Winners and Losers from 2024 F1 Singapore Grand Prix

The Singapore Grand Prix was a hot and humid affair for all of the drivers, with Lando Norris winning ahead of Max Verstappen.

There were several strong performances throughout the grid, but the event also will be one to forget for some others.

So who features on our Winners and Losers list following the race in around the Marina Bay Circuit?

Winner – Lando Norris

Let’s start off with the obvious choice. It was a simply dominant weekend from Norris, arguably his strongest yet in F1.

He was convincing en route to pole position on Saturday and was well-equipped to take a third career win. However, he had an opening lap to contend with as the previous five occasions that he started from pole resulting in losing the lead on the first lap.

Norris had no such shortcomings on this occasion as he kept his McLaren in the lead through the opening corners.

Max Verstappen stuck with Norris for several laps before he began to edge out a gap and cross the line over 21 seconds ahead of his title rival.

There were a couple of close calls and wall kisses along the way – but other than that, it was a perfectly executed weekend from the Briton who is silently pursuing an unlikely word title.

Loser – Sergio Perez

Perez had one of his strongest races of the season last time out in Baku, with all the hard work undone by a late crash with Carlos Sainz.

The Mexican driver could not keep that momentum as he arrived in Singapore as he went crashing out of qualifying in Q2.

A difficult race followed for Perez during which he was stuck behind the Williams of Franco Colapinto for some time before progressing into the points.

A solitary point was the reward for Perez’s efforts, coming at a crucial time in the championship fight.

Team-mate Verstappen did his part for Red Bull by splitting the McLaren duo on the podium but without a haul of points from Perez, McLaren was able to extend its lead to 41 points. 

Winner – Franco Colapinto

Colapinto drove his third grand prix weekend in Singapore – but analysing his performance, you would not think it is the case

Singapore sits as one of the most physically and mentally challenging races on the entire calendar as the heat and humidity coupled with the close barriers offer the drivers a seismic challenge.

But Colapinto dealt with the pressure brilliantly – in qualifying, he narrowly missed out on beating team-mate Alex Albon despite not having the upgrades fitted to his car.

On the opening lap of the race, he committed to an aggressive overtake into Turn 1, but he was never out of control or over the mark.

The move was criticised by some of his fellow drivers – but could this have stemmed from being left with egg on their faces by being out-shone by a rookie, rather than concerns with the Argentine’s driving?

Loser – Ferrari

Singapore marked a major fall from grace for Ferrari, who just one week ago, narrowly missed out on a victory in Baku after taking a race-long challenge to McLaren.

Although Singapore sits as a much different track layout compared to Baku, the Italian squad would have been hoping for more.

Carlos Sainz crashed out of qualifying at the start of Q3 and was joined on the fifth row by team-mate Charles Leclerc who had his fastest lap (which would have only been good enough for seventh) deleted.

Ferrari had a stronger race with Leclerc crossing the line in fifth place, albeit one minute down on race-winner Lando Norris.

Sainz took seventh on the road after being placed on a strong strategy, but it still marked his worst result of the year bar his non-finishes in Canada and Azerbaijan.

After Baku, Ferrari sniffed an outside chance of claiming a constructors’ title this year, however a lacklustre performance in Singapore has left it clinging to any such hope.

Winner – Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg was in need of a strong race in Singapore after being caught out by green flags in Baku following the crash between Sainz and Perez, which saw him overtaken and demoted from the points on the penultimate lap.

What followed was a fantastic performance for the German who enters his final run of races with Haas ahead of his switch to Stake next year.

Hulkenberg qualified inside the top 10 and had solid pace throughout the race to cross the line in ninth and bag his sixth point-scoring grand prix finish of the season.

It offers Haas an extra boost as it now sits just three points behind RB in the constructors’ championship in a battle that will be a tense fight between the two squads until the end of the campaign.

Hulkenberg has scored a bulk of Haas’ points this year and his latest strong display in Singapore was another reminder of the asset the American team is losing next year.

Loser – Daniel Ricciardo

This was a tough one for Ricciardo. It may well have likely been the 35-year-old’s final ever grand prix as the expectation is that Liam Lawson will be in the RB car in Austin.

Ricciardo has enjoyed a lengthy career in F1 with more wins than most drivers that have passed through the series.

However, through the weekend in Singapore, all questions and topics centred on the Australian revolved around it potentially being his final event in F1.

Ricciardo struggled in qualifying and also endured a difficult race – however he was able to steal the fastest lap as some sort of memorabilia from his [likely] last F1 race.

A choked-up Ricciardo was clearly emotional after the race as his choice of words and body language pointed in a clear direction.

Who knows if we will see him in F1 again – but should we not, it is an unfortunate way for the honey badger, who once inflicted fear in the braking zones with his perfectly calculated divebomb overtakes, to bow out of the sport.