© Oracle Red Bull RacingLights Out: The 2024 Singapore Grand Prix Race ReportMax Verstappen takes his 11th podium finish of the season after a gruelling 62 laps around the Marina Bay Circuit. Checo finished 10th making it a double point finish for the Team in Singapore.
MaxVerstappentookhis11thpodiumfinishoftheseason,takingsecondplacebehindtitlerivalLandoNorristomaintainhischampionshipcharge.ChecoPérez,meanwhile,climbedto10thplacefrom13thonthegridtotakeahugelyvaluablepointfortheteam.
We know that this of course is not our strongest track, but there is still a bit of work to do as we didn’t have the pace that we would have liked.
“Coming in second today was a good result for us. I think my start was quite decent but there wasn’t a lot of grip on that side so was difficult to have a go into turn one. The degradation was also quite high for me in the first stint. During the race, we didn’t have the pace to fight for first unfortunately, so I managed the tyres and drove my own race. We know that this of course is not our strongest track, but there is still a bit of work to do as we didn’t have the pace that we would have liked, but I think the damage limitation was done. Of course, we always want more so we will go back and analyse what we can do better; we have a few weeks to try and find more performance and better balance in the car when we restart in Austin, so we can fight for a win again and not lose points. Ultimately, today we made a step forward. If you had told me last week that we would be P2 I would be happy with this, so I feel like this has been very positive for us."
“Tonight’s result was a shame I think, we had a great start, but we lost an opportunity to undercut some cars, like we saw Carlos and Ferrari do. It was really unfortunate; after passing three cars at the start, it then became a tricky race. It was frustrating and I think we missed out a bit on the strategy side. I struggled quite a lot with the car bouncing and the balance, it was just not settling down, I had a real issue with it. It became impossible to overtake Franco and Niko, we understand where the issues are, there is a fix, but this was a very difficult track for us. It is now time to look forward for the rest of the season, the upcoming tracks should be better for us and we are looking at a package which should help us."
Max drove a strong race today and P2 was what we had.
"First off, congratulations to McLaren and Lando, they were clearly the best car on track today. The gap to Lando was significant in the first part of the race, and on the hard tyre we looked in better shape, but the gap was too big and this track is historically very hard to overtake on. Max drove a strong race today and P2 was what we had. If you consider where we were a few weeks ago the progress is visible, and we have the better part of a month to put our heads down and make some progress before we head to Austin. There will be a lot of late nights in Milton Keynes. As a Team, we wanted to avoid a repeat of last year in Singapore, and the effort that went in to preparing for this race resulted in giving the drivers a better car and more confidence in the direction of development. Checo unfortunately struggled to overtake during the race, he didn’t feel like he had traction in key parts of the track, and P10 is what he could manage today. The McLaren is the benchmark car at the moment and we have a bit to catch up to at the moment, but we have the people, the ability, and the drive to do just that. We are still in the fight, and now have a few weeks to work on things before we go again."
At the start of the race, Norris got away well from pole to take the lead. Max also made a good start, and he kept Soft-tyre starter Lewis Hamilton at bay to hold his P2 starting place.
Further back, Checo made a good getaway and as Williams’ Alex Albon went wide into Turn 1, Checo rose to 12th. The Minister quickly muscled his way past slow starter Carlos Sainz, who also went wide, and then powered past VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda to climb into the points as the first lap came to a close. He then set about stalking Williams’ Franco Colapinto.
At the front, the top two quickly began to pull away from the pack and after five laps Norris was 1.8s ahead of Max, while the Dutchman had built a three-second gap back to Hamilton.
With a series of mini-DRS trains defining the early order on the tight streets, the first stint settled into something of a procession. Only the leading pair made any real headway and by lap 13 Norris led Max by seven seconds with the Dutchman five seconds clear of Hamilton.
Hamilton broke the deadlock on lap 18, pitting to shed his starting Softs. The Mercedes driver switched to Hard tyres and dropped back to 13th. That bumped Russell up third, though the Mercedes driver was being chased by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who was just over a second back in fourth.
Max takes his 11th podium finish of the season
Max Verstappen takes his 11th podium finish of the season© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Max made a good start, and he kept soft-tyre starter Lewis Hamilton at bay© Oracle Red Bull Racing
A series of mini-DRS trains defined the early order on the tight streets© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Max cruising home in P2 to take his 11th podium finish of the season© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Checo moved to hard tyres in a 2.2s halt© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Sainz crossed the line in seventh ahead of Alonso© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Sixth-placed Fernando Alonso and P7 Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg were next in and then Checo was called in on lap 29 as he tried to bypass Colapinto in the stops. The Mexican moved to Hard tyres in a 2.2s halt, and when the Williams driver made his stop two laps later the undercut had paid off and Checo was three seconds clear of the Argentine driver.
Max made his sole stop a lap later than his team-mate and that boosted Piastri to second, though the McLaren driver had yet to pit. Norris, who locked up on fading mediums and almost hit the wall, then made his pit stop on lap 31 and he rejoined in the lead, seven seconds ahead of Piastri who was a little less than 14 seconds clear of Max.
Piastri made his stop on lap 39 and when he emerged, he was fifth once again, but with a significant tyre advantage over the two Mercedes cars ahead of him. And over the following eight laps he reeled in Hamilton and Russell and climbed to third place.
It also meant that Max moved back to P2, though the champion was now more than 23 seconds adrift of Norris. Further back, the round of pit stops left Checo in P10 once more, 1.7s behind Hülkenberg. However, up against the hugely experienced German he struggled to provoke his rival into an error.
At the front, on lap 48, Norris almost threw away the lead again clipping the wall, but the nervous moment seemed to galvanise the McLaren driver and he responded with a new fastest lap on the following tour.
Behind the leader, Leclerc, also benefiting from a late stop, was promoted past team-mate Sainz and then, on lap 51, muscled his way past Hamilton to claim fifth place. The Ferrari driver then gradually reeled in Russell but there was no way past the Briton and with five laps to go the top 10 order froze.
After 62 gruelling laps, Norris took his third win of the season, with Max cruising home in P2 to take his 11th podium finish of the season. Piastri claimed third ahead of Russell and Leclerc with Hamilton taking sixth. Sainz crossed the line in seventh ahead of Alonso, and Hülkenberg managed to keep Checo at bay, with the Mexican taking the last point on offer.
There was a final bonus for the Bulls, too, in the shape of Daniel Ricciardo making a late, late pit stop for Soft tyres. The Australian promptly went out and claimed a superb fastest lap, the 17th of his career and one that denied Norris the extra point in the championship standings.
