October 5, 2022
Singapore’s return to F1 saw downpours, some crashes, retirements, a record broken, and MANY Safety Cars. While it wasn’t my favorite race, it was still a cool weekend. Here is your recap of the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix:
FP1: September 30, 2022
The first practice session of the weekend saw the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in P1 with Birthday Boy Max Verstappen 0.08s off the pace in P2. Charles Leclerc was a whopping four tenths off Hamilton’s time in P3 and teammate Carlos Sainz was in P6 as he struggled with his car’s balance.
Esteban Ocon was P7 and Fernando Alonso was P10 despite spending the last twenty-five minutes of the session in the garage with a gearbox oil leak. Alpine has new floors for Singapore this weekend, and this update seems to be working.
McLaren should be worried about this burst of pace Alpine has, especially since their performance was poor compared to the Alpines. Daniel Ricciardo was P12 and Lando Norris was P19. However, the McLarens have new sidepods and floor updates for the weekend, so the drivers and team might just be getting used to them.
Pierre Gasly was in P9! Hopefully this means that the AlphaTauri is going to do well at this track.
With twenty minutes remaining, the session was red flagged when Lance Stroll hit the barriers at Turn 5 and jumped out of the car in the run-off area near Turn 7. While this crash was unfortunate, he had managed to set a good time before and still finished the session P8.
FP2: September 30, 2022
FP2’s conditions and timings were the most representative of what the race would look like, making it very important for drivers and teams to get out onto the track and collect data
It was a Ferrari 1-2 with Sainz in P1 and Leclerc in P2. Leclerc unfortunately spent half of the session in the garage while Ferrari performed changes and tests on the car after brake issues emerged in FP1. Luckily, they were able to fix everything and Leclerc got in the car with some time to spare.
George Russell was P3 and Hamilton was P5 as both Mercedes struggled around the track.
Verstappen was way off the pace in P4 and Sergio Perez was P9. It turns out Verstappen had some set up changes that could have hindered his ability to set a quick lap time and Perez just couldn’t get a clean lap in. But still, what happened to the Red Bulls?
Alpine continued its high performance with Ocon P6 and Alonso P8.
Gasly’s car erupted into flames in the pit lane due to an issue with his engine air intake overheating. Luckily, Gasly was able to quickly hop out of the car and the fire was quickly put out, causing minimal damage and allowing him to get back on the track. Gasly ended up P14 in FP2. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was P17 after struggling with a fuel system issue. AlphaTauri better not be falling apart because they showed some real pace in FP1.
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Pierre Gasly's car caught fire in the pit lane |
Alex Albon has been able to perform in both FP1 and FP2, and he seems to be in good condition. After recovering from an appendectomy and respiratory failure, it is really nice to see Albon healthy and fit.
FP3: October 1, 2022
The beginning of the session saw pouring rain soak the track, leading Race Control to keep the pit exit closed. The pit exit only opened thirty minutes later when the track became fit for cars, making teams lose half of their final practice session.
Leclerc was P1, making it all different leaders in each practice of the weekend. Verstappen was P2 and 0.5s behind, and Sainz was P3.
Alonso went P4, showing the real pace of the Alpine.
Aside from Stroll’s crash in FP1, Aston Martin has been doing pretty well this weekend. Stroll was P6 and Sebastian Vettel was P8.
Mercedes is really struggling this weekend. Their results have been all over the place, with Russell finishing FP3 in P9 and Hamilton in P12. This track probably just doesn’t fit their car.
Qualifying: October 1, 2022
Q1:
The track had dried up a little bit since FP3’s downpour, but heat and humidity made the track retain moisture and Qualifying started with all of the teams on intermediate tires.
Verstappen was P1 and Hamilton was P2 by just one-tenth of a second. The rest of the pack was far behind the two with Leclerc in P3 and a full second off Verstappen’s pace.
Final laps got Gasly, Vettel, Tsunoda, and Schumacher into Q2! This was big for the four drivers because they have struggled with qualifying all season.
Eliminated: Bottas (P16), Ricciardo (P17), Ocon (P18), Albon (P19), Latifi (P20)
Ocon in P18 was a shock because of Alpine’s strong performance all weekend. Throughout the session he struggled with his brakes, so that must be the reason for his Q1 exit.
Q2:
Q2 also saw driers on intermediate tires and the lap times were even lower than Q1.
Leclerc went P1, Hamilton stayed in P2, and Verstappen was P3.
The AlphaTauris made it to P7 and P8, taking them both to Q3! I am very happy with their performance this weekend.
Eliminated: Russell (P11), Stroll (P12), Schumacher (P13), Vettel (P14), Zhou (P15)
Russell missed out on Q3 by just 0.006s! He had throttle problems all through Qualifying and since he was anyway starting lower than the team wanted, Mercedes gave him a new power unit. This gives Russell a penalty and makes him start from the pit lane during Sunday’s race.
Aston Martin were the first team to take the risk and go on slicks. Stroll ended up running wide at Turn 13 and Vettel spun at Turn 7, ending his qualifying session.
Q3:
Conditions at the track started to improve and the Red Bulls were the first to go out on soft compound tires. Times started to really improve as more drivers switched to slick tires.
Leclerc ended up getting pole position with a 1m 49.412s lap! Perez was in P2 and Hamilton was P3. Sainz was P4, completing the second row.
Verstappen was doing really well until Red Bull ordered him to abort his final lap and immediately return to the pits due to his car being under-fuelled. If not for this issue, he probably would have taken pole from Leclerc. Verstappen had to settle for P8 instead.
Norris went P6 and Gasly was P7! It was a good day for me, even if Verstappen didn’t do so well.
Race: October 2, 2022
Continuing the trend of the weekend, heavy rain delayed the race by over an hour. When the race finally got under way, the rain had stopped but the track was still quite slippery and the humidity of Singapore made it hard for the track to dry. The race started with every driver on intermediate tires.
Leclerc did not have a great start and lost the lead into Turn 1, allowing Perez to pull ahead. Meanwhile, Sainz had a great start and took P3 from Hamilton. Verstappen’s less than ideal start lost him five places, but he was able to get back up to P9 by Lap 2.
Nicholas Latifi and Zhou Guanyu made contact on Lap 8 as they fought for P18, with Latifi cutting Zhou off and forcing him into the wall. Zhou unfortunately had yet another DNF and Latifi limped back to the pits to retire the car. A Safety Car was deployed and lead the pack of eighteen cars for two laps. Russell and Bottas had also made contact on Lap 8, but both came away without much damage and were able to continue with the race. Magnussen had picked up damage to his front-wing endplate when he tried to avoid a slow Verstappen on Lap 1. He pitted to fix the damage, but it was just before the Safety Car was deployed so he lost a significant amount of time.
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Zhou getting pushed into the barrier by Latifi |
At this point in the race, the track was still too slippery for slicks and most drivers were trying to preserve their intermediates. Around Lap 15, Albon pitted for a new nose and slicks after making contact with the walls. Soon after the stop, the team told him to retire the car and brought out a Virtual Safety Car. Albon was not able to provide data on if it were time for slicks and the other drivers all stayed on their inters. While he had a DNF this weekend, we shouldn’t forget what an impressive recovery Albon made from being intubated three weeks ago to driving in the most physical race of the season.
Esteban Ocon then stopped on Lap 28 with a smoking engine, leading to another Virtual Safety Car. This bunched the pack together and Hamilton in P4 was on Sainz while Verstappen in P6 was on Norris. The restart at Lap 30 saw Verstappen lunge on Norris, but it didn’t stick and Norris maintained his position.
Then at Lap 33, Hamilton went straight into the barriers at Turn 7 and came back on the track between Norris and Verstappen. He said everything was intact but Verstappen reported that the front wing was going to “fall off”. Hamilton ultimately pitted for a new nose and mediums on Lap 35.
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Hamilton went into the barriers |
Russell took risks during this race after a pit lane start, so he was one of the first drivers to find success on the slick tires. Lap 34 saw him start reaping the benefits of an early stop for mediums and led AlphaTauri to pit Gasly for slicks. Leclerc followed and boxed on Lap 35 with Perez responding on the following lap. Leclerc’s early, and relatively slow, stop didn’t pay off and Perez came out in the lead by over six seconds.
Yuki Tsunoda locked up at Turn 10 and caused yet another Safety Car. This gave Norris a cheap pit stop for mediums on Lap 37 and since Verstappen had pitted before the SC, Norris came out ahead in P4.
On Lap 39, the Safety Car ended and the race became timed with just thirty-five minutes left on the clock. Verstappen tried to pass Norris on the restart but locked up into Turn 7 instead. He managed to avoid the barriers but flat spotted his tires and had to pit. This allowed Ricciardo into P5 and set Verstappen at the back in last.
Russell ended up slowing down with a puncture on his right-rear tire after making contact with Mick Schumacher on the restart. Schumacher also discovered a puncture on his tire and the two pitted on Lap 42, pushing Verstappen up to P12.
DRS was finally enabled on the following lap, with twenty-six minutes left in the race. Leclerc and Perez started to really battle each other now that DRS was enabled, but Leclerc was never able to catch Perez. Lap 47 saw Leclerc back off and Perez picked up his pace to get himself out of DRS range. Race Control then announced that Perez would be investigated after the race for being more than ten car lengths behind the Safety Car. After the race, Perez was given a five-second penalty but it didn’t matter because Perez had won with a 7.5s margin over Leclerc. Perez kept his win with Leclerc in P2, and Sainz in P3.
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The 2022 Singapore GP Podium |
Verstappen was back up to P9 by Lap 52 and he managed to overtake Hamilton for P8 when Hamilton locked up into Turn 8. Vettel then lost his position when Verstappen braked late, allowing Verstappen to finish the race in P7. Verstappen’s result in this race is not an indication of how tough it was. He was all over the pack: sometimes in the top 5, sometimes dead last. His race was nowhere near as boring as the result says.
Unfortunately, Russell’s streak of finishing in the top five has come to an end with him in P14 for this race. However, he pitted for softs with eight minutes left of the race and got the fastest lap, so at least he scored a point!
Honorable Mentions:
First, we had a monumental event occur last week after I posted the prep article for the Singapore Grand Prix. Two time IndyCar champion, Will Power liked my blog post on Instagram! It was a very cool moment for me and I felt that it should be commemorated on the blog itself. If you don't already follow the blog on instagram, it’s @paddockupdate.
In F1 news, Fernando Alonso broke the record for most Grand Prix starts with his 350th F1 Grand Prix this weekend! While it was sad that it ended in a DNF, this is still a very cool achievement for him.
Since Leclerc and Perez finished ahead of Verstappen in the Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen will be taking his Championship fight to Japan. As Perez said in his post race interview, it would be pretty exciting for Red Bull if Verstappen wins the championship in Japan. The team has close ties to Honda, a company that is based in Japan, so it would be a special win for the whole Red Bull family.
Due to the rain, the Singapore Grand Prix was not as interesting as I hoped it would be. We had some pretty exciting results though. McLaren took a slew of points after finishing P4 and P5, and since Alpine had a double DNF, McLaren now leads them in the Championship! Gasly showed us that the AlphaTauri has some pace now, and although he was disappointed in his P10 finish, that one point is still a major improvement from the beginning of the season. Now, let’s look forward to Japan and see if Verstappen can win the championship there.
I will be back tomorrow to tell you what to expect from the Japanese Grand Prix!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1133/singapore/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1133/singapore/practice-2.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1133/singapore/practice-3.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1133/singapore/qualifying.html
https://racingnews365.com/russell-set-to-start-singapore-grand-prix-from-pit-lane
https://e3.365dm.com/22/09/768x432/skysports-f1-pierre-gasly_5915115.jpg?20220930150032
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article28143330.ece/ALTERNATES/n615/1_FeEUwgGWAAEWSFg.jpg
https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hamilton-crash.png
https://e00-marca.uecdn.es/assets/multimedia/imagenes/2022/10/02/16647244716659.jpg