F1 heads to Singapore for the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after Oscar Piastri raced to his second career win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
2024 Singapore Grand Prix
Sunday 22 September 2024 – 14:00
Marina Bay Street Circuit
It’s not often we head into a Grand Prix weekend with the current Drivers’ Championship leader hovering around double figures to claim a win but this is the case as we head to Singapore with Red Bull continuing to struggle.
Verstappen is now only 49 points clear at the top of the standings, while Red Bull have dropped to second in the Constructors’ Championship following a dismal race out in Azerbaijan.
Can the reigning champs bounce back in Singapore or will McLaren-Mercedes tighten the screw at the Yas Bay Marina? Darry Worthington – who delivered the goods last week with his Oscar Piastri Win and Charles LeClerc podium finish – previews this weekend’s racing action below.
To Win Race Outright
Lando Norris 3/10 | Oscar Piastri 53/100| Charles LeClerc 57/100 | Carlos Sainz 11/10 | Max Verstappen 15/10 | George Russell 5/1
Previous Race – Azerbaijan
Oscar Piastri delivered last weekend and at a tidy price too, with the Australian young gun claiming the second race win of his fledgling career.
The McLaren-Mercedes man came out on top of a four-way battle for the podium berths which saw a dramatic late crash for Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, with both drivers forced to retire while pole sitter Charles LeClerc kept the pressure on Piastri but was unable to overhaul the young Aussie.
Piastri and LeClerc were joined on the podium by George Russell, who took full advantage of the Saiz and Perez crash.
It was a very good points return for McLaren-Mercedes with Lando Norris’ fourth-place finish combined with Piastri’s win seeing them overhaul Red Bull on the Constructor’s standings.
Max Verstappen would ensure that he maintained his lead atop of the drivers standings as the struggling World Champ brought his car home in fifth, while the final position in the ‘top 6’ went to the soon to be retired again Aston Martin man, Fernando Alonso.
With the aforementioned crash from two of the big guns came opportunities for top-ten finishes for some of the new boys on the circuit with Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto finishing eighth while 19-year-old Englishman, Oliver Bearman, brought his Haas home in tenth.
Sandwiched between the aforementioned youngsters was the Mercedes of veteran Lewis Hamilton, while Alexander Albon had driven his Williams home in seventh.
“Imagine Andrea on your shoulder saying: ‘zero wheelspin’ every exit” 😅
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 17, 2024
Norris hunts down Verstappen in the chase for valuable championship points #F1 #AzerbaijanGP @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/clTujuQMaE
Track – Marina Bay Street Circuit
The Yas Marina Circuit is another one of Formula One’s favourite architects, Hermann Tilke’s, designs. The circuit covers a total distance of 308 kilometres, with each lap equating to 5.065 kilometres and containing a staggering 23 turns.
It’s one of the more picturesque circuits but also one of the most testing tracks with high humidity and tight turns meaning drivers have to be on their game to avoid any lapses in concentration.
Looking at the adjustments made to the track for this year’s Grand Prix, an extra DRS zone has been fitted between corners 14 and 16, elevating the amount of DRS zones at the track to four.
Last year’s race was Carlos Sainz with Lando Norris claiming second while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the podium places.
With loads of storms moving through East Asia at this time of the year, we may well get a bit of rain this weekend with the early forecasts predicting thunderstorms throughout the weekend.
Value Bet
Lewis Hamilton – Podium Yes 5/1
The Brit has had some memorable races at the Yas Marina circuit and produced one of his better showings in 2023 at the venue where he claimed the fastest lap accolade and the third spot. I’m backing him to get on the podium here again.
To Win Race Outright
Lando Norris 7/4
I backed his teammate to win it last weekend and now it’s Norris’ turn. The McLaren-Mercedes man has a tidy record in Singapore finishing second last year. His car is a lot better than it was in 2023 and I’m expecting him to go one better this time around.
