2022 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix

Birthday Boy Max Verstappen.jpg
F1's 10 teams and 20 drivers will be racing under the lights in Singapore this weekend with many midfield battles still to play out.

Max Verstappen's dominant season, which will likely end up as the winningest season in F1 history, has him as the favourite to win under the lights in Singapore.

Short of a statistical miracle, both the drivers and constructors' championships are concluded in Verstappen and Red Bull's favour for 2022. An early-season threat from Ferrari was quickly thwarted by Red Bull, and Christian Horner's team and number one driver have been comfortably in front of the rest of the field since.

Behind Red Bull in the constructors' championship are Ferrari and Mercedes. After the first few races of the season it seemed like the struggle for pace from Mercedes would see them fade from contention with the top teams after nearly a decade of dominance, but they now sit just 35 points behind Ferrari.

Alpine and McLaren are also close in the standings, with the two teams separated by 18 points. A podium finish from either team this weekend could swing the battle significantly with only a handful of races remaining.

The Sebastian Vettel farewell season has just six remaining races including Singapore. The four time F1 champion will run his final races in Japan, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi after this weekend before hanging up his racing gloves.

A mix of clouds, rain, and maybe even a thundershower could lead to interesting conditions this time out in Singapore.

Will this be the weekend Verstappen clinches his championship? Will Mercedes catch Ferrari in the standings before the season ends? Who do you think might get a surprise podium finish in Singapore? Let us know in the comments below.

Image via: Tijn
  • Like
Reactions: Acher0n and Kimirai
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

It was the same for Mercedes when Vettel and Ferrari made so many mistakes. Remember Singapore 2017.
You just should drop the stupid idea that Max is a good driver and the others just have good cars ;)
But I know you can't :)
you saw that well Max is not Vettel and has proven in those 6 years that he is indeed very good .. maybe you should see that for yourself
 
Premium
Despite the Mercedes/Hamilton winning years, they weren't ever looking at winning the championship with five races still to go.
Perhaps Red Bull's problem is not being dominant but not concealing this better. A win is still a win; doing just enough to cross the line first is all that is needed.

"Without going to what I think is my limit. I always say that my ideal is to get pole with the minimum effort, and to win the race at the slowest speed possible."
Alain Prost
 
Staff
Premium
Despite the Mercedes/Hamilton winning years, they weren't ever looking at winning the championship with five races still to go.
But you can't say it was a walk in the park for Max. He has only achieved a few pole positions this year. LeClerc has much more. So there haven't been many races where Max has been the leader from start to finish. Hamilton had many wins that way in the years he became champion.
 
Premium
Despite the Mercedes/Hamilton winning years, they weren't ever looking at winning the championship with five races still to go.
Perhaps Red Bull's problem is not being dominant but not concealing this better.
It would be way closer if Ferrari hadn't f'd up so many times this season. They basically handed Red Bull the early championship on a silver platter.
 
Premium
Another terrible bodged together street circuit that's totally unsuitable for F1.

The only reason this is on the calendar is that Singapore bought the event.

Honestly it annoys the hell out of me how purpose built established circuits like Hockenheim and Nurburgring are being ignored just because somebody with fat checkbook can close off a few city streets, laughably call it a circuit, and then bribe F1 and the FIA for the event to take place.
I hate to break this to you, but all Formula 1 races are bought off. Hockenheim and Nurburgring were never on the calendar because they happen to be better tracks then the Sachsenring or the Lausitzring, it's always just becuase they could offer more money.

Back when the first F1 championship was held, silverstone was a bodged together runway circuit hosted in a country that owned singapore. Nobody complains about it now, but I doubt that people will complain about the Singapore GP when it has the 70 years that Silverstone had to adapt the circuit.
 
Last edited:
Despite the Mercedes/Hamilton winning years, they weren't ever looking at winning the championship with five races still to go.
Perhaps Red Bull's problem is not being dominant but not concealing this better. A win is still a win; doing just enough to cross the line first is all that is needed.

"Without going to what I think is my limit. I always say that my ideal is to get pole with the minimum effort, and to win the race at the slowest speed possible."
Alain Prost
Tell me, is Max looking like taking pole and lead from start to finish sunday, with Perez coming second? No?

Then this "domination" is nothing like the one we saw in 2014-16 or 2020.
 
Is that anything different than Spa, Silverstone, Baku or Zandvoort buying a F1 event to host a Grand Prix?
It damned well is different, well apart from Baku which is another road closure diversion mess of a circuit.

I get it, the venues have to pay to host an F1 event, but most of the problem lies with F1 and the FIA in that the bigger the paycheck the less critical they are of an events location. Hence we have crap racing taking place in Baku, Sinagapore, Miami, Saudi etc.

F1 and the FIA are more corrupt than FIFA, and that’s saying somthing.
 
Premium
Really? I mean, i might be biased what with me living in the Netherlands, but when you look between Zandvoort and Baku, one is a racetrack that's literally owned by a member of the royal family, funded by oil and especially gas money, and has been a procession every time f1 has raced there since i started watching...

... Whilst Baku has created some genuinely exciting races. It has the fun of Monaco's tight sections whilst also featuring areas in which people can actually overtake, and some of the least expected results have come out of that weird little harbour dash .

You even get to see the cars!
 
Last edited:
Despite the Mercedes/Hamilton winning years, they weren't ever looking at winning the championship with five races still to go.
Perhaps Red Bull's problem is not being dominant but not concealing this better. A win is still a win; doing just enough to cross the line first is all that is needed.

"Without going to what I think is my limit. I always say that my ideal is to get pole with the minimum effort, and to win the race at the slowest speed possible."
Alain Prost
No but twicewith 3 to spare, and we all know that if Ferrari had been a bit more "with it" with strategy it would be a lot closer. Also FIVE of Lewis titles won with races to spare.
 
One of my favourite track to drive on !! Some corners really need to be revamped, like to remove the double chicane near the end would make it the best track on this planet !!

Another Max tv show on track....unless drama :roflmao:
 
Staff
Premium
Singapore looks like they are driving through billboard storage. Baku has some character to it. Don't mind watching that one.
 
LOL, the track is a joke - FP3 has shown that it's almost completely undriveable for F1 cars in the wet.
 
LOL, the track is a joke - FP3 has shown that it's almost completely undriveable for F1 cars in the wet.
"These are the most technologically advanced race cars in the world", so ahead of anything else they can't be driven in the wet :roflmao: at least some crashes will happen make it less of a snoozefest.
 
"These are the most technologically advanced race cars in the world", so ahead of anything else they can't be driven in the wet :roflmao: at least some crashes will happen make it less of a snoozefest.
Exactly. F1 today makes the CART cars of the late 90s look absolutely awesome, specially given the fact they did race in many temporary tracks that were way tighter and worse than this. And let's not even mention IMSA GTP and some of the tracks they raced. F1 today get's uneasy if the track has some creases on it.
 
Very sportmanlike of Redbull to call Max into the pits just before finishing his last and fastest lap. Max starting the race from eigth will be a bit more interesting tomorrow.

Redbull clearly didn't want Max to become WDC in Singapore, because you never know what trick Ferrari is pulling out of their hats to f*ck Leclerc.
 
Last edited:
Horner calling Vertap in with some bad news about the budget :D

Just kidding, what's the big deal -- next week the DC will be theirs anyway.
 
LOL, the track is a joke - FP3 has shown that it's almost completely undriveable for F1 cars in the wet.
Singapore is not really different from the old Adelaide track, it’s just longer. It’s a street circuit, that’s all. It’s an interesting challenge, in fact.
 

Latest News

Article information

Author
Mike Smith
Article read time
2 min read
Views
13,802
Comments
109
Last update

What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • More games, period

  • Better graphics/visuals

  • Advanced physics and handling

  • More cars and tracks

  • AI improvements

  • AI engineering

  • Cross-platform play

  • New game Modes

  • Other, post your idea


Results are only viewable after voting.
Back
Top