Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Singapore.
Driver performance summary
| Driver | Q stage | Q position | Q gap to team mate | GP grid position | GP result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | Q2 | 11 | -0.137s | 11 | 5 |
| Sergio Perez | Q2 | 13 | +0.137s | 13 | 8 |
| Charles Leclerc | Q3 | 3 | +0.079s | 3 | 4 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Q3 | 1 | -0.079s | 1 | 1 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Q3 | 5 | +0.429s | 5 | 3 |
| George Russell | Q3 | 2 | -0.429s | 2 | 16 |
| Esteban Ocon | Q3 | 8 | -0.185s | 8 | Not classified |
| Pierre Gasly | Q2 | 12 | +0.185s | 12 | 6 |
| Lando Norris | Q3 | 4 | -0.419s | 4 | 2 |
| Oscar Piastri | Q1 | 17 | +0.419s | 17 | 7 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Q1 | 16 | -0.449s | 16 | Not classified |
| Zhou Guanyu | Q1 | 19 | +0.449s | 19 | 12 |
| Fernando Alonso | Q3 | 7 | -0.813s | 7 | 15 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Q3 | 6 | -0.233s | 6 | 10 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Q3 | 9 | +0.233s | 9 | 13 |
| Liam Lawson | Q3 | 10 | +0.224s | 10 | 9 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Q2 | 15 | -0.224s | 15 | Not classified |
| Alexander Albon | Q2 | 14 | -0.584s | 14 | 11 |
| Logan Sargeant | Q1 | 18 | +0.584s | 18 | 14 |
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Vote for your 2023 Singapore Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend
- No opinion (0%)
- Logan Sargeant (1%)
- Alexander Albon (1%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
- Liam Lawson (9%)
- Kevin Magnussen (2%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (0%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Guanyu Zhou (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Oscar Piastri (0%)
- Lando Norris (3%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- George Russell (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (5%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (78%)
- Charles Leclerc (0%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (2%)
Total Voters: 175
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When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
2023 Singapore Grand Prix
- Singapore and Austin retirements cost me top 10 championship place – Ocon
- 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
Debates and polls
- Is Mohammed Ben Sulayem doing a good job for F1 as FIA president?
- Five years on, should F1 scrap, keep or tweak the fastest lap point?
- Should Sainz and Perez have avoided penalties for their Azerbaijan GP crash?
- Is F1’s record reliability rate making the sport better?
- Should F1 ensure ‘sustainable’ fuels are no pipe dream before ditching hybrids?
Ronald (@mosquito)
17th September 2023, 15:00
Who else than Sainz. He probably did not have the fastest car today, but got everything out of it.
Ajaxn
17th September 2023, 15:07
yeah, Sainz managed the pace on a track that was always difficult to overtake. All the same, Russell had DRS on him and should have made that count for something. You have to wonder if Hamilton hadn’t given back those 2 places at the start if he would have pushed Sainz harder than Russell did.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th September 2023, 10:45
Yeah, this really was all about Sainz. He nailed the start, managed the pace to get the tyres to last, pitted without any mistakes from either him or the team and then knew there were 40 laps of managing. Clever thinking to the only thing he could to help Norris keep both Mercedes behind and drove without any mistakes to bring it home. After just being on the pace and fastest on saturday, he putted it today for full points.
Mioki (@okif1)
19th September 2023, 6:46
20 seconds ahead of his teammate.
Oople
17th September 2023, 15:00
If Carlos doesn’t get a 10/10 in the rankings for that 4D chess of a race, I don’t know what will!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:42
That’s not gonna happen, but there’s hope on a 9; 10 is for spain 1996-like stuff, which as it is can’t happen any more unless they find a solution for torrential rain.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th September 2023, 10:46
Nah, more likely an 8. He’ll get docked points for driving slowly for most of the race and not setting the FLAP in the end or something. Same why Norris will be docked points for missing out of the first row on the grid, for clipping that wall and for having Hamilton cheat himself past Norris at the start.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:43
But was indeed a clever strategy by sainz, he’s driving very well lately.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
17th September 2023, 15:00
Should be a slam dunk for Sainz.
Speed and intelligence 100%
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
17th September 2023, 15:28
@brightlampshade intelligence? It may not have been the most straightforward race but you’re pushing it… keeping Lando close for DRS defence is fairly basic, especially for F1.
Aw
17th September 2023, 16:24
Right. First time I realize russell is coming that quick, I said myself, sainz’s only chance is let norris using the DRS and thats it. Evident, we all know how effective a DRS train is. Im surprised how everyone surprised :)
JohnEver (@johnever)
18th September 2023, 13:16
I don’t think they do it that often in real F1.
And the track here also supports this tactic.
But in the F1 game, we do things like this much more often
Psi (@psi)
17th September 2023, 17:13
Can you tell me another example of this? Not stuck behind a Williams, but aiming for a win when the rival comes 2 seconds faster.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:45
Good point, we haven’t seen drivers apply this defensive strategy as well as sainz did, especially with the driver behind not being his team mate.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th September 2023, 23:27
Absolutely, was gonna write that if there hadn’t been a comment already, 80%, wow!
Jere (@jerejj)
17th September 2023, 15:01
DOTW & DOTD: SAI
Dan
18th September 2023, 0:55
Do you work for an airline? :-)
MaddSusie (@maddsusie)
17th September 2023, 15:02
It has to be Carlos. He drove at the slowest speed to win the race, finished on top in all the FP sessions and crucially pole.
melanos
17th September 2023, 23:13
Sounds a lot like Juan Manuel Fango. Who was simply the best ever.
melanos
17th September 2023, 23:14
Fangio*
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:46
Prost used to do that too, win as slow as possible, and was one of the few drivers who had a positive effect on reliability (by comparing him to all team mates he had).
Oople
17th September 2023, 15:02
Fair play to those who voted Liam too!
Nick T.
18th September 2023, 7:41
I think Liam is really good, but if it weren’t for A LOT of luck he wouldn’t have been close to the points and the AT was faster than the cars behind it this weekend. Perez helped a lot when Albon closed 8+ secs down on Lawson in just a couple laps, but before he could pass him for 10th Perez knocked him off the track. Then with Russell crashing, a problem and pit out of nowhere for Alonso, Ocon retiring, etc., he found himself in what 8th place?
The field was driving so slow too that it wasn’t as if he had to push to keep up with the pack. I don’t think we got a good idea about basically any of the drivers not in the top 4 today and not much from them either.
Anyway, before they made this super wide, super obese cars, passing at Singapore was half as hard as it is now. How wide is the next generation of cars supposed to be?
DaveW (@dmw)
17th September 2023, 15:03
SamooootheOperrratorrrr!
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
17th September 2023, 15:03
Hard to look past Carlos. He’s been on it all weekend and kept his cool in the closing stages. Honourable mentions to Lawson and Norris. Great recovery drive from Piastri after his Q1 exit!
Facts&Stats
18th September 2023, 7:54
Had either of the Mercs overtaken Norris and Sainz for the win (Russell lacked some skills, and Mercedes some cojones) then that driver would’ve been leading this poll.
Or had the SC come out after the first pit stops then it would’ve been Max.
I’d vote for Sainz as well, but it wasn’t a Masterclass with all others being rookies.
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2023, 15:04
Like there’s any other option: Sainz, pole and really smart racing at the end.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
17th September 2023, 15:07
Sainz, Lawson. Tsunoda is not going to be around. Won’t be surprised if he’s out when RIC comes back.
slowmo (@slowmo)
17th September 2023, 19:33
Called that months ago, Tsunoda would be a good pay driver, nowhere near enough talent to be paying him imo.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:47
Do you think he’s better than stroll? Pure curiosity, as I wouldn’t be able to tell which of the 2 is better across their seasons.
Proteus Maximus (@proteus-maximus)
17th September 2023, 15:07
Gave it to Lando, awesome driver.
DaveW (@dmw)
17th September 2023, 15:07
I would like again to respectfully suggest some form of cumulative voting for those polls. Generally it’s impossible to compare a brilliant winning drive and people out performing a car in p10. Recognize that downside is votes will be diluted by certain people who just vote for their favorite driver every time.
pizza_pazzo2004
17th September 2023, 15:47
Hence, the 2% of people who thinks Verstappen deserves DOTD.
melanos
17th September 2023, 16:14
I should have given Max an honorable mention. He did a decent race and fought for all he points he could get, but the top 5 (4 after Russell’s late crash) were too far ahead ans Singapore is not Spa. So, poor Saturday for Max but pretty decent Sunday, I do not believe he could have done much better today, and without Carlos Sainz’s stonking drive today Max could be arguably considered for DOTD (but not for DOTW).
MadMax (@madmax)
17th September 2023, 21:40
so you are the other one who voted for him, next to some expert sitting in some armchair?
melanos
17th September 2023, 23:24
Can you read??
Of course I did not, I voted for Sainz
Like I clearly said I did not even give him an honorable mention, but I feel I should have had. He was arguably the second best although I chose Lando and Liam.
Anyway he did no serious mistakes and fought hard for a decent haul of points although both the SC and the VSC were horribly timed for both RBs (the SC too early for the hards while perfect for everybody else, the VSC right after they were forced to change their dying hards)
Many drivers would have simply written off the race but not Max.
JohnEver (@johnever)
18th September 2023, 13:40
makes me wonder from what kind of chair you are responding? :-)
Facts&Stats
18th September 2023, 7:58
I don’t think Verstappen’s racing today was a lot worse than Sainz’s.
But I tend to watch the whole field racing rather than just the last few laps of the winner. :p
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
17th September 2023, 15:08
Obviously Sainz, but Lawson is looking good. And KMag seems to have finally got his mojo back.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:50
Yes, magnussen always fights hard here in singapore, I remember many scraps for points he did over the years.
MichaelN
17th September 2023, 15:11
Piastri in 7th, Lawson scoring points, Sainz having an almost Prost-like approach to the whole weekend, Norris being very mature about maximizing his position. Lots of good performances.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
17th September 2023, 15:12
I’m sorry but who voted for Logan and Kevin? I want to know why 😅. Voted Carlos of course.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
17th September 2023, 15:12
One of the easiest DOTD votes in history
melanos
17th September 2023, 15:15
I’s make that DOTW easily
melanos
17th September 2023, 15:13
In this forum, Carlos Sainz is underrated by most people (“I’d choose Charles everyday of the week” I read recently), Well about time to change that. He was the DOTW by far, very far
Lando Norris and Liam Lawson earn honorable mentions
George Russell well on his way to a well deserved podium and binned it about 5 turns from the flag, “helped” by his teammate who was showing him the front wheels. That is an incredibly poor and selfish strategy which ruined the team’s chance to overtake Lando and maybe go for the win. Race IQ 0, and that because there are no negatives. But what can you expect?.
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2023, 15:18
And today’s Award for Making It All About Hamilton goes to… melanos!
One of the more ridiculous attempts to blame Hamilton for another driver’s mistake, but at least you turned up! No points if you don’t try. Well done.
melanos
17th September 2023, 15:23
About who? Who’s that Hamilton guy?
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2023, 15:36
Russell’s teammate? Do you need help understanding yourself now?!
melanos
17th September 2023, 15:38
You need help with Irony and Rethoric 101 I reckon
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2023, 15:41
OK so try to explain your point. Whose was the ‘incredibly poor and selfish strategy’?
melanos
17th September 2023, 16:16
You got it right away so no explaining needed.
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2023, 16:20
This is tedious. You’re called out for a sneaky criticism of Hamilton and then claim that he wasn’t mentioned, like you can hide behind ‘teammate,’ and then refuse to clarify what you meant. It doesn’t make sense either way: who was selfish? Russell? Hamilton? Neither. If you can’t explain or defend your comments, why make them?
slowmo (@slowmo)
17th September 2023, 23:36
Because he’s a troll
melanos
17th September 2023, 23:38
Some other guy claimed the teammate was not mentioned. I did not. And there is really nothing to clarify.
And btw it should also be crystal clear from my comment that the selfish and m0r0nic strategy was from the teammate who began to attack George while getting Lando (and eventually Carlos) off the hook. George did nothing like that, only collapsed under the pressure.
The same consummate ch34t3r teammate who “overtook” Lando at the start and Checo later on, by braking too late to stay on track, and taking advantage of the runoffs. Lando got his position back but the foul pass on Checo stuck.
Like Nico Rosberg once said about this dirtiest F1 driver ever: always makes it look like an accident.
David BR (@david-br)
18th September 2023, 0:19
So I was 100% correct with my initial comment all along.
senproman
17th September 2023, 15:27
@david-br
??? literally didn’t mention Lewis once, silly!!
David BR (@david-br)
17th September 2023, 15:32
His teammate is Hamilton, melanos is implying that Hamilton getting so close to Russell (showing him the front wheels) ‘helped’ him lose focus and crash.
The rest is ambiguous:
Is that meant to be about Russell or Hamilton? Fairly obvious for anyone familiar with melanos’s ‘opus.’
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
17th September 2023, 18:17
@david-br lol, the man’s obsessed – melanos means black in greek. I doubt it’s by accident.
melanos
17th September 2023, 23:43
Maybe that’s because I’m black
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:55
And as it’s not a registered account, the colour is also right, hopefully some user comes soon with a name that means blue in greek with a registered account!
Patrick (@anunaki)
17th September 2023, 15:17
Sainz, great pole lap, great calculated race.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
17th September 2023, 15:18
Sainz, totally…
but you know what?
For the first time this season, I was tempted to vote for Max.
There have been a great many Champions in the past who would have just shrugged and written the day off, or sulked all the way through it.
But Max has fought through the field – on a hard to overtake circuit – to get the best he can, from a car he isn’t happy with.
I am not a Max fan, but well played Sir … well played.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 6:58
Yes, I think he extracted more than hamilton would have in a difficult situation, thinking about some races over the last years where things didn’t work, he tended to lose focus in those cases.
Adam (@adamgoh)
17th September 2023, 15:21
Sainz had a brilliant qualifying and then drove a masterful tactical race to take the win. But I gave my vote to Liam Lawson. Getting into Q3 and then scoring points, performing way better than De Vries had.
SteveR (@stever)
17th September 2023, 18:51
Agreed. Tsunoda might be out of a drive next year if Daniel does well on his return.
Tys (@bwoken14)
17th September 2023, 15:22
No question. Two races in a row now Carlos has shown just how good he is, and out of the four chasing the win he is the one who thoroughly deserved it.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
17th September 2023, 15:30
Lando for the next level tactic of hitting the wall lightly to bait Russell into following him into it. In all seriousness though, Sainz had the cleanest weekend and did the job he needed to. Russell was good up until his error, but ultimately made the mistake himself. Lawson impressive again. Ocon also had a good weekend and deserved decent points.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
17th September 2023, 15:50
Will be fun to see what excuse Will will find to give ALO 7-8 rating, because on this site it’s a given.
melanos
17th September 2023, 16:19
We’ll see but I don’t think it will be more than 5, 6 máximum.
Not Fred’s weekend, really. And the car & team (what a pitstop!!) did not help either.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
17th September 2023, 16:30
Aston Martin have done their utmost best to raise the 19th fastest driver to positions he doesn’t belong to. No need to apologize for slow pitstop.
melanos
17th September 2023, 23:41
well, remembering the 2014 season (second worst domination in F1 history) where does that leave Kimi?
(No hard feelings against Kimi, I always liked him)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 7:00
Alonso was having a decent race till the bad pit stop, then he wasn’t on it any more, and made mistakes that are unlike him, like crossing the pit lane or spinning in the end, probably a 4 or 5.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th September 2023, 11:17
Yeah, i think that will be the ballpark. HE missed that pitlane, had to take the the escape road, he’ll be lucky to end up with a 5 rating.
melanos
17th September 2023, 16:22
Disappointed for Fred, weakest weekend of the season. The way he let Esteban pick his wallet when he was trying to pick Checo’s is below him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th September 2023, 7:03
This is gonna hurt his racefans ranking!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
17th September 2023, 17:06
The answer’s in the photo!
notagrumpyfan
18th September 2023, 8:05
Kermit?
slowmo (@slowmo)
17th September 2023, 19:35
Sainz finally getting some credit. Might finally put to bed the talk of him being number 2 to Leclerc.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th September 2023, 11:16
Sainz clearly ahead. Comparing both Ferrari drivers, and why I think Ferrari might have a better chance putting their chips with Carlos is that he was thinking about how to bring this home from the go.
Leclerc really never thought about the big picture most of the race. He was trying to push Sainz early on which really did not do much to help the team get this win. He did not drop back to be the backup later until the team and Sainz made him drop back.
Norris really did everything right today as well, he was there at the right moment, did his thing with somehow finding pace to defend right until the end.
I think Perez did show us again why Red Bull do well employing him. Another great defence to keep Max up ahead on the road so that he had only a manageable amount of cars to pass on track later and get back to 5th. He was only a tenth off Max on Saturday as well. And he’s has a pretty feisty fight to get back to 8th himself as well after suffering a lot from having to keep the whole train behind him earlier.
Lawson – great weekend. Outqualified Yuki and both Red Bulls. He had a nice and clean defense against Max too, good to see him not just jumping out of the way like we saw Yuki do several times in his rookie season. And he brought home points for team. I hope this gets him a longer term drive, because he deserves one.
Russel really looked on it the whole weekend. Gutsy call to pit from second, since he could not otherwise push Sainz to start to use those tyres much. And we got some nice moments on the radio from him too. But I do think we get to see him push himself a tad too much at times, which then ends in mistakes like what ended this one for him.
Max also did well enough, to get back to 5th in the end (helped from Russel dropping out ahead), I think Zhou drove really well, and we got really solid drives IMO from both Haas drivers.
A shout out to Ocon who really made the best moves of the race mid race only for his race to come to an untimely end since, well, I guess it’s a typical Renault/Alpine moment, like we saw them all too often when Alonso was showing what that car was capable of too.