September 20, 2023
The Singapore Grand Prix never fails to bring the heat (literally). This action-packed weekend was definitely one for the books. Here is your 2023 Singapore Grand Prix weekend recap:
Free-practice: September 15-16, 2023
The weekend got underway on Friday night with the Ferraris setting the pace in FP1 and FP2. The McLarens and Mercedes weren’t too far behind, all staying within one second of the Ferraris. Surprisingly, both Red Bulls only went P7 and P8 in FP2. It seems that whatever updates they brought to Singapore aren’t as good as they thought they were. Red Bull’s woes, however, mean other teams now have a chance to go for the win.
Since FP3 had a much warmer track than the rest of the sessions, participation was quite limited. As track temperatures started to drop throughout the session, more drivers came out of the garage to simulate some quali laps. Carlos Sainz went P1 once again, with Russell, Norris, and Verstappen in tow. In an ironic turn of events, Red Bull’s pace dropped while their sister team AlphaTauri’s pace shot up. Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were consistently in and around the top 10 throughout practice. With the AlphaTauri and Haas cars constantly swapping positions in the top ten, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the weekend pans out.
Qualifying: September 16, 2023
Q1:
 |
Stroll's car went airborne as it crashed into the barriers |
Just as the checkered flag was shown, Stroll came out of the final corner and had a hefty crash into the barrier. A Red Flag meant any driver on their final flying lap had to stop.
Verstappen was noted by race control for impeding in the pit lane when he stopped at the pit exit to hold everyone up. He was investigated after the session and no penalty was given.
Eliminated: Bottas (P16), Piastri (P17), Sargeant (P18), Zhou (P19), Stroll (P20)
Q2:
Q2 was delayed by a few minutes because track marshalls had to clean the debris from Stroll’s crash.
Eliminated: Verstappen (P11), Gasly (P12), Perez (P13), Albon (P14), Tsunoda (P15)
Liam Lawson, in an AlphaTauri, outqualified Max Verstappen and bumped him out of Q2. Give that man a seat!
We knew they had been struggling with pace all weekend, but both Red Bulls out in Q2 was unexpected.
Q3:
Sainz set provisional pole with his final lap and no one could beat his benchmark. Ferrari almost made it a front-row lockout with Charles Leclerc in P2 but George Russell claimed that position, just 0.07s behind Sainz. This pushed Leclerc to P3 and Lando Norris came in P4.
Liam Lawson’s first Q3 appearance had him in P10.
Race: September 17, 2023
Ahead of Sunday’s race, some changes were made to the starting grid. Lance Stroll withdrew due to aftereffects he was experiencing from his intense Qualifying crash. The FIA sporting code states that a driver must participate in Qualifying in order to drive in the race, so Stroll did not have a replacement. Zhou Guanyu, who qualified P19, had a pit lane start because of changes made to his car.
The start saw Sainz get away well as the other Ferrari of Leclerc took second from Russell. Hamilton, who started in P5, overtook Norris and Russell in one fell swoop but went wide to make the move. After being noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, he gave the spots back and settled into P5.
Yuki Tsunoda’s race unfortunately only lasted about two corners before a puncture from a collision with Perez prompted him to retire from the race. On the bright side, he lasted longer in Singapore than he did in Monza, where he didn’t even start the race.
 |
As you can see, Sargeant's front wing was under his car as he limped back to the pits |
The opening stages of the race were quite slow, with the order staying the same for the most part. But on Lap 20, Logan Sargeant brought out yellow flags when he went straight into the barrier at Turn 8. Although he was still able to drive, the front wing had broken and scattered pieces of carbon fiber across the track, prompting a Safety Car period.
All drivers in the top seven made their first pit stops under the Safety Car while the Red Bulls, who started on hards, stayed out. Verstappen got bumped up to P2 and Perez was up at P4. For some reason, Ferrari is still delusional and thinks they can pull off double stacking their cars. This time wasn’t as bad it usually is because they timed it right, but Leclerc got stuck in the pits as Hamilton came in and he ended up P6.
On Lap 22, the race restarted with Sainz leading Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Norris, and Leclerc. Sainz got away well while Russell pounced on Verstappen and Norris went after Perez. The two Red Bulls, with their old hard tires, were sitting ducks against the Mercedes and McLaren on fresher tires and quickly lost their places. A few tours later, Norris overtook Verstappen as well to get P3.
At this point, Russell could see the opportunity to win and started hunting Sainz down. I genuinely don’t think I have ever seen George drive in such an aggressive manner. But I guess they didn’t bring him to Mercedes for nothing (it was for his powerpoints).
As the battle for first heated up, Pierre Gasly was vying to take 10th off of Kevin Magnussen. Unfortunately, Magnussen ran wide while trying to defend and Gasly got the place. Magnussen’s mistake dropped him down to P16.
By Lap 38, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon had caught up to Perez and the three were wheel to wheel for P7. Alonso lost out to his former teammate while Perez managed to stay ahead, but not for long. On the following lap, Ocon forced Perez off the racing line took P7 into Turn 9. Gasly, who had arrived on the scene, and Alonso quickly got past Perez as well, and Perez immediately ducked into the pits for his first stop. He came out at the back of the field and on the following lap, his teammate Verstappen pitted and came out in P15.
After his incredible overtakes, Ocon’s car unfortunately suffered a gearbox issue and started smoking. The birthday boy had to retire the car at Turn 2, prompting a Virtual Safety Car.
The Mercedes duo were among the few drivers who pitted during the VSC, and the two dropped to P4 and P5. However, it wasn’t too bad because they were able to run in clean air as they caught up to Sainz, Norris, and Leclerc at the front. Russell and Hamilton were quickly able to close the gap and on Laps 53 and 54, they got past Leclerc. The two were quickly on Norris’s tail but struggled to catch him because Sainz, being the #1 Carlando Fan that he is, kept himself within one second of Norris to give him DRS. This allowed Sainz to carry himself, and Norris, to the end of the race and make it a Carlando 1-2 finish! I was near tears.
 |
This is by far the best team radio of the year |
 |
Look at the best friends!! |
The tears were also partially because on the final lap, Russell hit the barrier at Turn 10 and went straight into the wall, promoting Hamilton to P3 . He didn’t deserve a DNF on the last lap.
Verstappen made it back up to finish P5 after starting P11 and falling down to fifteenth. The other Red Bull of Perez was eighth.
 |
Russell went straight into the barriers |
The rest of the points positions were filled by Gasly in sixth, Piastri P7 after starting in P17, and Liam Lawson in P9 to score his first F1 points in just his third race. I am serious, someone needs to give that man a seat on the 2024 grid.
It was an unfortunate day for Aston Martin, as Alonso finished P15 due to a five second penalty and a subsequent slow stop. Singapore was definitely a weekend to forget to the green team.
It was an incredible weekend. Red Bull and Verstappen’s winning streak was finally broken, Carlos Sainz won, and my McLarens did very well. Norris’s podium is impressive, but I think Piastri’s making up TEN places in his very first Singapore Grand Prix – a race that is very hard on rookies – is insane.
I will be back soon to prep you guys for the Japanese Grand Prix!
- Divya
Where I got these
from: