Set the scene for me.
Formula 1 is so unpredictable at the moment that not even the title contenders are guaranteed a shot at victory: Championship leader Max Verstappen was well off the pace in his struggling Red Bull last weekend in Baku, but his closest challenger—McLaren’s Lando Norris—missed out as well after a yellow flag in qualifying ruined his weekend. Oops.
That left his teammate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to dice it out for the win, and oh my, did they put on a show. Leclerc dominated the early stages from pole, but the young Aussie hit back with a mega move on the brakes after his only pit stop, and then he defended the lead like a seasoned pro thereafter to take the checkered flag for the second time in his fledgling career. He’s a star in the making for sure.
And so F1 arrives in Singapore with Verstappen still 59 points ahead of Norris, but with McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes all capable of making the podium, the reigning champ is far from comfortable.
Singapore is usually a tough one for Red Bull as well. Might this be the place where a decisive points shift finally ignites the title battle good and proper?
Meanwhile, the FIA has declared that McLaren’s so-called flexible wing (footage last week showed it bending on the straights) complies with the rules, and rumor has it that Daniel Ricciardo’s time at RB might soon be up. Watch this space.
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What time does the Singapore Grand Prix start?
The grand prix gets underway at 8pm, Philippine time, on Sunday, September 22.
Just a quick recap of the first two free practice sessions held on Friday the 20th: Leclerc set the fastest FP1 time ahead of Norris and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., while Norris was top of the cars during FP2, edging out Leclerc and Sainz.
Qualifying on Saturday the 21st, meanwhile, ended with Norris on pole position, followed by Verstappen and Hamilton.
Is it going to rain?
Well now. According to the weather forecast, there are thunderstorms in the area over all three days of action, and while most of the rain is set to fall in the mornings, there’s an outside chance that we could get some showers during qualifying and the race itself. Which would certainly spice things up a bit.
Give me some history in 100 words or fewer.
The Singapore Grand Prix is the original F1 night race, running for the first time under the floodlights in 2008. Yep, the year Renault allegedly fixed the result. Eep. In 2018, Lewis Hamilton set possibly the greatest pole lap of the modern era here (seriously, go look it up on YouTube), and a year later, Sebastian Vettel scored his 53rd and last F1 win on these streets. And in 2023, Carlos Sainz invented a whole new way to win, deliberately giving the car behind the DRS in order to defend from the even faster cars behind that one. Genius.
The top three will be...
Hmm. Ferrari and McLaren looked especially quick in Azerbaijan last week, and practice times indicate their street-track form carries on this weekend. We were rooting for Leclerc to win since he’s one of the very best over a single lap, followed by Norris in second and Piatri in thid.
History, however, shows that if you grab pole in Singapore, you’re going to be almost impossible to overtake. So now it’s up to Norris to convert his P1 starting position with or without team orders in play.
Shock of the weekend?
Red Bull will follow Mercedes, McLaren, and RB and unveil a last-minute, one-off livery. Except it’ll be a No Livery livery, designed to shed weight and gain back a few precious thousandths of a second in lap time.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been after free practice and qualifying to reflect the results.
