Formula 1 resumes back to the tracks of the Marina Bay Street Circuit when drivers will race for valuable points.
The drivers’ championship could be wrapped up by Max Verstappen if certain permutations work in his favour on raceday. The Red Bull driver currently sits on top of the standings with 335 points and his closest challenger is in a distant second with 219 points thus making a potential opportunity for Verstappen to successfully defend the championship he won on the last day of the 2021 season. Verstappen will be champion if he wins with the fastest lap, thus taking an extra point and Leclerc finishes ninth or lower while Perez finishes fifth or lower. The Dutchman can also win his second title if he wins the race but does not take the fastest lap when Leclerc finishes 10th or lower or if Sergio Perez finishes fourth or lower, or fifth or lower if he sets the fastest lap.
Ferrari started this season with a lot of promise where they had brilliant preseason testing with their car. But reliability issues have plagued the cars of the Italian constructor. Scuderia Ferrari’s Team Principal, Mattia Binotto was quoted saying to Motorsports Italy: “We pushed the limits of performance beyond what would have been a normal reliability plan, and this is because we knew it would be important to close the gap on the competition before the freeze for four seasons, knowing that reliability issues can always be resolved later. This is not to say that we arrived at the first race thinking we were completely unreliable, it was not. In the winter tests no problems emerged, but we knew we did not have an ideal situation. [The] problems we had on the track that had not emerged in the bench simulations, I think they are typical unexpected events of a new project, and we have to take them into account, I’m not entirely surprised by what happened.” Ferrari currently sit second on the constructors’ championship.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton admitted that the current season was a bit difficult for him and his team but promised to fight as the last six races of the calendar approaches. Hamilton has not won any race yet this year and hope to erase this record. Mercedes will want to salvage the remainder of the season by get race wins and podium finishes in their course to finish second on the constructors’ log. Though Mercedes had their own reliability issues early in the season but they seemed to have overcome them.
In all, the race in Singapore will be nothing short of interesting for fans who have been waiting for the roar of the engines for almost three weeks. Another added spice is that the Singapore GP will be a night race!
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