The last Singapore podium in 2019 featured Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstapppen. Photo / Don Kennedy
Don Kennedy on Formula One
It has been three years since the Singapore Grand Prix was held due to Covid-19 restrictions, and the race makes a welcome return this weekend.
Singapore has been on the F1 calendar since 2008. The inaugural race, which was the first grand prix to be run at night, was won by Fernando Alonso driving for Renault, but that victory was tainted by the news that later emerged that his teammate Nelson Piquet Jnr had been instructed by senior team management to deliberately crash his car to bring out the safety-car, enabling Alonso, who was oblivious to the team order, to take the lead.
Sebastian Vettel has the record for most victories in the race, with six wins, followed by Lewis Hamilton with five wins.
Vettel won the last race held in 2019 driving for Ferrari. With the exception of Alonso's win for Renault in 2008, and Hamilton's victory for McLaren the following year, the race has only been won by a Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes.
Mind you, that stat would just about apply to every F1 race in recent years, such has been the dominance of the top three teams.
This weekend's Singapore race will be the 17th of the current season that was originally scheduled to consist of 23 races until the Russian GP was dropped because of that country's invasion of Ukraine.
Last week F1 released its calendar for 2023, which will consist of a record 24 grand prix.
The new race added to the calendar is the Las Vegas event on November 18. It will mean there are three races in the US, with the Miami race in May, the USGP at Austin, Texas in October, and the November date for Las Vegas.
The Mexican GP is a week after Austin and for logistical purposes, you would have thought the Las Vegas event would follow. But the teams will be busy packing up to fly to Brazil a week after Mexico, only to return to the United States two weeks after the Brazilian race to race in Vegas, before the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Given F1 has imposed a budget cap on the 10 teams contesting the championship, it will be a challenge for them to cope with the financial cost of flying back and forth between North and South America.
With three US-based grand prix on the calendar, and the Canadian and Mexico GPs just across the border, the focus on races in the North American continent is a huge factor, as F1 continues it shift away from Europe.
It should logically also see the emergence of more US owned teams in F1. Currently Haas is the only American owned team, but Michael Andretti signalled at the end of 2021 that he wishes to form F1's 11th team in 2024. Making a statement of intent is one thing, but getting F1 and FIA approval, is another.
The CEO of F1, Stefano Domenicali, a former Ferrari team principal, suggested in August he was happy with the current figure of 10 entrants and that a newcomer isn't required to add value to the sport.
"I think today in the actual status of F1, it's not a problem of quantity, where we can see a step of increasing the value of F1," Domenicali said.
"It is a matter of understanding really, not only the ones that have a bigger or louder voice, but there will be other people, because Andretti was quite vocal about his request. There are others that have done the same, in a different way."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has criticised Andretti's plans to join F1, saying he would be more supportive if a new manufacturer planned to enter a works team, saying that would add more value to the sport than the Andretti name.
Andretti's father, Mario, the 1968 F1 world champion, has stated he thinks Wolff had too much influence in the sport. But Domenicali has defended Wolff.
"Well, I do believe that Toto has a position as team principal," he said.
"He's a 30 per cent shareholder of Mercedes, he has a reputation of winning eight titles in a row. So I mean his credibility, there's nothing to add. Mario, I know him very, very well, since a long time. He's trying to present his idea in a way that he thought is the right way to do. But I do believe that, as you know, there is a governance in place. And the decision has to follow the protocol that is in place. And Mario is very vocal, Michael too, and I spoke with them quite often, as you can imagine. And we need to respect that."
Despite the negativity coming from the F1 owners and the likes of Wolff, Andretti are proceeding with their plans to enter an F1 team. They have been building a base of operations for "Andretti Global" which includes a new factory costing $200 million in Fishers, Indiana, which will be operational by 2025.
Andretti has had success in Indycar, Indy Lights, Extreme E, Formula E and Australian Supercars, yet the team's F1 prospects have run into a brick wall.
"We're preparing as if we were given the go-ahead," said Mario.
"Michael is on it, and that's what we expect to do. We're certainly not giving up. It's a very serious project for us and we're ready to make that investment."
"Toto Wolff has spoken very openly about our credibility," Mario told German publication Auto Motor und Sport.
"I find the criticism very disrespectful because we have been active in motorsport much longer than he has. I respect his success so far, but he has no reason to look down on us."
The entry fee for F1 is $200m. Then the team has to put money into the team, car, personnel and facilities. The entry fee would be split up and divided between the existing teams, so financially is a win situation for them.
"We want to contribute, the sport has been everything to us for our professional lives and I think we want to be able to contribute and continue to do that," Andretti Senior added.
While Andretti are trying to make their way into F1, Williams have now confirmed that Nicholas Latifi is out for 2023. That is not surprising news and means there are four seats available for drivers in 2023.
There is the Alpine seat that Alonso vacated and Oscar Piastri declined to fill, joining McLaren instead, thus displacing Daniel Ricciardo. It is looking more and more likely the likeable Aussie will be having a sabbatical year in 2023.
The Williams seat is now available, and if rumours that Haas will not re-sign Mick Schumacher are true, that seat is available as well. The fourth seat is that of Zhou Guanyu at Alfa Romeo, as so far no word that his one-year contract will be extended.
Contenders for the Alpine drive, which given that team is currently the fourth best team on the grid, is the prized drive, include Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly.
He had looked certain to join the French team until the FIA declined to give Indycar driver Colton Herta a Super licence. The plan was Red Bull would release Gasly from his Alpha Tauri contract only if Herta could join the team.
Nonetheless, Nyck de Vries, who had a memorable F1 debut at Monza as a late replacement for an ill Alex Albon at Williams, has admitted to being linked to the Alpha Tauri drive that Gasly would vacate if he joins Alpine. In fact de Vries has also been linked with drives at Haas, Williams and Alpine. Schumacher also has possibilities at Williams and Alpine, if Haas reject him, which seems likely as Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has labelled Schumacher as "inconsistent".
Somewhat surprisingly, Antonio Giovanazzi, who has driven in Formula E this year after losing his Alfa Romeo drive to Zhou, is linked for an F1 return with Haas, as is "super-sub" Nico Hulkenberg
It is easy in the game of F1 musical chairs and the driver "silly season" to lose sight of the current championship. World Champion Max Verstappen will be going for a sixth consecutive grand prix victory in Singapore, and his 12th win of the season.
But Verstappen has never won in Singapore, even though it is a circuit where Red Bull has done well in the past, as evidenced by Vettel winning the race for Red Bull in three consecutive races from 2011 to 2013.
Verstappen leads Charles Leclerc by 116 points with six races to go. If he wins in Singapore and Leclerc scores no points, that lead goes out to 141 points, with five races left. In that unlikely scenario, Verstappen could be champion again, but his teammate Sergio Perez is currently 125 points behind and it would depend on where he finished as to whether Verstappen can claim a second title in Singapore.
It is fairly likely the contest will go on to Japan the following week, but it will take a miracle for anyone or anything to deprive Verstappen of that second driver's title, while Red Bull is well on the way to securing its first Constructor's title since 2013. It is not a question of if Verstappen or Red Bull will take the titles, but more a question of when and where.
- Sources: F1.com; Planet F1
