The big headline from the Singapore Grand Prix was the end of Red Bull’s winning run as Ferrari scored their first victory in 14 months.
Max Verstappen was the highest placed Red Bull driver in fifth, marking the first time he has missed out on the podium since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. That ended his chance of emulating Michael Schumacher’s record of finishing on the podium in every race in a season, which he achieved in 2002.Sergio Perez finished eighth in the other Red Bull, his worst result since this May’s Monaco Grand Prix, on his 250th grand prix start.
The Marina Bay street circuit is one of eight in Formula 1 that Verstappen has raced on but is yet to taste victory at. Three of those tracks are ones that he has only visited once, while his two visits to Algarve and Istanbul Park has resulted in a second place finish at each. He has raced at Shanghai, which returns to the calendar next year, on five occasions and never finished higher than third.
Verstappen’s 34th points finish in a row means he is now on the outright second-longest scoring run in F1 history, with over 800 points consecutively scored without interruption, and has the joint-second longest run of grand prix finishes.
But his uninterrupted run of podiums from 15 grands prix has now come to an end, as well as the record for most consecutive grand prix wins (10). Red Bull’s record run of 15 grand prix wins in a row also concluded.
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The weekend started poorly for Red Bull as neither of its drivers reached Q3. This last happened at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, almost five years ago, when the team was still using TAG Heuer-branded Renault power units.
Remarkably and poignantly, of the dozen drivers with two grand prix wins to their names, Sainz is the only one alive today. Among the other 11 are two who passed away within the last 12 months: Patrick Tambay and Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
It was also Sainz’s 17th podium finish, putting him level with world champions Alberto Ascari and Keke Rosberg. Sainz and team mate Charles Leclerc – who finished fourth – have each scored more than 900 points in F1 without winning a title.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur had his first victory celebration. He ended a wait of 159 races and eight seasons before getting his maiden win as an F1 team boss.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in second and third respectively.
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Norris’ ninth career podium means he is now joint fifth in the all-time list for most podiums without a win. His three second places this year has helped McLaren to their most top-two finishes in a season since 2012.
Hamilton’s record-extending 196th podium appearance in a grand prix was accompanied by the 64th fastest lap of his career.
Gasly’s sixth place in Singapore was his second-best result and Alpine’s third best of 2023. Ninth place for Liam Lawson on his third F1 start made him the sixth driver from New Zealand to score points in the world championship. He also delivered AlphaTauri’s best race result in over a year, and in qualifying was the highest placed driver from the two Red Bull-owned teams as he put his car 10th on the grid.
Kevin Magnussen’s tenth place finish on Sunday was his and Haas’s first point scored in a grand prix since the Miami Grand Prix in May, and the 50th F1 race in total that the team has scored in.
Aston Martin meanwhile failed to score for the first time since the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso finished 15th, surpassing 100,000 kilometres raced in F1 but marking his first event without points since joining Aston Martin. Now only Verstappen and Hamilton have scored at every round held so far in 2023.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was one of three drivers classified as retirees from the Singapore GP, and it was his first non-finish since the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Singapore Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix
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- 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
Jonathan Parkin
20th September 2023, 17:44
Michael’s achievement of finishing on the podium in every race in 2002 overshadows an even greater one. Finishing every racing lap. There are a few instances like the 2000 European GP for instance where a driver has finished on the podium but not on the lead lap
Jere (@jerejj)
20th September 2023, 18:13
For the second time in his career, Lance Stroll withdrew from an event, with the first being the 2020 Eifel GP for a COVID-19 infection.
Kevin Magnussen’s highest starting position in Singapore & second time in Q3 this season.
Second consecutive Singapore GP DNFs for Yuki Tsunoda & Esteban Ocon, with the former still yet to reach the chequered flag in Marina Bay.
Second entirely lapping-free 2023 race, following the Belgian GP.
Ferrari held a 1-2 lead in a race for the first time since their previous victory in last season’s Austrian GP.
Williams had at least one driver progressing from Q1 in Singapore for the first time since 2016.
Also, the first race without a Red Bull Racing driver on the podium since that same Sao Paulo GP, & coincidently, the previous race won by a driver from another team.
Fernando Alonso’s first non-points finish since the most recent Abu Dhabi GP.
Lastly & most importantly, Singapore’s 100% SC record remained for yet another season.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 19:57
Thoroughly enjoyed this type of post with quick fun facts!
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
21st September 2023, 10:01
If I hadn’t known @jerejj for a while, I might have thought these stats were generated by ChatGPT. Impressive staff as usual !
Dusty
20th September 2023, 18:13
Yes I miss Vettel in F1 too!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
20th September 2023, 19:11
Carlos will be eager to move off the cursed 2 grand prix wins and grab a third one as soon as possible!
Sumedh
20th September 2023, 19:27
35 years later, once again it is Ferrari who break a rival team’s perfect season. In 1988, they broke McLaren’s perfect season by winning race 12 of 16. Now they have won race 15 of 22.
When considered from start of the season, McLaren’s 1988 run was more successful as they won 11 of the 16 races (69%) while Red Bull won 14 of 22 races (64%).
Also, in that 11 race run, no McLaren driver finished behind any other team driver (except for retirements). In Red Bull’s run, Perez has spoiled that statistic many a times.
Jere (@jerejj)
20th September 2023, 20:15
What a coincidence.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
20th September 2023, 22:51
All 20 cars competing in 2023 have reached Q3 at least once.
The first 3 drivers used by AlphaTauri this season have not completed a single racing lap between them in the last 2
weekends.
First race this year with only 16 classified finishers (Australia had 17 even though only 12 reached the finish); fewest classified finishers since Singapore 2022 (14), where Russell was also the last classified driver.
Tsunoda and Magnussen both have 3 points this season, all from 10th-place finishes.
Every team has now managed at least 1 mechanical DNF and at least 1 non-mechanical DNF (including classified non-finishes) except Red Bull who have had no DNFs at all.
First time since Saudi Arabia that Verstappen has not led a lap.
The 100% win rate for the Honda RBPT engine is over.
First time Hamilton has been in the top 3 of the Drivers’ Championship standings since Bahrain 2022.
Lawson is the first driver to score his maiden points in Singapore.
Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.
melanos
21st September 2023, 20:09
Those ten consecutive wins by Max stand aa a Bona fide record but I was hoping Max could challenge Jim Clark’s record of eleven consecutive wins in counting races (i.e. excluding driver-unrelated mech retirements). This is only fair as in the sixties a 30-40% attrition rate was the norm.
However I have doubts about JC’s record. I saw it stated in f1metrics (as a fact, not as one of those trademark hypotheticals) but checking JC’s career I cannot find a string longer than 5 or 6 wins (excluding DNFs). And the blog authors usually get their facts right. Maybe the record includes non-champ F1 races? Or is it just wrong? Or my check on JC’s career was wrong? Anyone can tell me?
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
23rd September 2023, 15:59
From Mexico 1963 to Germany 1965 inclusive, Clark won every race in which he reached the finish (11 victories). With the exception of Monaco 1965 (which he did not enter, as he was busy winning the Indy 500), all the other races in that streak saw Clark suffer a mechanical failure – however, he was still classified and indeed scored points in two of them (4th in Monaco 1964 and 5th in Mexico 1964).
Thanks to statsf1 for this!
melanos
23rd September 2023, 19:30
Thanks!! anyway I thought that only DNFs due to mech failure would count for the streak along with the wins, so I did not consider races in which JC finished but did not win. All clear now!!