Red Bull went into the Singapore Grand Prix mystified by their poor showing in qualifying which left both their drivers outside the top ten.
But during the race they began to unpick the puzzle of the RB19’s apparent incompatibility with the Marina Bay street circuit. As the night wore on the car’s performance improved relative to its rivals and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was left wondering what might have been had the cards fallen in their favour.“We understood a lot more in the race and the pace of the car came much more back to what we expected,” he explained. “Coming here we expected to have closer competition but I think it took us a bit by surprise just how far out we were on Friday.
“We were just not in the right operating window for the car, particularly over a single lap. When you’re not there then the tyres feel horrible, everything just doesn’t work. So, I think we got a very good steer in the race.”
“Unfortunately, in the race, by starting on the hard we took, if you like, a strategic gamble, and the best way of that race paying us off is if you get an early Safety Car or a Safety Car sort of later into the race. Now, the lap that the safety car came out in was probably strategically the worst possible lap for the strategy that we were on because it gave the cars ahead of us a free stop.”
Virtually the entire field took the opportunity to pit on lap 20 during the Safety Car, but Verstappan and Perez stayed out. That moved them up to 2nd and 4th places respectively, but within half a dozen laps of the restart several of their fresh tired rivals had passed and the pair were back in sixth and seventh.
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“Whilst giving us track position, it made us take the restart with tyres that are very hard to heat up again, having done well over 20 laps. So then Max was obviously picked off by the guys that had the free stop.”
Having seen his drivers fall to 15th and 17th with 21 laps to go, Horner was encouraged by the progress they made after switching to the medium tyre compound. Verstappen even reeled in Charles Leclerc ailing Ferrari and needed only one more lap to pass him when the chequered flag dropped.
“All considered, the recovery that we had and the pace that we had, particularly in the latter part of the race to be 0.2s behind Charles at the finish line was a strong race.”
At the front of the field Carlos Sainz Jnr was keen to contain the threat of quicker drivers behind such as George Russell, and deprive him of an opportunity to attack through an early pit stop. He kept the pace so low that after Zhou Guanyu pitted on lap two he lapped seven tenths of a second quicker than the leaders shortly afterwards.
Given the relatively slow pace at which the race was run, Horner believes Verstappen could have finished even higher up had the Safety Car periods not landed quite so inconveniently for them. This was not foreseen by their strategy simulations ahead of the race as their pace turned out to be better than expected.“Our pre-race simulations were saying about P7,” Horner explained. “But that’s in a standard race.
“I think ironically enough, if we’d had a standard race, the strategy that we had with Carlos holding the front up because of the deg on those hard tyres, Max would have definitely come into play with the pace that he had at the end of the race.
“When you look at the distance, the delta that he was off the leaders by the end of it, if you take away that the delta for the free stop suddenly bang, he’s right in the game.”
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2023 Singapore Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | No. | Driver | Car | Lap time | Gap | Average speed (kph) | Lap no. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’35.867 | 185.51 | 47 | |
2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’36.273 | 0.406 | 184.72 | 46 |
3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’36.456 | 0.589 | 184.37 | 47 |
4 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’36.575 | 0.708 | 184.15 | 61 |
5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’37.108 | 1.241 | 183.14 | 61 |
6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.342 | 1.475 | 182.7 | 46 |
7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’37.666 | 1.799 | 182.09 | 47 |
8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’38.046 | 2.179 | 181.38 | 46 |
9 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’38.075 | 2.208 | 181.33 | 51 |
10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’38.107 | 2.240 | 181.27 | 48 |
11 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’38.275 | 2.408 | 180.96 | 46 |
12 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1’38.277 | 2.410 | 180.96 | 46 |
13 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’38.492 | 2.625 | 180.56 | 46 |
14 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.531 | 2.664 | 180.49 | 45 |
15 | 40 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 1’39.028 | 3.161 | 179.59 | 47 |
16 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’39.316 | 3.449 | 179.06 | 46 |
17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.923 | 4.056 | 177.98 | 50 |
18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’39.930 | 4.063 | 177.96 | 33 |
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Rank | No. | Driver | Team | Complete stop time (s) | Gap to best (s) | Stop no. | Lap no. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 28.977 | 1 | 39 | |
2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 29.369 | 0.392 | 1 | 20 |
3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 29.485 | 0.508 | 1 | 20 |
4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 29.499 | 0.522 | 1 | 20 |
5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 29.698 | 0.721 | 1 | 40 |
6 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 29.755 | 0.778 | 1 | 20 |
7 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 29.787 | 0.81 | 2 | 43 |
8 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 29.976 | 0.999 | 1 | 20 |
9 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 30.032 | 1.055 | 1 | 2 |
10 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 30.039 | 1.062 | 2 | 44 |
11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 30.138 | 1.161 | 1 | 20 |
12 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 30.487 | 1.51 | 1 | 40 |
13 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 30.637 | 1.66 | 2 | 20 |
14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 30.67 | 1.693 | 1 | 20 |
15 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 31.018 | 2.041 | 2 | 43 |
16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 31.475 | 2.498 | 1 | 20 |
17 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 31.802 | 2.825 | 1 | 20 |
18 | 40 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | 32.348 | 3.371 | 1 | 20 |
19 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 32.631 | 3.654 | 1 | 20 |
20 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 32.888 | 3.911 | 1 | 20 |
21 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 33.078 | 4.101 | 2 | 43 |
22 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 33.581 | 4.604 | 2 | 44 |
23 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 35.497 | 6.52 | 1 | 20 |
24 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 52.708 | 23.731 | 2 | 44 |
2023 Singapore Grand Prix
- How Ocon’s “extreme” height for an F1 driver is helping other tall racers
- Steward’s admission Verstappen should have had penalty frustrates his rivals
- Drivers back Singapore qualifying tweak as rule changes again for Japanese GP
- Piastri “much more comfortable” at new circuits than at start of rookie season
- Ferrari decided before qualifying to sacrifice second-place car in Singapore GP
Aquila_GD
18th September 2023, 0:33
Lewis was on fire on that last stint. To claw a 5 second deficit to his team mate on the same tyre life was just epic.
Super drive.
w0o0dy
18th September 2023, 6:44
Max was actually even faster relative to Hamilton on the mediums. From 28 s behind the lead he finished about 4 or 5 seconds off… shame we never got to see him fight the top cars.
I have an opinion
18th September 2023, 7:36
X – Doubt.
Look at MV’s and LH’s lines on the lap times graph, and their positions on the fastest laps table.
satellite
18th September 2023, 8:13
Verstappen finished 21 seconds behind the winner, not 5 seconds.
George.be
20th September 2023, 12:34
No Max wasn’t, but he was close in laptime while cutting trough the field (5 passes, while Lewis was in clean air)
MacLeod (@macleod)
18th September 2023, 7:38
Sometimes you have the luck of a safetycar and sometimes you don’t…. Nothing lost Max can Win everything again for the rest of the season and next season.
Alan S Thomson
19th September 2023, 0:31
The idea that any team can score a perfect season is laughable. Nobody has ever done it before and nobody will ever do it.
George.be
20th September 2023, 12:35
Watch what you’re saying… Maybe next year someone will say “hold my beer”
osnola
18th September 2023, 10:58
Interesting to see the fastest car did not win this race.
The race pace of the Mercedes was blistering but they were unable to collect the win.
Pure strategic brilliance by Sainz , great work.
And a pity Lewis pushed Russell so hard and did not even tried to attack Norris when he had his chance .
MadMax (@madmax)
18th September 2023, 12:26
The fastest cars unable driver finished P5
Kelly
18th September 2023, 12:32
Kvyat, is that you?
Edvaldo
18th September 2023, 13:56
Do you realize Hamilton had less than half a lap to attack Norris?
It’s hard to believe some things we get to read on the internet.
Aquila_GD
18th September 2023, 16:39
You can say that again
melanos
20th September 2023, 1:08
What, Sir should have been able to pass Lando in a Nissan Micra. Or moonwalking.
Ferdinand
18th September 2023, 12:30
This was indeed very strong and impressive again from Verstappen. Understandable not highlighted given all the other firework going on at the front but nevertheless impressive once again, especially given the poor drivability of the car.
Señor Sjon
18th September 2023, 14:53
RB was very unlucky with the first SC and I was surprised the hards never returned to their pre SC pace. If Ocon’s Alpine failed just 3 laps earlier, Verstappen would have gotten the VSC stop, saving him 13s of pitlane time. That would have brought him about 8s behind Sainz in the end.
If it wasn’t for the last lap yellow (not Russell), Verstappen probably could have passed Leclerc as well.
This track needs a faster pitlane. 28s makes it a guaranteed onestopper.