2019 Singapore GP Review

Having watched some of the onboard action again, I was quite impressed again by the speed of these cars and the control of the drivers in difficult conditions (during the safety car periods when people stopped tyre saving). Some of the midfield battles were the highlights of the race for me with some great car control. There were some mistakes and wheel banging and broken front wings and wheels along the way, showing that this isn't as easy as it looks. It's a shame the race up front wasn't the most exciting, and it's a shame that running slowly on the tyres to eek it out to a one-stop race was the order of the day, meant a bit of the excitement for drivers and viewers alike were taken away, but it certainly wasn't an easy day at the office.

Stars of the race

I want to praise the Ferrari team, including both drivers in this blog. Ferrari brought some much needed upgrades at a tight and twisty track that they were expected to struggle at. They honed their car for qualifying, knowing passing was going to be near impossible if the front running cars were on the same one-stop strategy. And it worked a treat. Leclerc was mega in qualifying, sliding around on his final lap and clinching pole position from Hamilton. And then Vettel used the undercut and put in a super quick out lap (if you compare the his rival's outlap times to his, you can see he aced it), was the most efficient on his way back through the pack and was a master at safety car restarts, which resulted in his first victory this season. Leclerc understandably felt robbed of his hat-trick of victories, but in all honesty, Vettel needed it more. He still needs to prove he can cut out his mistakes, but momentum and morale are key factors.

By the summer break, I'd wonder if I'd ever include Gasly in the positive part of my reports, but the switch to Toro Rosso has gone well so far, and he really delivered with a strong 8th placed finish in Singapore. He was running behind Giovinazzi when he was leading the pack, but finished ahead of him, in part due to luck with the safety car.

Lando Norris finished best of the rest, staying out of trouble, managing his pace, and keeping some cars with better tyres behind at the end all capped off a good weekend for the young Brit, somewhat making up for the disappointment of Belgium. He did have Sainz and Hulkenberg to thank for that though.

Honorable nods to Kubica for just getting through the race. I know he shouldn't be given special treatment, but considering his limitations from his past injuries, it was a tough race. He made a great start, kept his head and made it to the end.

Magnussen had probably the one of the slowest cars out there, but was unlucky with the timing of the safety cars and had a bag stuck on his front wing. He was running in the points for much of the race but came away with none.

Albon is new to the car, new to the track, and though convincingly defeated by Verstappen, still clung to the tail of Bottas all race, with the midfield no threat to him. It's nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad considering the circumstances and what Gasly was doing in that car earlier in the season.

Strugglers

Strugglers include for the first time this year, Russell in the Williams. Contact at the start could hardly have been his fault, but he seemed to rather over drive the car this weekend, and though I think Grosjean should have backed out, Russell could have given him a bit more space. This is the first Williams non-finish all season.

On a weekend when Grosjean was announced for 2020, a shock for many, he got knocked out of Q1 and then was involved in the collision above.

Kvyat seemed to be in the wars, torpedoing Kimi Raikkonen and sending him out of the race.

Kimi struggled this weekend too, not being on top of the car, Giovinazzi out qualifying him, and he was going backwards on his strategy.