Can anyone beat Red Bull and Max Verstappen? With records broken and a Championship that is almost done, neutral F1 fans have to hope that at least someone else will win a race this season. There might be a chance this weekend. Preferably a different car though. Talking of different he is our 2023 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Preview with all the trimmings.
The Gurgler’s 2023 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Preview brings some thoughts on the race itself, a few bold predictions here and there, a few barely interesting stats.
Essentially a quick summary of what a casual F1 fan needs in the shortest possible time.
From one angle the track looks like a swan or a snake. From another angle the Singapore track looks like that robot from Short Circuit. Which is funny and coincidental if you remember a classic Mark Webber DNF from back in the day where an underground train sending an electric shock upwards into Webber’s car saw him DNF causing a Short Circuit.
Enough of our rubbish and onto the actual track, and we do love the night time adventures of the Singapore Grand Prix, but do wonder if it would get significantly less love if it just was a regular daytime race.
The last corner complex to halfway around the lap is pretty cool, but does get a little meh after that. Except for the Singapore Sling, which is a cool name, and a fun corner.
There should be enough happening with the walls so close, and a Safety Car is going to stuff up someone’s race for sure.
2023 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Preview – Race Rating
The Gurgler does like to use some obscure drivers in our Race previews and report, so who better to use than Teo Fabi to determine a race rating system.
So before each race we give a rating out of ten for four key category that are loosely based on each letter of Teo Fabi’s surname. Don’t know who Teo Fabi is, you should.
FAST? 7/10 – It’s pretty fast for a street circuit, but maybe the length of the lap goes against and it doesn’t feel fast when the race drags on. At least they removed the section going under the grandstand.
ACTION? 6/10 – The Singapore Grand Prix averages 4.7 DNFs per race, with accidents just behind mechanical, so we can rely on a bit of action. But then again the races can drag out, so it doesn’t seem as much.
BIG HISTORY? – 4/10 13 races is not the biggest history, and there haven’t been many big moments, although the Nelson Piquet Jnr/Renault premeditated crash to give Alonso a win and ultimately cost Felipe Massa a World Championship was a big one. According to the current court case it did.
INCLEMENT WEATHER? – 7/10 A 40-60% chance of rain on race day with one storm in the morning and late night. Interesting how late? Taken from The Weather Channel. 20% on the other days.
RACE RATING 60% – It’s a great event, and a good track.
Want to know if your favourite driver for this weekend is a master of the track or the track is a master of them? Here then are some barely interesting facts and stats.
- Max Verstappen has yet to win the Singapore Grand Prix.
- Max Verstappen has also not taken pole position here either. Two front row starts is the current top score.
- The car that qualifies 6th, has never DNFd in the Singapore Grand Prix.
- Pole Position has won 8/13, with two 2nd places the best results. There’s also two DNFs and one 13th place. Other grid slots to win a Singapore GP were 2nd (1), 3rd (2), 4th (1) and 15th (1).
- The only two current drivers to finish in the points for every race they entered are Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.
DRIVER GRID POSITION vs RACE RESULT – CURRENT DRIVERS
TEAM GRID POSITION vs RACE RESULT
HISTORIC DRIVER RESULTS
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane.
RACE RESULTS FROM GRID POSITION
DID NOT FINISH – DNF
We’ve gone about DNFs through this article, so here is the list of DNFs.
- Max Verstappen wins.
- Charles Leclerc take pole position and doesn’t win for a third time in a row.
- Sixth place scores a podium and not a DNF.
- Points for Alex Albon and both McLarens.
- First corner prang with qualified cars 12th and 14th.
ALL RACE RESULTS – SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
