By admin With Singapore wrapping up these two races, we won’t have to wait long for the next chapter in the dramatic story that is the 2024 Formula 1 season, which began with an exciting race in Azerbaijan. Following some striking recent results and a new leader in the constructors’ championship, here are some talking topics before this weekend’s race at Marina Bay.
Round three between Ferrari and McLaren?
Ferrari and McLaren have engaged in exciting clashes for the last two races, with each team winning one. In Monza, the front row was all McLaren, but Oscar Piastri was kept at away by Charles Leclerc’s masterful one-stop tactic. In Baku, the positions were inverted as Piastri skillfully passed Leclerc at the pole and went on to win.
Leclerc concentrated on the fact that Ferrari is in excellent form and is supporting their expectations that they would be strong in Monza, Baku, and Singapore, despite how disappointed he was to miss out in Azerbaijan. That suggests that this weekend’s Scuderia will go well.
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However, after introducing their significant upgrade in Miami, McLaren has been competitive on all tracks. They have continued to develop the car and are currently leading the constructors’ title.
Is a Ferrari vs. McLaren match happening this time around? Carlos Sainz won a very brilliant tactical victory in Singapore last year when he managed to hold off Norris and the two Mercedes drivers.
Will the McLaren vs. Ferrari duel continue in Singapore, as Piastri and Leclerc battled for victory in Azerbaijan?
Verstappen’s advantage and Perez’s outstanding performance
Red Bull will be hoping that the form guide this weekend does not mirror the prior past, which indicates that McLaren and Ferrari are the teams to beat both in this season and at the Singapore race last year.
Red Bull was very close to winning every race in 2023, but they ran into trouble in Singapore when they were unable to get the vehicle to run well on the street circuit and couldn’t contend for the podium. They didn’t win any races before, but this year they come in a completely new situation.
Even though Max Verstappen’s stunning season-opening performance seems like a lifetime ago, he continues to score well and Norris was only able to narrow the deficit by three points in Baku.
Sergio Perez’s performance was more encouraging for Verstappen and Red Bull since he was considerably more at ease on a track where he has won twice and was in the lead race until his late collision with Sainz.
Although Perez’s performance during a time when Red Bull is not at its most competitive is encouraging, he will need to duplicate it in Singapore in order to try to keep McLaren competitive in the constructors’ championship. He can also contribute to maintaining Verstappen’s advantage, but significant swings in the championship points could occur if Red Bull struggles once more.
Magnussen reappears as Williams and Haas battle
Speaking of points, in his first two Formula One starts, Ollie Bearman became the first driver to score points for two different constructors, setting a new record in Azerbaijan.
The super sub performed admirably once more, but following Kevin Magnussen’s one-race suspension for accruing 12 penalty points, he will now move aside to make room for the Dane to reenter his vehicle at Haas. He returns to a competitive Haas, where Nico Hulkenberg appeared to be on track to score a point in Baku prior to some last-minute troubles with the race.
Magnussen has recorded the fastest lap on two of his previous visits to Singapore in addition to scoring points on three of them, but he will have to contend with a Williams team that is becoming more and more competitive.
After finishing seventh and eighth in Azerbaijan, respectively, Alex Albon and his rookie teammate Franco Colapinto reinforced the two points Albon earned in Monza. Since Zandvoort, an updated car has now demonstrated its speed on three consecutive tracks.
With those 10 points on Sunday, Williams cut Haas’s lead in the constructors’ championship to 13 points, and that only created the opportunity to challenge for sixth overall.
SPA, BELGIUM – JULY 27: Danish competitor Kevin Magnussen, ranked 17th, walks in the Pitlane for Haas F1.
Magnussen will serve out his race ban and then play for Haas in Singapore.
Poor form from RB and unclear driving
RB is currently sixth in the standings, but they haven’t scored in the previous three races, and Haas has been eroding their lead. The two teams are currently separated by just five points, and at this point in the season, RB seems to be having performance issues.
Particularly frustrating was Baku, where Yuki Tsunoda retired for the second straight race after making early contact with Lance Stroll, and Daniel Ricciardo’s one-stop strategy gamble backfired, leaving him almost a minute off the lead.
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In addition to their recent poor performance, RB will also have to cope with the uncertainty surrounding their driver lineup for 2025, as Ricciardo is still up for debate and Liam Lawson is holding out for a full-time opportunity.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has indicated that an announcement regarding Lawson’s future is probably in the works, but if RB is unable to swiftly adjust to the pace set by Haas and Williams, they will be warily watching the pursuing group.
Lately, RB has had difficult times, and it’s still unclear if Ricciardo will continue to drive for the squad in 2025.
A breathtaking environment that puts the drivers to the test physically
Because of the incredible setting of racing through the streets of a city at night, the Singapore Grand Prix is an event that everyone knows about right away. Although the skyscrapers looming over the racetrack create a breathtaking background, the course itself presents one of the drivers’ most difficult challenges.
The race has frequently gone beyond the two-hour mark due to the lower average speed of a street circuit with several slow-speed bends and a high probability of a safety car. This issue is caused by the humidity, which means they can lose a lot of fluid during the race.
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Even though the last sector’s recent modifications have reduced lap times and somewhat increased average speed, the race time from the previous year was still within 14 minutes of the legal maximum.
Maintaining focus is especially challenging during a race this length in such high heat, as George Russell discovered when he lost it all to crash out of third place on the last lap last year.