Verstappen not thinking about title shot on Sunday

In brief

Verstappen’s focus not on title this weekend

Verstappen can clinch his second world championship in three days’ time but he says he is keeping thoughts of that from his mind.

The Red Bull driver leads by 116 points after winning the last five grands prix. If his lead is at least 138 points by Sunday evening he will win the title.

A race win with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc finishing far enough behind will make him championship again. But he says he isn’t dwelling on the arithmetic.

“I don’t really think about the championship,” he said. “I just want to have a positive weekend on track and take it race by race, there’s no rush.”

F1 is racing in Singapore for the first time since 2019, the last two races having been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We haven’t been to Singapore for a while so it will be interesting to see how the track has evolved,” he said. “It’s definitely one of the best races of the year and it’s a beautiful place to be. It’s important to have a good qualifying lap here so we’ll be focussing on that.

“During the race we just have to be ready for anything as there’s usually a lot of Safety Cars. In general, it’s a challenging circuit, the humidity is tough on the body and it’s very difficult to do a perfect lap because of tight turns and how close the walls are.”

Singapore extends DRS zones for F1’s return

The first and third DRS zones on the Marina Bay street circuit have been extended by five metres each for F1’s return this weekend.

The first DRS zone, on the straight between turns five and six, used to begin 53 metres after turn five. For 2022, the activation point has been moved back five metres so drivers can use DRS 48m after the corner.

The second DRS zone, situation after the turn 13 hairpin with its detection point on the preceding bridge section, is unchanged. However the third zone, which used to begin 48m after the final corner, will now start 43m after the apex of turn 23.

W Series wants to add reversed-grid races

W Series’ CEO Catherine Bond Muir says she would like to see reversed-grid races again in her championship, after the series successfully trialled the format in 2019.

A non-championship race was held at Assen that year as W Series supported the DTM, and the victory…