If its two-year absence from the Formula 1 calendar had led to any of the 20 drivers forgetting or underestimating the magnitude of the challenge that F1’s original night race poses, then the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix weekend will have left them all in no doubt.
Max Verstappen landed in the vibrant Asian city-state for his first of six attempts at clinching a second consecutive world championship title. With the seemingly unstoppable momentum of a five-race win streak behind him, on Saturday pole position appeared assured to be in the championship leader’s hands for 21 of the Marina Bay street circuit’s 23 corners. But a mathematical mishap by Red Bull denied him – he was told to abandon his final qualifying run.
Still, that seemed no reason to write off his victory chances entirely. Verstappen’s inevitable second world drivers’ crown will be defined by his relentless charges to victory while starting from the middle of nowhere. Eighth on the grid felt like an achievable challenge, even around a genuine street circuit such as this.
Instead, Charles Leclerc would have a second shot at converting a Singapore pole to victory after losing out the last time F1 raced around the city in 2019. But the Ferrari driver knew he would face tough competition, with Sergio Perez’s Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes both a whisker away from having taken the top spot for themselves on Saturday.
Singapore is always the longest night of the F1 season for its drivers and a torrential downpour within 90 minutes of the scheduled start only added to the challenge. With the flooded streets in no fit state to be raced on, FIA F1 race director Eduardo Freitas – much as he did in Monaco – delayed the start by over an hour to avoid the worst of the track conditions.
As the usual chorus of criticism of the FIA’s apparently aversion to start races in full wet conditions echoed around online fan spaces, the field duly lined up on the grid, unanimous in their preference for Pirelli’s green-walled intermediate tyres. When the lights went out, Leclerc’s lead lasted only a matter of metres. It was only the third time all season that the driver in second place had beaten the leader to the first corner.
“I don’t really know yet whether it’s me who did mistake in the way I do things or if it’s something else,” Leclerc later admitted. “The only thing I felt is that I had a little bit a bit of wheelspin and lost it and…
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