull's winning streak.
After an amazing weekend in Italy, the last of the European races this year, Formula One headed East, to the original night race, Singapore!
THE AREA
Singapore is an island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It has the second highest population density of any country in the world, although there are numerous green and recreational spaces as a result of urban planning, and it has four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.
Its history dates back at least a millennium, although it was opened to the West when the British established there in 1819 when it quickly became an important door to the East. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan in 1942 and returned to British control as a separate Crown colony following Japan's surrender in 1945. Following a few years as part of the Federation of Malaysia, Singapore became an independent sovereign country in 1965.
Despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, Singapore rapidly developed to become one of the Four Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore).
Singapore has become a highly developed country, it has the highest GDP per capita (PPP) in the world! It is a major aviation, financial, and maritime shipping hub, and has consistently been ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in the World.
THE CIRCUIT
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a hard and demanding track, with the added complication of being raced at night. It was designed by U.S. based company KBR and was built for the 2008 season. That race was controversially won by Renault’s Fernando Alonso after his teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr. was told to crash his own car to aid Alonso’s win, resulting in the team being disqualified from the championship and Flavio Briatore banned from all FIA-sanctioned events for life.
Since the Singapore Grand Prix is run at night, approximately 1600 custom-made floodlights are spread around the 5.067 km (3.148 mi) Marina Bay circuit. The lights, four times brighter than at a regular sports stadium, are specially designed to minimize glare and surface reflection and to meet F1's TV broadcasting standards.
The circuit has been revised five times, the last one for the 2023 race, eliminating the original Turns 16 to 19, making a new 400-meter-long straight, lowering from 23 turns to 19 and to around 10 seconds faster lap times. In any case, it still is one of the most physically demanding on the calendar, with drivers losing as much as 8 lbs. over the course of a race.
FRIDAY
As expected, it was hot and humid.
FP1
Usually, upgrades are not very brought to street cars as their characteristics made for some odd and confusing data, nevertheless, many teams had them in Singapore, mainly McLaren, with nine different upgraded parts. Norris had them all, while Piastri only had a limited number.
Anyways, the green light came on at the end of the pit lane and cars took to the streets of Singapore for the first time this year.
Within the first couple of minutes, eighteen of the twenty cars were on track, just the Williams duo stayed in the pits. By the fifty-five-minute mark, all cars were on track.
Then, with a bit more than 26 minutes left on the clock a yellow flag, but it wasn’t because of a car, no it was a lizard! It was removed and practice resumed. But it only lasted about fifteen minutes as another yellow flag for a lizard, Was it the same or a different one? And then, another yellow flag at Turn 2 for another lizard, this one a bit skinnier albeit larger than the one before…
In the end, we had the top ten drivers within the same second, but it was Charles Leclerc the fastest, just 0.078 of a second ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz. Then came Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton, the top five.
FP2
Probably the most important practice session of the weekend, as it was as close to qualifying and the race time, so fast laps and long runs were on the agenda of every team
Even though it was nighttime, it was still very warm and humid.
After a very straightforward session, it was Carlos Sainz just 0.018 of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari duo was followed by George Russell, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton, the top five.
SATURDAY
It rained sometime before FP3, and the track quickly dried up. Conditions were similar to the one on Friday as the rain washed away the track of all the rubber laid on the day before. The air temperature was 31° Celsius and a track temperature of 39°C.
FP3
Just both Alfa Romeos came out on track as the green light was shown. Everybody else taking their time to come out. Unexpectedly, and considering the tough sessions on Friday, the Red Bulls were next to get to the track.
Slowly the rest of the field joined the Alfas on track, most either on the softs or mediums.
At around half-time, Liam Lawson lost the rear of his AT04 at Turn 1, spinning and getting pretty close to the barriers at Turn 2. He recovered and continued practicing…
Everyone left the quail runs as late as possible. In the end, it was Carlos Sainz who did the fastest lap, a 1:32.065. followed by George Russell, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, the top five.
QUALIFYING
Night had fallen over the streets of Singapore, everything was set for a thrilling qualifying…
Q1
Track evolution was mighty at the end, so many drivers improved massively their times, until Lance Stroll going into the last corner lost the rear of his Aston Martin, sending him into the barriers at tremendous speed, destroying the car. The driver was okay.
In the end, Bottas, Piastri, Sargeant, Zhou, and Stroll, went out of qualifying.
Q2
Shocking! Max Verstappen was demoted by Liam Lawson, and Perez spun during his last flying lap, both Red Bulls out of qualifying! So it was, Verstappen, Gasly, Perez, Albon, and Tsunoda not going into Q3… Both Red Bulls out! wow…
Q3
That was the first Q3 without a Red Bull car in a long time (Russia 2018). Add to that that Liam Lawson was the only driver from the Red Bull roster to make it into the final stage of qualifying, and in only his third race in F1, and in a track he had never driven before!
There is only one word to describe this Q3 - THRILLING!
And for the second Grand Prix in a row, it was Carlos Sainz getting Pole Position, with George Russell snatching second spot on the grid from Charles Leclerc by just 0.007 of a second. O.079 between the three of them. Then came Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and Liam Lawson, the top ten.
SUNDAY
Sunday started with the news that Lance Stroll was not going to race at Singapore as he was still feeling sore from his awful crash on Saturday.
New engine, turbo, MGU-H, battery, and electronics control unit for Zhou Guanyu meant a pit-lane start for the Alfa Romeo driver.
Then, the pit lane burst into life! The cars took to the track to line up in their respective spots on the grid.
The race started with Leclerc overtaking Russell for second place, then, a bit of controversy as Lewis Hamilton jumped the first set of corners by going through the run-off area, overtaking Norris and Russell and placing himself third on the road.
Hamilton took several laps to let Russell by, and then some more laps for him to give fourth place back to Norris.
The race transformed into a chess match with strategy playing the higher role.
On Lap 20/62, Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams, damaging the front wing on his FW45. He made into the pits, although Race Control decided to deploy the safety car to clean some debris on track. Many drivers pitted for new tires, except Verstappen who was now second, Perez, in fourth, and Bottas down in tenth, all of them in hards. Pit lane traffic cost Leclerc two places, coming out in sixth, behind Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Perez, and Norris ahead of the Monegasque.
Racing resumed. Verstappen and Perez, on highly used hard tires, lost places, dropping to sixth and seventh. Finally, on lap 40/62, Red Bull called Perez in for his new set of medium tires, coming out plum last. Next lap, Verstappen came in, coming out in fifteenth place.
Then, on Lap 43/62, Esteban Ocon ‘parked’ his smoking Alpine at Turn 1. VSC (Virtual Safety Car) was deployed, while the marshals recovered the stranded car. Russell and Hamilton came in for a stacked pitstop. Both coming out with brand new medium tires. Russell was now fourth, Hamilton fifth. Alonso pitted for new softs, but a disastrous stop cost him lots of time and several places, dropping to fifteenth place.
The order was now Sainz leading, Norris in second, and Leclerc third. 13.5 seconds behind came Russell and a further 5 seconds, Hamilton in fifth.
The Mercedes duo were flying, setting fastest lap after fastest lap, and catching the leaders at an astonishing pace with Hamilton doing the fastest lap of the race on Lap 47. Flying was also Verstappen, now in ninth, albeit 41 seconds behind Sainz.
On Lap 54/62 Russell had closed in on Leclerc, passing him on the third DRS zone to claim third place. A bit later, Hamilton overtook the Ferrari, struggling for traction on his now worn tires.
For the last few laps, the top four were glued together. Sainz reporting his front tires were gone. On the last lap, Russell pushing Norris clipped the wall entering Turn 10, damaging the right rear of his Mercedes, and crashing it into the barriers..
WHAT A FINISH!! Carlos Sainz, tactical brilliance wins an utterly THRILLING Singapore Grand Prix. Followed by Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc, playing the team game finished fourth, followed by Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson, and Kevin Magnussen the top-ten.
Sainz got to sing ’Smooth Operator’ before getting to the podium. Team Principal, Fred Vasseur received the Constructors’ trophy for Ferrari. Superb stuff!
INTERESTING FACT: With Verstappen not being able to get to the podium in Singapore, Michael Schumacher still is the only driver with a 100% podium record in a season.