George russell

Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix produced the closest fight for pole position involving three different teams for almost two decades. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free When Max Verstappen backed off his final flying lap because his Red Bull team had realised he was going to run too low on fuel, it secured Charles Leclerc’s ninth pole position of the season – and ensured no one will end the year with more of them than the Ferrari driver. Leclerc beat Red Bull’s Sergio Perez by 0.022 seconds and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 0.054s. That’s the smallest gap which has covered three different teams at the front of a grid for nearly 20 years. You have to go back to the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix to find a closer top three involving a trio of different teams. Rubens Barrichello – also in a Ferrari – took pole position for that race by 0.011 seconds from David Coulthard (McLaren) and 0.044s from Mark Webber (Jaguar, which became Red Bull two years later). … [Read more...] about F1 stats: Closest three-team pole fight since 2003 in Singapore · RaceFans

The FIA’s decision to postpone the start of the Singapore Grand Prix and its delayed call to activate DRS in the rain-hit race were supported by paddock figures. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Torrential rain fell on downtown Singapore, where the Marina Bay street circuit is located, in the hours preceding the scheduled race start. As a result FIA Formula 1 race director Eduardo Freitas chose to delay the start of the grand prix by 65 minutes as they waited for the weather to improve. McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said this was “absolutely the right thing to do” under the circumstances. It enabled F1 to use track-cleaning techniques to remove some of the standing water on the recently resurfaced street circuit before the race got underway. “That obviously helped to get rid of any standing water which then allowed [us] straightaway to go on intermediate [tyres].” he said. “I think without that, we wouldn’t have been in a position to start the … [Read more...] about F1 teams back race control’s decisions on delayed start and DRS activation · RaceFans

Listen to this article In a wet-to-dry race, Lando Norris produced an error-free display to move up from sixth to fourth following a duel with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen , who both slipped up. Starting from 16th, Daniel Ricciardo also had a strong race to finish behind Norris in fifth, after delaying a switch from intermediates to slicks until a lap 36 safety car. In stark contrast to McLaren's 22-point haul, both Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon retired due to power unit failures, allowing McLaren to suddenly jump the Enstone team for fourth in the constructors' championship and lead by four points. When team boss Seidl was asked by Motorsport.com if he was surprised to be leading Alpine after generally struggling to match it on pace in recent months, he said the points swing simply shows the fight for fourth will remain an "open battle" until the last lap in Abu Dhabi, with Alpine's huge score in Belgium now undone by McLaren's … [Read more...] about McLaren: Singapore F1 swing showcases “open battle” for P4 with Alpine