Lando Norris dominated proceedings at Singapore with an excellent efficiency, however Ferrari’s strategists additionally earned their cash on the Marina Bay Circuit, executing two very completely different, however masterful methods with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. F1Technical’s lead journalist Balazs Szabo delivers his technique debrief.
Lando Norris took his third victory of the season, clinching a dominant triumph on the robust Singapore Grand Prix. The Briton’s dominant win at yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix marked McLaren’s return to the highest step of the Singapore podium, after a break of 15 years since Lewis Hamilton received in 2009.
Having struggled for tempo in current rounds, reigning champion Max Verstappen returned to the rostrum, securing a second place for Purple Bull. The end result additionally meant that the Dutchman is but to win on the Marina Bay Circuit, whereas his second place additionally noticed his present winless streak lengthen to eight Grands Prix.
Third was Oscar Piastri within the different McLaren, thus securing his ninth top-three end from 40 Grand Prix begins. The Woking-based workforce has now managed to get at the least one driver on the rostrum for the previous 14 races, with a complete of 17 podium finishes. Daniel Ricciardo took the race quickest lap for the seventeenth time in his profession, the final one courting again to Monza 2021, on the wheel of a McLaren.
Compulsory one-stop
For the fifteenth working of the Singapore Grand Prix, Formulation One’s tyre provider Pirelli has chosen the identical compounds as final 12 months: C3 as Laborious, C4 as Medium and C5 as Delicate. The truth is, this tyre choice is identical as on the previous two races at Monza and Baku, though these circuits function very completely different traits.
Forward of the 62-lap Singapore race, Pirelli had advised {that a} one-stop technique can be one of the simplest ways to finish as we speak’s race distance, with the lengthy pit lane and the shortage of overtaking alternatives making a multiple-stop technique robust to execute.
Pirelli’s prediction turned out to be the suitable one. As anticipated, a lot of the discipline went for the Medium in the beginning: 14 drivers lined up on the C4, 4 (Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen) on the C3 and two on the C5 (Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo).
The Medium proved to be very versatile by way of stint size, permitting practically all drivers to finish the race making only one pit cease. Ricciardo and Magnussen accomplished a late pit cease, however that was relatively a strategic transfer. Each switched to the red-walled softs for the dying phases of the race, with the Australian managing to set the quickest race lap to steal the extra level away from race chief Lando Norris.
Relying on monitor place and visitors, there have been a number of daring technique strikes. Struggling in visitors and caught behind the Visa Money RB of Yuki Tsunoda, Ferrari pitted Carlos Sainz very early on, calling him in for his tyre change on Lap 13.
It regarded very daring from Ferrari because the Spaniard nonetheless had loads of life in his mediums and the very early cease compelled him to finish 79 per cent of the race on the identical set of hards. The primary laps after his pit cease noticed Sainz decide off a number of drivers, and as he was in a position to full the overtaking strikes as quickly as he closed in on his rivals, he didn’t spend any time in turbulent air.
Having accomplished his strikes and with a number of drivers pitting, Sainz discovered himself in P6, however he in the end completed seventh after executing a wonderful tyre administration throughout his mammoth second stint. The truth is, Ferrari’s Spanish driver did the longest stint of all, masking a minimum of 49 laps on the Laborious.
On the opposite finish of the spectrum, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc prolonged their first stint. The Australian pitted on Lap 38 whereas the Monegasque got here in for his first cease on Lap 36.
Commenting on the race, Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola stated: “All in all, this was a comparatively easy race, with out a single neutralisation, the primary time that has occurred within the historical past of this race.
“The one-stop proved to be undoubtedly the quickest and all three compounds behaved as anticipated. The Medium and the Laborious clearly noticed probably the most use, however the Delicate additionally proved its value, as may very well be seen for instance within the occasions set by Hamilton on full gas load in his first 17 lap stint, or with Tsunoda over 28 laps within the second a part of the race, with a superbly acceptable stage of degradation.
“On the subject of evaluating tyre efficiency, an essential issue to contemplate is the extent of tempo administration adopted by the drivers, along with how a lot visitors they encountered at varied phases of the race. That was significantly related with the Medium, as a result of relying on their tempo, some drivers had been in a position to lengthen their first stint nicely past the window predicted by the technique simulations, which opened up the opportunity of utilizing the Delicate, as was the case with the aforementioned Tsunoda and Gasly.
“After 4 races in 5 weeks, Formulation 1 takes a brief break now, forward of the triple-header within the Americas. However for our group, the work on monitor continues, with 4 days of testing which is just doable because of the important assist of the groups, on this case, Mercedes, Purple Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.”
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