In recent seasons, the Formula 1 calendar has bloated to its current 22-race size in no small part due to the addition of many new street circuits.
The Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay circuit, however, is not an artificial street circuit like Jeddah or Miami – purpose-built and lined with walls out of design rather than necessity. And while it traverses actual city streets, much like Monaco, it has far longer straights and more frequent overtaking opportunities than drivers could ever dream of having around Monte-Carlo.
With its energy-sapping humidity and punishingly race length, which regularly skirts the two-hour maximum limit, the Singapore round is perhaps the greatest physical challenge drivers will face all season. And after a 100% Safety Car deployment rate across the 12 previous editions, there is no such thing as a straightforward Singapore Grand Prix.
But as eight of the 12 previous editions of Formula 1’s original night race were won from pole, Charles Leclerc can rightly feel confident heading into Sunday after securing the top spot on the grid – despite spoiling his final lap with an error, only to be let off the hook by Red Bull’s costly fuel misjudgement for Max Verstappen.
“Not my last lap, but the one just before was really good and was the lap for pole,” said Leclerc. “And my last lap, unfortunately I did a mistake. It wouldn’t have changed anything, but maybe if Max had finished the lap, we probably would have lost pole for this mistake.”
Red Bull signed Sergio Perez almost two years ago largely on the basis that he would be able to fight up front for them if and when Verstappen would be out of contention. And when their misjudgement left Verstappen down in eighth, Perez was just two-hundredths away from denying Leclerc pole, with only a small mistake of his own ultimately keeping him from a third career pole.
“I had a big moment into turn 13,” said Perez. “We’ve been struggling a lot with the driveability and I had a massive moment under braking, which I’m happy just to complete the lap because I lost quite a bit of lap time.
“It’s a bit disappointing to be so close to pole, But on the other hand, it’s a good result and I think we are in a good position to fight from there.”
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