2023 Singapore Grand Prix

## Lap Leaders

The **2023 Singapore Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2023**) was the fifteenth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Marina Bay Street Circuit on the weekend of September 15 to September 17, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen leads the World Drivers' Championship with 364 points, 145 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 194 from Fernando Alonso in third. Red Bull Racing, with 583 points, lead the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes by 310 points and Ferrari by 355 points.

Current World Constructors' Championship leader Red Bull Racing had an opportunity to secure their sixth title, their second in a row. Red Bull Racing could have won the title as long as they claim a 1–2 result with a bonus point for the fastest lap (44 points), with second-placed Mercedes scoring one point or fewer. If Red Bull Racing achieved a 1–2 without the fastest lap (43 points), with Mercedes failing to score, their advantage would be the same as the number of the obtainable points remaining in the season (353), but Mercedes would not be able to win on a tie breaker due to Red Bull Racing achieving more wins than Mercedes.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were initially the same as the season entry list, with the exception of Liam Lawson, who was in the seat originally held by Nyck de Vries. Lance Stroll withdrew before the race following a crash in qualifying.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

### Track changes

Turns 16 through 19 of the previous layout were removed to facilitate the construction of NS Square, which is replacing The Float @ Marina Bay where the track previously went through. They were replaced by a new straight leading from turn 15 to the new turn 16, which was designated as turn 20 in the previous layout.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualifying was held on 16 September 2023, at 21:00 local time (UTC+8).

The first session saw Yuki Tsunoda record the fastest time ahead of Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg after a heavy crash for Lance Stroll brought out the red flag in the closing moments, taking himself, Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu out of qualifying. The second session was delayed due to debris on the final corner where Stroll had crashed. Following the session, Stroll was taken to the circuit medical centre and was deemed okay, but missed the race, having withdrawn.

The second segment saw Carlos Sainz Jr. top the session ahead of George Russell and Fernando Alonso. Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon and Tsunoda were all knocked out of the session, but most notably, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and his teammate Pérez were both knocked out of the session. Liam Lawson beat Verstappen to the line and into Q3 – Lawson's first – by only a gap of 0.007 seconds. This is Red Bull Racing's first double Q2 exit since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix.

The third segment saw Sainz take pole position ahead of Russell and Charles Leclerc, his and Ferrari's second consecutive after the preceding Italian Grand Prix.

## Race

### Race Report

The race was held on 17 September 2023, at 20:00 local time (UTC+8).

Zhou Guanyu started the race from the pit lane due to power unit changes. As the race began, Carlos Sainz Jr. kept the lead while teammate Charles Leclerc, starting on the soft tires, jumped ahead of George Russell to take second place. Meanwhile, Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton took the turn 1 run-off and was noted for gaining an advantage, but he gave the position back to Russell.

Having made contact with Sergio Pérez, Yuki Tsunoda suffered a puncture early in the race and retired on lap one. He had suffered damage to his sidepods. He safely parked his car behind the barriers. His retirement triggered a yellow flag for a brief time period. Not long afterward, Logan Sargeant crashed into a barrier, broke his front wing and triggered a safety car, returning to the pit lane while his car spewed debris onto the track. Red Bull Racing chose not to pit their drivers during the safety car period, meaning both were running older hard tyres at the restart. Russell, Lando Norris, and Hamilton were thus able to pass Pérez and Max Verstappen, who were both languishing due to their older tyres. After dropping track position, Verstappen and Pérez came into the pits, coming out in fifteenth and eighteenth respectively, but recovered to fifth and eighth respectively. The race resumed with Sainz holding his pace behind the pack. A few laps later, Esteban Ocon stopped on track with a gearbox issue, triggering a virtual safety car. Mercedes took advantage of this to double-stack their drivers in the pits for new medium tires. Fernando Alonso, who had received a penalty during the earlier safety car period due to crossing the pit entry line, had a slow stop, leaving him last. He would then go into an escape road and ultimately could not recover his race. Furthermore, he had run over debris from Tsunoda's accident earlier on.

As the race entered its closing rounds, Sainz allowed Norris, running in second place, to remain in range for DRS, stating that it was "on purpose" (presumably, to create a buffer from the two faster Mercedes cars). Russell and Hamilton both passed Leclerc, but they could not overtake Norris. On the final lap, Russell clipped the wall and broke his suspension, causing him to slam into the wall at turn 10 and ending his podium hopes. Norris had clipped the same wall just before Russell's crash but his car remained undamaged. Having led the entire race, Sainz went on to win the race, his first since the 2022 British Grand Prix and Ferrari's first since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, breaking Verstappen and Red Bull Racing's winning streak, with Norris claiming second place and Hamilton claiming third place after Russell's crash. In only his third race in Formula One, Liam Lawson scored his maiden points by finishing ninth, driving for AlphaTauri. Hamilton's finishing third and Alonso's 15th place meant Hamilton moved up from fourth to third in the championship.

## Notes

1. ↑ Zhou Guanyu qualified 19th, but he was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. He was then required to start the race from the pit lane as the new elements were changed without the approval of the technical delegate during parc fermé.
2. ↑ Lance Stroll qualified 20th, but he withdrew following a crash in the session.
3. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
4. ↑ Sergio Pérez received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Alexander Albon. His final position was not affected by the penalty.
5. ↑ George Russell was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
6. ↑ Lance Stroll did not start the race following his withdrawal due to a crash in qualifying.