Does more pain await Red Bull at their ‘bogey track’? Seven Singapore GP talking points · RaceFans

Just a week after taking on one of the most unforgiving circuits on the calendar in Baku, teams and drivers must steel themselves for another demanding street track. The Singapore Grand Prix is regularly the longest and most gruelling race of the year.

The 15th edition of the first F1 race ever to be held at night, the Marina Bay circuit presents drivers with a similar challenge to Baku – only a much longer race in energy-sapping humidity.

Since Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix no one has managed to win two races back-to-back. Will the race produce another unlikely winner this year after Carlos Sainz Jnr’s surprise triumph 12 months ago?

These are the talking points for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Can Red Bull resolve their set-up woes?

Red Bull failing to score a podium finish last weekend in Baku was nothing out of the ordinary, given how the world champions have been caught and surpassed by their rivals as the 2024 season has progressed.

But what was striking was how, for the first time in a long time, Verstappen did not have the pace of team mate Sergio Perez. While Perez was fighting for a podium in the closing laps, the championship leader was languishing in sixth place and unable to match the speed of his team mate ahead.

McLaren have been consistently faster than Red Bull for many rounds now, but Verstappen has been able to keep the damage in the championship from Lando Norris to a minimum through a combination of his own skill and McLaren being unable to make the very most of their opportunities. However, Verstappen now heads to a circuit that produced Red Bull’s worst performance of the 2023 season last year. Will they struggle again this year?

Verstappen believes that his underwhelming performance last weekend was down to the set-up direction he and the team went for in Azerbaijan. Red Bull must ensure they strike the right balance with the set-up this weekend, otherwise they might not be able to prevent Norris taking a large chunk out of Verstappen’s championship lead.

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Ferrari at the front

Last year’s Singapore Grand Prix was a standout among a season dominated by Red Bull and Verstappen. In fact, it was the only race all season that the world champions failed to win out of the 22.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Singapore, 2023 — Sainz scored a memorable win here last year

Sainz took full advantage of Red Bull stumbling around the Singapore streets to deliver one of the best performances of his career and hold off several rivals in a tense end to the race and win. But he also had Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc to thank.

After Sainz beat Leclerc and George Russell to pole position, Leclerc accepted the team’s plan to put him on soft tyres for the start of the race as the second-placed driver of the two. If he could get ahead of Russell early, then he could slow the Mercedes down to give Sainz a gap ahead and help boost the team’s chances of a victory.

That was exactly what happened as Leclerc managed to jump Russell off the line with his softer tyres. Although he would lose out with the later Safety Car, Leclerc had played his part and helped Ferrari to prevent a Red Bull whitewash of the season.

Leclerc and Sainz were both fighting for podium places last Sunday in Baku, while Leclerc also took victory the round prior in Monza. Will the Ferrari pair be willing to work together again in Singapore to try and secured a second successive Singapore win?

Briatore back at the scene

The first ever Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 was supposed to go down in history as the very first night race in Formula 1. Instead it became one of the most notorious races of all time.

Nelson Piquet Jnr crashes, Renault, Marina Bay, Singapore, 2008 — Piquet Jnr’s crash in 2008 was planned by his team

It took almost a year for an FIA investigation to conclude Renault’s then leadership, managing director Flavio Briatore and executive director of engineering Pat Symonds, arranged for driver Nelson Piquet Jnr deliberately crashed his car at the old turn 17 to bring out a Safety Car to advantage team mate Fernando Alonso.

In 2009, the FIA investigated Renault over the incident, finding the team guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute by deliberately orchestrating a crash to benefit the team. Briatore was handed an effective ban from the sport, but this was later overturned by a French court of appeal.

The ‘crashgate’ scandal was one of the ugliest incidents of cheating in the sport’s history, yet earlier this season, Alpine announced that Briatore had joined the team as an executive advisor ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The move was met with disapproval by many.

Alpine will now head to Singapore, the scene of the scandal, with Briatore as a paid member of the team for the first time since 2009. Meanwhile Felipe Massa’s legal action against the FIA and F1 over the consequences of the incident rumble on – a botched Ferrari pit stop during the Safety Car period cost him a chance to win the race, which he blamed for his defeat in that year’s world championship.

Matters are little better on-track for Briatore’s team today. Alpine are just one place off the bottom of the championship standings after Williams overtook them in Baku.

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Return of the Mag

After suffering the indignity of being the first Formula 1 driver ever to receive a one-race suspension for accruing 12 penalty points on his superlicence, Kevin Magnussen will return to his VF-24 this weekend.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas, Silverstone, 2024 — Magnussen will return after his race ban

Although the veteran will leave Haas at the end of the year, likely bringing his time in F1 to an end, he will at least have seven last grands prix to look forward to until the end of the season. And Singapore is a good venue for Magnussen to be returning to his team – he scored their final point of 2023 with a tenth place finish last season.

While Magnussen looks forward to getting back in the car and enjoying what is likely to be the final Formula 1 races of his career, Haas were able to get a sneak peek at their future as Oliver Bearman stepped into his car last weekend in Baku. The Ferrari junior had his second top ten finish of the season, taking the final point in tenth position. Will their regular driver be able to match that?

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Pirelli’s performance

Heading into last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, there was plenty of attention on F1 tyre suppliers Pirelli as the FIA mulled who they would pick as the sport’s exclusive tyre manufacturer for the 2025 to 2027 seasons. Although other manufactures expressed an interest, there was little surprise when Pirelli secured another three-year extension on their existing deal.

Yet after last weekend’s race in Baku, Pirelli have come under attention once again. George Russell was less than complimentary about what he believes is inconsistent performance of Pirelli’s F1 compounds that teams are struggling to deal with. The Mercedes driver suggested that “serious conversations” were needed about the characteristics of the tyres, saying “I don’t think people that make the tyres even understand the tyres”.

At another low-grip street circuit this weekend, will there be any further complaints about the tyres to add to Russell’s voice?

Which Safety Car streak will break?

There has been a Safety Car in every race here

A common talking point among recent weekends has been the lack of a Safety Car deployment since the Canadian Grand Prix. Although there was a Virtual Safety Car – eventually – after the late-race crash between Sainz and Sergio Perez in Baku, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was still the eighth consecutive grand prix which did not feature a ‘traditional’ Safety Car.

But now the field head to a circuit that has seen a Safety Car deployed at every one of the 14 races it has held in history before. While that doesn’t mean, as is often frequently asserted, that there is a ‘100% probability of a Safety Car’ this weekend, it is certain that one of these two streaks must end.

The question is, which?

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DRS everywhere

Overtaking at Singapore has always been tricky, even with three (quite short) DRS zones. The addition of a fourth to the Marina Bay street circuit could make all the difference or none at all.

If passing is suddenly a more realistic possibility, it will make a significant difference to teams’ approach to strategies. The kind of tactics Ferrari employed last year may no longer be possible.

DRS often proves a prescription for predictable overtaking – there was no shortage of conspicuously easy passes in the extended zone in Baku last weekend. But it is hard to imagine it may tip the balance that far at a track like Singapore.