McLaren top contenders as Formula One title race heats up Singapore Grand Prix

SINGAPORE – The bright lights of Marina Bay will illuminate not just the stunning Singapore skyline, but a thrilling title race when the 15th edition of the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix flags off on Sept 22.

The spotlight this time is on the frantic chase for championship points – a hunt that motorheads here have not witnessed for some time.

Heading into the weekend, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship with 313 points, but McLaren’s Lando Norris is hot on the Dutchman’s heels, just 59 points behind. This is the narrowest gap between the top two spots since 2018, when Lewis Hamilton had a 30-point lead over Sebastian Vettel.

With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also in the hunt – he is only 19 points adrift of Norris – the 4.94km Marina Bay Street Circuit is set to be a high-stakes battleground, where every twist and turn could determine who is crowned world champion at the end of the season.

In recent editions, the title race was not as intense. In 2023 and 2022, Verstappen started the Singapore GP with significant leads – 145 points over Sergio Perez in 2023 and 116 over Leclerc in 2022. The 2020 and 2021 races were cancelled due to Covid-19, while in 2019, Hamilton arrived with a 63-point advantage over teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Kunal Shah, an International Automobile Federation (FIA) accredited journalist and pundit for streaming service Viaplay told The Straits Times that the 2024 race has the potential to be one of the most exciting ones that Singapore has hosted, given the sudden decline of Red Bull and the form of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.

He said: “I believe it’s going to be an extremely close race. Last year, we saw Carlos Sainz pulling a win out of nowhere.

“We will have four teams and eight drivers in the fight this time. Checo Perez is known as the king of the streets for a reason and all four teams have won at least three races in 2024, which has not happened in a long time.

“I think McLaren are still the best contenders. It’s just down to the driver pairing they have, but more importantly, the package they have – it’s an all-round package. It’s working across all different types of circuit configurations.”

Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races this season but none of the last seven as McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have all claimed victories.

At

the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sept 15,

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri held off pole-sitter Leclerc’s Ferrari for the win, with Mercedes’ George Russell in third. Norris finished fourth, while Verstappen was fifth.

Notorious for its heat and humidity, and overtaking difficulties, the Marina Bay Street Circuit has not been a happy hunting ground for Red Bull. The Singapore Grand Prix was the only race they

failed to win last season

and Verstappen has never been at the top of the podium here.

Malaysia’s former F1 driver Alex Yoong, who raced for Minardi in 2001 and 2002 and has worked as a race pundit, said the winner will likely emerge from McLaren, Ferrari or Mercedes, noting that Red Bull have struggled in recent outings.

He said: “I am really looking forward to the Singapore race because it is really so hard to call this time.

“Whoever does win it, I really feel it’s going to be because of the driver. For example, in Monza, it wasn’t Ferrari winning that race, it was Leclerc winning that race with a one-stop strategy which no one thought was possible.

“And then in Baku, it wasn’t McLaren, but it was Piastri winning the race with that audacious overtaking move. When the margins are as fine as this, you really see the differences the drivers make.

“Singapore is a very tough track and the winner will be the driver that just performs perfectly, and is at their 100 per cent on the day.”

Qualifying on Sept 21 will be key due to the difficulty of overtaking on the tricky, twisty track. Nine out of 14 races here have been won by the pole sitter.

The addition of a fourth DRS (drag reduction system) zone between Turns 14 and 16, however, will make for more overtaking opportunities than before in this 62-lap race. DRS is a mechanism that allows the rear wing of an F1 car to temporarily flip open, reducing the downforce and aerodynamic drag to hit top speed and aid overtaking.

Timing a pit stop right will also be more critical than ever, as the pit-lane speed limit has been reduced from 80 to 60kmh.

The battle is also heating up in the constructors’ standings, where McLaren lead with 476 points, a 20-point advantage over Red Bull. Ferrari, who are 31 points behind Red Bull, are also in the hunt.

In comparison to recent seasons, in 2023, Red Bull had a 310-point lead over Mercedes before the Singapore race, while in 2022 the former were 139 points ahead of Ferrari at the same stage.

McLaren have a golden opportunity to end their drought in Singapore – their only victory here was in 2009 with Hamilton – and anticipation is high among racing fans. Norris placed second in 2023 for their first podium here since Jenson Button in 2012.

As the tension builds up for the Singapore Grand Prix on Sept 22, fans are guaranteed fireworks both on and off the track.