Talking points ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix
Thursday, 14 September 2023
Singapore is a test of stamina and speed – and so far, for Max Verstappen, a rare box that remains unchecked as F1® arrives in Asia.
When the previous 10 races have been won by one man, you will excuse the other 19 Formula 1® drivers for clutching at straws in a bid to convince themselves that change can come – which is where we find ourselves as F1® heads to Asia for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix (September 15-17).
Even Superman had his kryptonite, and this event has been that for Max Verstappen in the past. Singapore is the only Grand Prix that's been on the calendar for his entire career that Verstappen is yet to win, and the Dutchman has struggled to match his various teammates over the years in the city-state, Daniel Ricciardo (twice) and Sergio Perez (last year's winner) having his measure at Marina Bay.
Verstappen has made a habit of ending hoodoos as well as writing history this season – after all, he'd never won in Australia either until April. But this is a race he'll have had circled on his calendar; who emerges out of the chasing pack to challenge him will be just as intriguing.
To that end, here are three Singapore storylines we're watching.
Piastri's pace causing headaches
If the sound of Lando Norris claiming to be faster than his Australian teammate at Monza while trailing them on the track sounded vaguely familiar, it should have; the McLaren man spent most of the 2021 Monza race when running behind Ricciardo in second place intimating he could go faster if he was allowed to, which Ricciardo put to bed by setting the fastest lap on the final lap …
Oscar Piastri out-qualified Norris two Sundays ago at Monza, and Norris wasn't best pleased to be stuck behind his rookie teammate in the early stages of the race. McLaren pitted Norris before Piastri while trailing him on track for the second time in the past four races, with the undercut so powerful that Norris edged ahead after Piastri's later stop, the two of them coming to blows at Monza's tight first chicane.
Team principal Andrea Stella was far from amused, saying "there should never be contact between two McLaren cars" and calling the lap 24 clash "unacceptable".
Ricciardo's Monza 2021 win was, sadly for Australian fans, one of the few times he was fast enough at McLaren to be a thorn in Norris' side; how the team deals with Piastri's pace as he settles further into an impressive rookie season bears watching, particularly as the MCL60 becomes a car capable of podiums on its good days.
Was Ferrari's speed real, or a mirage?
Carlos Sainz had arguably his best weekend in Ferrari red in Italy; the Spaniard took his first pole and podium of 2023, while leading for 14 laps represented the most laps led by a non-Red Bull driver in a race all year. Which begs the question: where did that come from?
Rewind a week to Zandvoort, and Sainz was the best-placed Ferrari in fifth, an overachieving result in a car that looked slower than an Alpine, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin, let alone a Red Bull. Yes, the Monza layout played to the strengths of the SF-23 – this year's Ferrari is dynamite in a straight line and has strong slow-corner balance. But that doesn't completely explain how Ferrari went from anonymous midfielder to race-leading rocket in the space of seven days.
The tight, twisting Singapore layout couldn't be more different to Monza, and while Charles Leclerc's prowess over one lap on street tracks could see Ferrari right up the front in qualifying, it's the 62 laps of Sunday's race where we'll get answer to the question of whether Italy was a nice one-off for the tifosi, or something to build upon elsewhere.
Aston's awkward conundrum
It's been the elephant in the room for a while, and one that was finally reflected statistically at Monza after Sainz and Leclerc finished third and fourth; that pair of results saw Ferrari drop Aston Martin to fourth in the constructors' standings for the first time all year, and again raised questions over Lance Stroll.
Stroll had a wretched weekend in Monza, but there were extenuating circumstances; he relinquished his car to reserve driver Felipe Drugovich in first practice, and then the car broke down in FP2, leaving the Canadian on the back foot. But qualifying last and finishing 16th – on a weekend where Fernando Alonso wasn't able to tap into his 2023 heroics and finished just ninth – laid bare the conundrum Aston faces.
Yes, we know Lance's dad Lawrence owns the team, and team boss Mike Krack said in Italy that the same driver pairing would be on the grid for the green team in 2024. But when you're fighting the driver might of Mercedes and Ferrari for runner-up in the championship, you can't have one driver outscoring the other by nearly nine points per weekend, nor being responsible for 100 per cent of your podiums, with Alonso's seven podiums so far contrasting with just three top-six finishes for Stroll.
Aston aren't likely to fall any further – McLaren are 102 points behind in fifth with eight races left. But Aston is a team that needs two drivers regularly delivering the best results possible as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are at Mercedes, and like Sainz and Leclerc do at Ferrari, if it's to move further forwards. At any other team, Stroll's tenure would be tenuous.
The Formula 1® Singapore Grand Prix 2023 will be available to watch live on Foxtel and Kayo. See our What time does the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix start in Australia article for timings.
