Formula 1 is often referred to as the pinnacle of motorsport; a high-end, high-stakes competition with global prestige. With its growing relevance and expanding female fanbase, there’s an increasing need for recaps that help fans stay up to speed when they can’t catch every race weekend.
This week in Singapore, Formula 1 (F1) fans witnessed a show that started all the way back in qualifying and lasted through the podium of the Singapore Airlines Grand Prix. From unexpected pole positions, disqualification, and in-team drama, the action never stopped.
Saturday’s qualifying session saw the podium led by George Russell for the second time this season, his first being in the Canadian Grand Prix in June. He set a new track record of 1:29.158, beating reigning world champion Max Verstappen by 0.182 seconds.
Verstappen later claimed that he’d been impeded by another driver. The front two rows featured Russell, Verstappen, World Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri, and Andrew Kimi Antonelli.
After qualifying, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) stewards evaluated the vehicles to make sure they were following regulations. Shortly after the end of qualifying on Saturday, it was found that there were issues with both cars for Atlassian Williams. In the report released by the FIA, it was said that there was an issue with the construction of the rear wings of cars.
The exact reason was due to exceeding the maximum limit of deployment for the Drag Reduction System (DRS), which is set at 85 mm. It’s not clarified where their rear wings were measured, but both drivers, Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, were disqualified from their respective starting positions of 12 and 13 and were required to start at the back of the race.
Sainz lined up at the back of the grid in P19, while Albon, who made a change to his car’s setup, started from the pit lane due to the late modification.
The warm-up lap was uneventful, as drivers warmed up their tires and went back to their respective positions. This led to a tense start at the beginning of the race. As the lights went out, Russell and Verstappen jumped off the line, maintaining their positions as Piastri fell back. This opened space for Lando Norris to fight him for his spot.
While trying to pass his teammate, Norris was following very close behind Verstappen and was wheel-to-wheel with Piastri. As they slowed down, Verstappen tapped his brakes, leading Norris to pull right, making contact with Piastri and almost putting him into the track wall.
Since contact between the cars did happen, the FIA had to review it, but it was quickly dismissed. Piastri talked to his engineer, requesting team action multiple times and making comments. This was due to a precedent set in the past referred to by McLaren as “papaya rules.” When the two drivers have had events that’ve interfered with each other’s success, they’ve intervened and made a team call for position changes.
This had recently happened in the Italian GP, when Norris had a bad pit stop and they made the team call to make Piastri give back the position. This created a huge controversy.
Overwhelmingly, the team decision was considered fair by commentators. However, they continued to discuss the issue with “papaya rules” in the first place, causing tension with the team, and making the drivers think it’s okay to debate and ask for switches at every minor inconvenience and interaction with one another on the track.
This debate stole the show, and the rest of the race was put on the back burner as the discussion continued.
The rest of the race did have a few events. Both Piastri and Alonso fell victim to some bad pit stops, taking around five seconds instead of the usual two-second window that most teams aim for.
Isack Hadjar had a few issues with his engine, which slowed him down immensely. Lewis Hamilton also received a post-race penalty for exceeding track limits after issues with his brakes. Both Alonso and Piastri had radio drama, with Alonso getting snappy with his engineer for talking too much, and Piastri disconnecting his radio as McLaren CEO Zak Brown congratulated him on the Constructors’ Cup win.
By the end of the race, we were gifted with our second George Russell win of the season, and a Verstappen and Norris podium.
The McLaren drama exploded after the cooldown room and podium. With only six races left of the F1 season, McLaren managed to get enough points to secure the World Constructors’ Cup championship. They received their trophy on the podium, with the entire team up there to celebrate, barring one crucial participant in this win: Oscar Piastri. This created a frenzy with McLaren fans and F1 fans in general.
Their celebration posts are flooded with comments criticizing the team for celebrating without the driver who won them most of their points for that championship. Fans are still debating whether there’s a valid excuse for this.
It’s argued that he was stuck with the media, and other fans are arguing that McLaren could afford to pay the late fees to wait for their WDC Leader and celebrate with him. They did celebrate later in the paddock with both drivers, but fans still aren’t satisfied with the behavior of the team executives.
Overall, Singapore came with a lot of drama and a lot of celebrations. Going into the United States Grand Prix on Oct. 19, Oscar Piastri still leads the World Drivers Championship, McLaren has secured the Constructors’ Cup, emotions are high across the Grid, and Norris is narrowing the gap to his teammate’s lead.
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