Our 5 lessons from the Singapore Grand Prix

1. We must stop investigating after the races and penalize more quickly!

It's a pleasant situation neither for the drivers nor for the spectators. Sunday, when he crossed the line as winner of the Singapore Grand Prix with 7 seconds on Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez was entitled to the joys of the podium… without, however, being assured of retaining his fourth career success. The fault lies in an investigation concerning a double offense carried out under safety car regime at 21:30 p.m. and 22:33 p.m. local time.

The Mexican in fact failed in his obligations to leave less than ten lengths between him and the safety car. If the incidents were noted during the race, they were only investigated afterwards, freezing the final result for almost two hours. At a time when the F1 wants to put the spotlight on the show, can the FIA ​​really still afford to no longer judge the actions on the track immediately? Surely not. The argument put forward by the legislator is to allow the pilot concerned to be able to justify himself, but for such a simple action, not sure that this is really necessary... 

ALSO READ > 5-second penalty for Perez, who keeps his victory in Singapore

Checo Perez has won twice in town this year! © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

2. Sergio Perez, king of cities

Since joining Red Bull, Checo Perez won three races which all have one huge thing in common: they all took place on urban tracks, with Baku in 2021, then Monaco and the Singapore Grand Prix in 2022, therefore. In difficulty for several races with only one podium in the last six Grands Prix, the Mexican is regaining his splendor when it comes to going fast between the walls. We should also not forget his brilliantly acquired pole position in Jeddah this year, on the Saudi urban corniche. “Checo has always been phenomenal on city circuits” Christian Horner recognized him. Despite a lot of pressure put on by Charles Leclerc for six or seven laps in the second part of the race, the Mexican held on to win his fourth career victory. And confirm his street artist nickname. 

Checo Perez, king of cities! © DPPI

3. Charles Leclerc from pole, it’s still just as complicated

22,2%. This is the second worst ratio of conversion of pole positions into victory in Formula 1 among drivers with at least one pole and one victory, and which the Monegasque would like to get rid of. As in 2019 in Singapore, Il Predestinato as supporters of the Team, took pole on Saturday, although without being able to win on Sunday. Leclerc lost the victory at the start. Author of a reaction time identical to that of Checo Perez, the Monegasque was on the other hand the victim of a major skating phase, which prevented him from maintaining control of the race.

The difficulty in maintaining as much pace as Red Bull over time also cost him the opportunity to successfully undercut the first intermediate stint, and to stay on the attack on Checo at the end of the Grand Prix. In eighteen poles, Leclerc has only converted four, his fifth victory acquired in Austria having been validated from second position. It's well known that the F1-75, like the SF-19 three years ago, is primarily a qualifying car. Ferrari will have to work harder to allow Leclerc to improve this painful statistic.

ALSO READ > Leclerc fails against Pérez: “I pushed the whole race”

Another unconverted pole for the Monegasque. © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

4. Reliability concerns are not getting better at Alpine

On Friday, the Singapore night sky was perfectly starry for Alpine, With a Esteban Ocon best of the others (7th and 6th) during the two free practice sessions. Meanwhile, the rival McLaren in the fight for fourth place got his feet in the carpet, speaking of the worst Friday in a very long time. With an 18-point lead in the championship before the start of the weekend, the A arrow would drive the point home without forcing. Missed. And things quickly went wrong. If Alonso qualified 5th just ahead Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon scored Daniel Ricciardo at the back of the pack, the reliability ofAlpine ended up costing the team dearly.

ALSO READ > Alonso laments after retirement and more lost points

Laurent Red has always assumed it: Alpine designed an engine whose priority was performance rather than reliability. The Spaniard was the first to have to stop due to an engine failure, imitated a few laps later by his French teammate, victim of a similar problem. WhileAlpine followed a second consecutive weekend out of the points, McLaren took the opportunity to score twenty-two points thanks to the 4th and 5th places of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and thus regain 4th place in the Manufacturers' championship for four small units. At the house of Alpine, the performance is there. All that's missing is reliability.

Fernando Alonso estimates he has lost at least 50 points due to reliability this season. © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

5. Max Verstappen ultimately hasn't changed that much

With 11 victories in 17 Grands Prix and more than 100 points ahead of the most threatening competition, the Batavian is having a very quiet season. Since the beginning of the year, Max Verstappen displayed an astonishing maturity, both on and off the track, very often approaching situations that were unfavorable to him with philosophy and patience. To the point of wondering where the enfant terrible that we have known since his debut in F1 had gone? Let those who are most worried rest assured, we found him in Singapore! Weighed down by a Red Bull blunder in qualifying (8th) due to an insufficient quantity of fuel in the tank as he went for pole, the Dutchman came out of his control to attack his team publicly and noted the unacceptable nature of the error committed. The Batavian then sulked until the race, during which he made a mistake while trying to pass Lando Norris. In the end, we found the badass Super Max, and that’s definitely good news for the show!

ALSO READ > What happened with Max Verstappen in qualifying?