Singapore Grand Prix Recap, and how Max Verstappen can clinch his second world title this weekend.

Last weekend’s race was the first time Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen could have mathematically clinched his second World Championship title. Max would’ve had to win the race with the fastest lap, and Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc would’ve had to finish eighth or lower at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Singapore Grand Prix is the toughest race of the season according to the drivers. Not only because it is a street track, but it is very humid and the track surface is really bumpy, making it extremely difficult for the drivers to adapt to the track, especially with the new 2022 cars. It is also the only night race on the calendar.

McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo said “It’s the only race on the calendar where you crack your visor open during the race, and you wish you didn’t because it feels even hotter outside than in the car”.

To make things more interesting, Saturday’s free practice and qualifying session’s came along with a bit of rain. Qualifying in Singapore is very important, because it is a street track, it is difficult to overtake similarly to Monaco.

Qualifying was interesting as we saw Alpine driver Esteban Ocon get knocked out of Q1. The lap times kept improving throughout the sessions as the track slowly dried up and the teams where looking for a gap to switch from intermediate tires to slicks.

The biggest surprise of Q2 was Mercedes driver George Russell missing Q3 by 3 one hundredths of a second. Russell had been struggling with break issues since FP1 and was not able to keep up the same pace as his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

In Q3, the drivers went for it and made the switch to slick tires. Even though some corners of the track were still quite damp, most drivers made the switch to slicks to give their final two push laps.

This is where it went horribly for Max. Verstappen. Max had backed off on his first lap due to traffic, on his final push lap he was nine-tenths down and on his way to a stunning pole position lap, but on the second to last corner, he was asked to come into the pits by his engineer. Max was furious with his team, followed by a raging radio message.

This meant Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc took his ninth pole position of the year, alongside Max’s teammate Sergio Perez starting in the front row. Max would start the race in P8.

After qualifying, we found out Max was asked to box because there was not enough fuel in the car to provide a sample after the session to the FIA.

“I can’t see how much fuel is in the car, but we have all the sensors in the world to track these kinds of things. It’s incredibly frustrating, because I think we had a good car. And I think you could see that already in Q3 that the car was really good on slicks. Of course, the conditions are tricky, but I liked that. The car was working quite well.”

Sunday’s race was delayed by an hour and a half, due to heavy rain. That sparked up the conversation of what the point is of having wet tires, as the track looked dry enough after about half an hour, but at the end of the day it is the FIA decision for the safety of the drivers.

It’s lights out and away we go, Sergio Perez takes the lead into the first turn as Charles Leclerc has a bad start, with a bit too much wheelspin. Every driver is starting on intermediate tires as the track is still very damp and conditions are still very tricky.

Max Verstappen didn’t have a great start either as he went into anti-stall and dropped back to P14 by the end of the first lap, leaving him with some work to do. At lap 11, we see the Williams of Nicholas Latifi completely crash into Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu bringing out the first safety car of the race and both drivers are out of the race.

As the drivers keep struggling for grip and trying to get a hold of the track, Max Verstappen has been able to make his way up to sixth place pulling on some incredible overtakes. Williams driver, Alex Albon misjudged his breaking point, locks up his breaks and goes straight into the wall, followed by Lewis Hamilton, who rarely makes mistakes also hit the barrier.

The second safety car will come out after AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda, also completely misjudges his breaking zone and hits the barrier at turn 10 going about 80 miles an hour. Every single Singapore Grand Prix ever hosted has seen the safety car come out.

After the safety car restart, Max Verstappen is sitting P5 behind McLaren driver, Lando Norris. Because of the safety car, the field is backed up, and because of the safety car speed, the breaks and tires lose temperature and don’t perform as well as when they are at peak temperatures.

Max Verstappen makes a bold move trying to pass Lando Norris right after the restart, locks up his breaks, and goes too deep into the corner, having to make a pit stop since the tires had flat spotted.

That drops Max back into last place into P14, with six drivers already out of the race due to crashing, or reliability issues. With 30 minutes to go, Max Verstappen manages to finish the race in P7, while his teammate Sergio Perez wins the race, leading every single lap, and possibly his best drive to this day. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finishes P2, followed by his teammate Carlos Sainz in P3.

For next week’s race in Japan, it is all up to Max Verstappen. If Max wins and gets the fastest lap of the race, he will become a two-time Formula 1 World Champion. If he finished first without the fastest lap, Charles Leclerc will have to finish third or lower for Max to win the championship.

Do you think Max will become a two-time F1 World Champion in Suzuka? We will find out next weekend.