2024 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix

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Image: Mercedes AMG Petronas F1

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Formula One continues its short tour of Asia with the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix before going on a month-long break again. Here's our preview.

After a fantastic weekend in Azerbaijan, Formula One moves to Singapore for round 18 of theWorld Championship. With Red Bull still nowhere near its early-season form and Mclaren picking up speed, can the pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri do anything to challenge Max Verstappen's championship lead?

Team Radio Debate Continues​

As nearly everything surrounding an F1 race weekend is broadcast these days, so is team radio. However, the debate about swearing has come up again, with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem calling for less cursing, pointing out that drivers are role models for children who might watch.

The two highest-profile drivers on the grid took issue with this, with reigning World Champion Verstappen's proposed solution being to simply not broadcast team radio, pointing out that everyone swears and F1 drivers are different in that other athletes usually do not have microphones picking up their communications.

Seven-time World Champion Hamilton, meanwhile, took issue to Ben Sulayem's phrasing when elaborating on the issue. The FIA president told motorsport.com that "we have to differentiate between our sport - motorsport - and rap music. We're not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that."


While Hamilton agrees with the swearing on team radio being a problem, he rebukes the supposed racial undertones that the FIA president hinted at.

Practice One​

Charles Leclerc set the first practice session alight with the best time of 1:31.763. The Ferrari driver finished top of the leaderboard ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris by a tiny margin of seven-hundredths of a second. Leclerc's scarlet teammate, Carlos Sainz, rounded out the top three to finish a strong session for Ferrari.

The greasy track surface sparked a few mistakes out on the track. Sergio Perez briefly brought out a yellow flag after misjudging the braking point for Turn 16. KICK Sauber's Valtteri Bottas reported that he had been “
heald up on a quick run by the Williams of the championship's newest debutant, Franco Colapinto.

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Piastri's rear-left tyre drama in his pit box. Image: Formula One

Oscar Piastri was stuck in his Papaya garage for the first ten minutes of the session with dramas for his rear left tyre. Coming off of his second win of the season and his career, the Australian is one of the favourites for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

Similar to McLaren, VCARB struggled to get Daniel Ricciardo out in the session after a broken aero rake proved to be a test to remove from the car. Ricciardo is under a lot of pressure this weekend as his future in Formula One is to be decided, and potentially announced, very soon after the Singapore Grand Prix has come to an end on Sunday.

Mercedes Reveal Special Singapore Livery​

Whilst not the most striking of changes, the special livery that Mercedes is running this weekend still makes the silver arrows stand out on the grid. The livery is to commemorate Petronas' 50th anniversary.


The new look has certainly impressed drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, with both looking forward to getting behind the wheel under the lights in Singapore. Russell further added: “The design looks brilliant and is a fantastic tribute to such a milestone achievement. It is great to be able to recognise the importance of our relationship at the race closest to their home.”

After the race weekend in Singapore is complete, Wolff, Hamilton and Russell will continue the celebrations with their title sponsor in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the city the Petronas brand calls its home.

When To Watch (UTC)​

TV TimesStart
20th SepPractice 109:30
20th SepPractice 213:00
21st SepPractice 309:30
21st SepQualifying13:00
22nd SepGrand Prix12:00

Who are you supporting this weekend? Let us know in the poll above or down in the comments below!
About author
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

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Well since the FIA director think only rappers use foul language, who gots the hottest bars in F1?
 
Yes, me too. Still weird to see him behind checo again xD

Checo hasn't had a podium for longer then Max hasn't won ;) (China vs Spain )

Struggle is a understatement
His season strike rate is 18+
Last 7 rounds:
Max 5+
Charles and Lando 10+
Oscar 14+

That won't cut it, Max will prevail, just.
Consistency "could" still win this.
 
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I'm pretty sure that the FP3 results have both Ferrari and Red (Bull) sandbagging, theres no way that both those teams are 8 tenths to a second plus down, af for Checo, I think he overplayed the sandbagging a bit.
I think that George and Lando have very little left.

I could be wrong!
 
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I'm pretty sure that the FP3 results have both Ferrari and Red sandbagging, theres no way that both those teams are 8 tenths to a second plus down, af for Checo, I think he overplayed the sandbagging a bit.
I think that George and Lando have very little left.

I could be wrong!
I agree again especially cuz on mediums they were on top xD, while on softs they sucked all of a sudden xD..anyway, we'll see soon..
 
Oh dear!, What a calamity for Ferrari, Nico.. fantastic job, Max the cat is up there again, Checo might have to book an early flight with Danni boy after the race, and Lando has to practise his foot and eye coodination for tomorrow's start. :)
 
Should be a good race tomorrow.
I still see Oscar and Charles moving up the order, provided they don't tangle with anyone during the start.
Lewis may be a bit of a sitting duck if the tires don't switch on immediately.
George seem to have a better handle on where the performance is to be gained in that chassis.
Those years dragging around a dog of a car at Williams seems to have offered a slight bit of an advantage.
That Mercedes car is still way too unpredictable though.
I'm not sure why James is having such a hard time coming to grips with this new ground-effect era.
 
So max is back.. and checo is too xD..
wondering about lando's race strategy when he loses the first place at the start tomorrow xD..
 
Well done Norris. Wall brushes aside that was an utterly dominant run. Verstappen salvaged what he could, and Ricciardo's fast lap steal helped a bit, but it's becoming a tough task. If RBR does not come up with something for Austin, holding out a 52 point gap with 6 races left may be tough, as I reckon today's race will do wonders to Lando's confidence. Has to be said, winning all of them plus fastest lap won't be enough if Max can get 2nd every time, as that yields a 48 point gain. OTOH, Constructors's seem gone, with another 21 points increase in the gap today.

Shoutout to my countryman Franco, another solid race that didn't yield points due to strategy, but was a great execution on the toughest race of the year.
 
glad Lando finally laid to rest the pole - win situation. He does seem a bit frail in the mental side of things and confidence from this could really boost him, going to be an exciting end to the season. Shame social media in general is as toxic as ever.
 
Well done Norris. Wall brushes aside that was an utterly dominant run. Verstappen salvaged what he could, and Ricciardo's fast lap steal helped a bit, but it's becoming a tough task. If RBR does not come up with something for Austin, holding out a 52 point gap with 6 races left may be tough, as I reckon today's race will do wonders to Lando's confidence. Has to be said, winning all of them plus fastest lap won't be enough if Max can get 2nd every time, as that yields a 48 point gain. OTOH, Constructors's seem gone, with another 21 points increase in the gap today.

Shoutout to my countryman Franco, another solid race that didn't yield points due to strategy, but was a great execution on the toughest race of the year.
Are you including the sprints in that calculation? I don't think Lando will win every race....but unless RB get a handle on the cars balance then Max could drop more points and make the end of the season tasty!
 
Are you including the sprints in that calculation? I don't think Lando will win every race....but unless RB get a handle on the cars balance then Max could drop more points and make the end of the season tasty!
I clearly didn't, silly me! How many sprints left?

Edit: googled, 3 at Austin, Brazil and Qatar. That'still 51 out of 52 if somehow it was Lando 1st Max 2nd everytime. Which, like you, I doubt that will happen.
 
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Well, it does look after seeing the interviews, that Ricciardo's F1 career is over. Expect an announcement soon... He got driver of the day award, a nice tribute from the fans.
 

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