Formula 1 returns to the streets of Singapore! Official F1 Journal Singapore Grand Prix Preview19/9/2024  Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images Formula 1 is back once again this weekend as the World Championship heads from the brilliant Baku to the spectacular Singapore and more precisely the Marina Bay street circuit for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. The circuit that hosted Formula 1's very first night race all the way back in 2008, will play host to round 18 of the 2024 championship with both championships very much in the battle and with many results and points up for grabs. This is the last round outside of North and South America before the double header in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to finish the season. Formula 1 will be supported this weekend by the F1 Academy championship, which will see round 5 of the championship hosted in Singapore, on F1 Academy's very first visit to the circuit in the championship's short history. Lando Norris is a driver who is set on hunting down Max Verstappen in the drivers championship but he is not alone in setting their sights on the championship. With a first and second place in each of their last two Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri may be fancying their chances at an outside shot at the championship. It was Norris' team McLaren, who after a great result, took the Constructors Championship lead for the first time since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix when the team had Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen driving for them. With the strong form of McLaren and the strong form of the Ferrari in recent races this title fight is far from over. Speaking of Magnussen, he will return to his seat at Haas this weekend and to once again partner up with Nico Hulkenberg. This was after Magnussen was forced to sit out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to the Danish driver picking up a race ban for accumulating 12 penalty points over a 12-month period. Magnussen was replaced by young Brit Oliver Bearman who will race for the team in 2025. A look at the track: Marina Bay Street Circuit - Singapore Grand Prix Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images After a weekend of drama at Baku, the Singapore Grand Prix awaits to produce another a fascinating and thrilling weekend of the 2024 Championship as round 18 of the season awaits at the Marina Bay street circuit. The Formula One World Championship had its very first night race at the Marina Bay street circuit in the very first Singapore Grand Prix all the way back in 2008. With night races that have come onto the calendar such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Jeddah and Las Vegas, this makes the Marina Bay street circuit and Singapore Grand Prix trendsetters in the modern era of the sport. So many iconic and critical moments that have happened at this circuit have often gone on to have significant implications on the outcome of the championships. Overtakes, famous crashes and wet weather, the Marina Bay street circuit really does produce some great, dramatic action. Who can forget the iconic "crashgate" saga at Renault in the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix where Nelson Piquet Jr crashed into the wall, bringing out the safety car, and hanging the race in his teammate's favour who just so happened to be Fernando Alonso. This saw Team Principal Flavio Briatore banned from all Formula One or FIA-sanctioned events as he was proved to have played a significant part in causing Nelson Piquet Jr to crash into the wall on purpose, to aid the team and Fernando Alonso. Other iconic championship moments also include the race start of 2017 which saw Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen all come together and as well that incredible and perfection lap from Lewis Hamilton in the 2018 qualifying. Vettel would pick up his last Grand Prix victory of his Formula One career at the Marina Bay street circuit in 2019 with a stunning performance that day. One driver who has never won here is Max Verstappen, which is quite an unusual stat, certainly with the modern era calendar and with how dominant the three-time world champion has been in recent season. Verstappen has only led three laps here throughout his career, which is remarkably lower than Antonio Giovinazzi who has led four laps. Giovinazzi has raced at Sinagpore just the once. The Marina Bay street circuit, home to the Singapore Grand Prix underwent changes and the most modern layout was first raced around in 2023. From the 2022 layout, turns 16, 17, 18 and 19 have all been removed with now it being just a long straight to add extra potential for overtaking. The modern circuit is now 19 corners as opposed to the 23 corners in the previous layout with a lap distance of 4.94km, with the race distance being a total of 306.143km, with 62 racing laps to come during Sunday's Grand Prix. In terms of DRS Zones, there has been an extra one added, with four DRS Zones now being around the 4.94km meaning a great chance of overtaking, which will create extra excitement. DRS zones run into turns 1,7, 14 and 16. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap here with a 1:35.867, and in doing so has the race lap record around this Singapore Grand Prix layout. He set it for Mercedes in 2023 as he went onto inherit a third place finish on the final lap. In 2023, at the Marina Bay street circuit, it was a hugely dramatic weekend and a very surprising one of that too considering the domination of Max Verstappen and Red Bull throughout the course of the season. The shocks begun in qualifying when both Red Bull drivers were eliminated in Q2 by AlphaTauri stand in driver Liam Lawson, as the New Zealander got through to Q3 leaving both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez on the sidelines while the top 10 went on to fight for pole position. Carlos Sainz would be the man to take pole position for the second time in two rounds as thr Ferrari man would set an impressive lap time and give himself a great chance of victory and to become the first driver other than the Red Bull pair to win a Grand Prix in 2023. Sainz would do just that after some tactical defending of brilliance that was well within the rules and was fair. The Spanish driver would take the flag and would take victory for Ferrari in what was an incredible drive throughout the weekend. The Ferrari driver would hang onto victory ahead of his former teammate Lando Norris, who was second for McLaren. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton would finish third after his teammate George Russell locked up and found the barrier on the final lap and therefore the seven-time champion would take the podium instead of Russell. Verstappen would use the RB19 well and use its incredible race pace to fight back to fifth, behind Leclerc as Liam Lawson would take his first Formula 1 points in just his third Formula 1 Grand Prix. Last time out: Round 17 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix Less than a week ago was when Formula 1 was last in action, at another street circuit, but this time it was in the daylight of the city of Baku in Azerbaijan, for round 17 of the season taking place near to the coastline of the Caspian Sea. It would be a critical round in the championship with so much great excitement building around the weekend, as Baku had a good track record when producing dramatic moments and eventful Grand Prix. The action and drama would start when Lando Norris was unable to get a lap time in under green flag conditions in Q1, good enough to see him progress into the second part of the session. A huge shock for the driver who had taken the two previous pole positions at Zandvoort and Monza. Norris would have it all to do as he qualified 17th but would start 15th as he would be promoted due to Pierre Gasly's grid penalty for power unit changes and Lewis Hamilton starting from the pit lane for doing it during parc ferme conditions. Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri would fly the flag high for McLaren as he would qualify on the front row of the grid but the Australian would have to settle for second as it was the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who would take pole position. Leclerc, for the fourth Azerbaijan Grand Prix in a row, would start from pole position. He would be looking to win at Baku for the first time. Leclerc would fail in his attempt to do so as Piastri's bold and brilliant move at the start of lap 20, into turn 1, would see the lead change hands and would not change again with Piastri managing to hold off countless attacks from Leclerc and Perez, who were hungry behind him and hunting the Australian down. However, Piastri would eventually break free of Leclerc with the Monegasque driver having worn tyres. Leclerc would manage to hold onto second after he had to defend from Perez and also Carlos Sainz who had come into the fight for a podium position. On lap 50 after Leclerc had defended on Perez and Sainz through the first couple of corners, the pair came together in a separate incident and would both crash into the wall, ending each other's race meaning that George Russell would inherit an unlikely podium for Mercedes, in what was a difficult weekend. T This would promote Lando Norris into fourth and Max Verstappen to complete the top five. The race would also see Franco Colapinto score his first Formula 1 points in his very first outing at the Baku City circuit in any category, in a superb weekend from the Argentine - who also manage to out qualify Alex Albon. Oliver Bearman, who stood in for the banned Kevin Magnussen, also scored a point making him the first driver to score points for two different teams in each of his first two Formula 1 Grand Prix. An incredible achievement. A change at the top of the Constructors but both championships still far from over Credit: Simon Galloway McLaren taking the lead of the Constructors standings for the first time since 2014 will make them feel delighted with how their season is shaping up after a tremendous run of form since the Miami Grand Prix and with them being the favourites to go on and take the title from here on in. However, seven rounds are still to go in this 2024 championship so absolutely nothing is settled yet in the reflection of both championships. As mentioned at the top of this preview, McLaren and Red Bull have had the main talking points throughout the season with the two teams being the front runners and Max Verstappen and Lando Norris being sat in the top two of the drivers standings for most of the season. Despite this, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc remain in the balance proving that after all consistency might be key with their form really having picked up over the last five races, Leclerc securing a podium four of them and he is tied with Piastri. Piastri himself with two wins to his name in 2024 and some fine form is not out of the fight yet either so it is really is all to play for in these final seven rounds. Free Practice 1 will kick start the weekend action on Friday in a non-sprint weekend event. 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 18 - Singapore Grand Prix session timesTrack Times
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 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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