By Kyra Husdon, Staff Writer
Located at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the 16th race of the 2023 season, the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix took place on Sunday, Sept. 17 and heralded a variety of results no one expected.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz accumulated his second career Formula One victory in the Singapore Grand Prix this past weekend.
After his 10th victory in Monza, Italy, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen broke the world record for most consecutive race wins in Formula 1 and aimed to extend this record with an 11th win in Singapore. Each race this season has been won by a Red Bull driver, either Verstappen or Sergio Perez. Red Bull was looking to break another record for most consecutive team wins in Formula 1 history. However, after a disappointing qualifying session, the dominant Dutch driver placed 11th and Perez in 13th, setting both drivers up for an uphill climb on Sunday by starting so far back on the grid.
After the past two seasons being filled with strategy mistakes and problems with their car, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz made a show stopping appearance by taking pole position in the qualifying session to start in the front row followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Lando Norris starting second and third, respectively.
As the second winningest team in Formula 1 history, behind Ferrari, Mclaren had a disappointing first half of the season, with their car not being able to keep the pace with the rest of the cars on the grid. This resulted in low scoring race days for both of the McLaren drivers, Norris and rookie Oscar Piastri. However, after bringing upgrades to the car for the British Grand Prix, Norris was able to secure his first podium of the 2023 season at the infamous Silverstone Circuit and has apppreciated in quality of performance in the rest of the races thus far.
Furthermore, after eight consecutive years of winning the Constructors Championship, finally losing the title to Red Bull in 2022, Mercedes has failed to develop a car as competitive as Red Bull’s. This has caused both Mercedes drivers, Russell and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to face many challenges while competing in the 2023 Grands Prix.
Sainz had a strong getaway and Verstappen was able to move into 10th place, passing Alpha Tauri driver Liam Lawson. On lap 20 of 62, William’s driver and the only American driver on the grid, Logan Sargeant, damaged his front wing, causing a safety car to be deployed and delaying the race while the marshals cleaned up the debris.
During this safety car journey, many teams decided to have their drivers pull into the pit lane to give them a new set of tires without the risk of losing too many valuable positions in comparison to pitting when the race recommenced.
After having a poor pitstop and losing positions to both Russell and Norris, Leclerc had to fight to make up spots and gain the most points for the Ferrari team.
Russell followed close behind Sainz for most of the race before crashing into the wall on the last lap, moving Norris into second place and Sainz claiming his second race win in his Formula 1 career after being able to keep his lead for the entire grand prix.
Hamilton was able to take third place after his teammate’s crash caused him to not finish the race.
Verstappen crossed the finish line fifth with his teammate Perez finishing eigth, yielding a relatively disappointing result for the Red Bull drivers.
Though Formula 1 is a competitive sport, there is an entertainment factor to the grands prix, and many fans were losing interest after the continuous and obnoxiously predictable wins from Verstappen and the Red Bull team each race weekend.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body for the motorsports around the world, has tried to suppress Red Bull’s domination and regain viewers by calling for inspections to the Red Bull car and if their spending was within the implemented cost cap for each team.
However, team principal of Mercedes AMG-Petronas F1, Toto Wolff, has addressed the frustration of viewers watching Verstappen win over and over again, saying, “It would have been a fantastic season and close racing (without Verstappen) but the stopwatch never lies. There is just one guy and one car that is above everything else, and we’ve just got to catch up. There is no choice.”
The prospect of Verstappen’s regularly scheduled dominance will resume this weekend at Suzuka Circuit in Japan as we approach another race weekend.