Bernd Maylander the only consistent driver in Singapore
Bernd Maylander the only consistent driver in Singapore
A Mclaren 4-5 takes them over the doubly knocked out Alpine in the WCC. While the Alpines did not finish their race, Bernd Maylander (Safety Car Driver) ended up being the most consistent driver on the grid. Bernd has driven in Singapore on all the thirteen occasions that we’ve come to this city for a race. Humidity, Heat, Rain and Night, all checkboxes were ticket to put up the spectacle that we saw in Singapore.
Role reversals at Red Bull Racing
Perez didn’t put any wrong foot down this entire weekend. A well-deserved win for sure. Whereas everything that could go wrong for Max, did. Before the weekend started, there were speculations that Max could win the championship. But Helmet Marko and Hamilton were vocal about them not wanting Max to win this early as it takes the fun away and makes the win less exciting. (Who knows, maybe RBR did not fully fill Max’s car on purpose during Quali)
But back to Perez. He had a great start as lights went out and time after time with safety car got his groove going to continue building the gap with cars behind him.
Max Verstappen, who is definitely going to win the 2022 WDC was struggling a bit this weekend. The slow speed corners were proving particularly difficult for him during the Quali, especially in Sector 3.
During race start, he had his engine settings wrong. This led to him losing 4 positions at race start and eventually struggling to find his spot in the points.
Mercedes finding its mojo back, or not?
A perfect master class from Hamilton. Starting off in Quali, there was these perfect pockets where we were convinced that he’d be P1. Tough luck in the end to have to settle for a P3 start.
As the race started, he called out that they should have probably come out with scrub inters instead of fresh inters and he was right. Just goes to show the experience and skill and awareness in a tense situation.
Russell on the other hand, was having a super cocky drive. Benefit of doubt to him for qualification where he was having troubles with his car. But still, he couldn’t extract maximum from the car.
Race day he was definitely in mood to knock Mick out. Runs in Mick on a straight. This is a new low and then calls out Mick for making the bump - takes it to a new low. Further radio message were basically cribbing about someone competing in a competition.
Overall, 2 diverse finishes for Merc. There is definitely a new revived Merc and there is no doubt they are going to take on Ferrari for that P2 in World Constructor’s Championship.
## Love for walls and competitor’s car
The best part of Sunday’s race was the constant wall run-ins that were happening. It was somewhere hilarious but in a dark way.
If I am not wrong - 4 wall accidents is what we saw and two bumper car situations. This created a 100% record for Zhou whose race ends every time his family comes on to see him drive (that we know of). The first time he almost died and this second time someone tried to kill him.
Special mentions
● Alonso was driving his 350th race. A new record for the sport. He was equaled at 349 with the iceman - Kimi. But well, he’s also told us that we’d probably see him driving the 400th race too. While he did DNF, he defended like a LION against Max. Max was surely getting pissed in his seat.
● Vettel finished well in the points, and boy was it a joy watching VET-HAM-VER train for quite a lot of laps. Tough luck in Qualification, but a great drive on Sunday.
● Our phasing out boy - Daniel Ricciardo - gained 11 positions and ended at P5. This is the Daniel that we know and the Daniel that Christian said he’d take in one of his teams in a heartbeat if he had an open spot.
● Ferrari did not put a foot wrong. This race was not won by the drivers. The mechanics, engineers, and strategists put up a perfect show this weekend. But well, as we said, Perez was at a different level.
Thats a wrap from Singapore GP 2022. See y’all in Japan in a week’s time. Until then checkout our full podcast episode as we banter about the weekend that went.
Listen to the full podcast episode for the race review of 2022 Singapore GP: