By Giorgos Pallikaris
For the first time the Singapore GP was completed with no yellow flags, no Safety Cars, and just two retirements due to mechanical failure. Norris started first and finished first without ever being threatened, except twice when he almost went out on his own. Verstappen is second, but with a difference of several seconds, while the second McLaren with Piastri completes the podium. The 18th Grand Prix ended without drama (and of particular interest), proving once again that McLaren and not Red Bull are now the protagonists.
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The track
The Marina Bay track in Singapore is 4.94 Km long. From 2023, its layout has changed and the turns have been reduced from 23 to 19. The pilots make 62 laps and cover a total of 306,143 km. The track has three DRS zones whenever there will be a lot of overtaking. For the first time an F1 race was held in Singapore (Singapore Airlines Grand Prix) in 2008. Vettel holds the record on this route with five victories. Hamilton has won four times, Alonso twice and last year Sainz won.
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- Road surface temperature: 37 Degrees Celsius
- Air temperature: 31 Degrees Celsius
- Spectators of 3 days: 275.000
- Moisture: 71%
- 1,600 floodlights turn night into day on this city circuit which is also the 18th stop on this year’s calendar
The starting sequence
Lando Norris continues to impress by taking the 6th Pole Position of his career, leaving Max Verstappen second and Lewis Hamilton third. Russell was fourth on the grid, Piastri fifth and Hulkenberg sixth. Leclerc and Sainz in positions 9 and 10 while Perez starts from 13th position.
How did the match go?
The five lights went out and the cars started. Norris will make a good start and defend first place, as will Verstappen in second and Hamilton in third. A clean start without any serious contact despite the great narrowness of the track. Perez would manage to gain 3 places in the first lap and reach 10th.
For the first time, Norris will be able to protect his first place at the start and will even gain a safety margin from second place Verstappen. It seems he is now more experienced and learning from his mistakes.
With the first 10 laps of 62 completed, the gap between Norris and Verstappen stands at 4.2s with Hamilton a similar distance behind. Let’s remember that in the 14 Grand Prix that have taken place in Singapore, a safety car has come out as the speeds are high and the track is particularly narrow. So many teams base their strategies quite a bit on the appearance of a Safety Car.
The first retirement will come in the 16th round and concerns Albon who will be out of the fight due to a mechanical problem, without affecting the flow of the race.
The few overtakings are done on the long straight using DRS while Norris continues to set the fastest lap. It is worth remembering that last year, in Singapore, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won, the only GP from the entire last year’s calendar that was not won by a Red Bull driver.
Leader Norris would pit for a tire change on the 31st of 62 laps of the race and would remain in the lead as he had built up a huge gap.
After several visits to the pits and with 18 laps remaining the standings are: Norris – Verstappen – Russell – Piastri – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Alonso – Hulkenberg – Perez.
As the Singapore GP is a city circuit, the tarmac causes quite a lot of turbulence in the cars and many drivers come into contact with the barriers at the exits of the corners. On the 50th lap Magnussen will declare on the team radio that he has a flat tire and will drive slowly towards the pits for change. It was caused by his contact with the turn 5 barriers.
It is worth mentioning that Norris not only once but twice almost crashed into the barriers on the way to the limit, despite the fact that he has a distance of 23 seconds from second place Verstappen.
The second retirement will come on the 6th lap and concerns Magnussen who a few laps ago touched the barriers, causing a crash and eventually damage to the floor of his car.
After 62 laps Norris would face the checkered flag first and take a big and easy win. The final ranking is: Norris – Verstappen – Piastri – Russell – Leclerc – Hamilton – Sainz – Alonso – Hulkenberg – Perez – Colapinto – Tsunoda – Ocon – Stroll – Zhou – Bottas- Gasly – Ricciardo. They gave up o: Magnussen – Albon.
Source: www.zougla.gr
