F1. Singapore 2023 Review

By Chelsea Wintle, Aiden McLaughlin and Gavin Huet

Driver of the day

Gavin – Carlos Sainz, who else? What a weekend he had and what a mature drive. The strategy at the end was so clever and worked exactly the way he intended. Did he even put a foot wrong this weekend? Ferrari look to have the second best driver pairing in F1 at the moment, just behind Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the Mercedes, and if they can get a competitive car next season then they should be realistic challengers.

Aiden –  It was almost the perfect weekend for one driver; he secured pole position, a race victory and led every lap; in fact, the only thing he didn’t achieve was the fastest lap. But, in the big scheme of things, that bit doesn’t matter. As well as all that, Carlos Sainz became a hero for all those bored of Red Bull domination. He is also putting himself forward as the unofficial team leader at Ferrari. Sainz managed the race perfectly, keeping the others at bay under the most extreme physical conditions. Now, can he follow it up…

Chelsea – Carlos Sainz has been depicted as a GigaChad by his own team’s official Instagram account, and while possibly a bit cringe-worthy, they’re right to do so. Sainz took P1 in qualifying, beating a teammate who usually dominates him on a Saturday. He had the cajones to back up the pack throughout the race, making overtaking difficult and pitting for tyre changes distasteful. He worked in tandem with former teammate Lando Norris to hold off the two Mercedes, and shut down his own team questioning his strategy with a simple, “It’s on purpose.” There’s nobody else this week.

Moment of the weekend

Gavin – The “Carlando” (the bromance name for Carlos and Lando from their McLaren days together) DRS train in the final few laps to hold back the threat posed by Mercedes was a thing of beauty. By slowing down just enough to give Lando DRS to hold off Mercedes, Carlos ensured he could win the race. At one point Carlos even had the nous to realise that Lando was in trouble with the Mercedes of George threatening him whilst the gap between himself and Lando had increased to over a second, but by the next corner Carlos had once again slowed down enough to give Lando DRS to keep George at bay. In a season where Ferrari strategy has continually failed this was a nice surprise, though I am not sure how much input Ferrari themselves had in the strategy.

Aiden – Liam Lawson being the fastest qualifier from the Red Bull stable was a thing of beauty, especially the way it came about. It’s not every day you knock a two-time World Champion out of qualifying, Lawson should be proud, very proud.

Chelsea – There was some brilliant wheel-to-wheel action on pit exit after the first safety car – with 17 of 18 drivers pitting, and Verstappen essentially a sitting duck, it was a delight to behold. Birthday boy Esteban Ocon had a beautiful dalliance with Fernando Alonso before performing the overtake of the evening on Sergio Perez, before his party finished early with a retirement. Still though, can we go past Liam Lawson knocking Max Verstappen out of qualifying? Kiwi link aside, that set the tone for Red Bull’s weekend, which in turn set the tone for the most exciting race we’ve had in weeks.

Hot take of the weekend

Gavin – Liam Lawson is the real deal. He got into Q3 by knocking out Max Verstappen and then got his first points in F1 in only his third race. His performances have now given Alpha Tauri, and their big brother team Red Bull, a real dilemma. Five drivers into four seats just does not work. Max Verstappen is not going anywhere and neither is Sergio Perez (in the near future), so that leaves either Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo in trouble. The talk is of a seat at Williams for Liam as a replacement for Logan Sargeant who has struggled this season, however I can’t see this as a realistic option unless Red Bull stump up a fair bit of cash in order to make it happen as why would Williams want to nurture a driver who is destined to race against them? Yuki may be in trouble but ok for now, so could the biggest loser therefore be Danial Ricciardo who only stepped in to replace Nyck de Vries at the last minute? Personally I think Liam would learn more from being with Daniel but Helmut Marko may have other ideas.

Aiden – Liam Lawson will replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull*

*I have no idea when this will happen, but as this is the hot take section, I’m saying 2025.

The biggest question is, how does he get there? Yuki Tsunoda seems to be locked in and it’s hard to see Daniel Ricciardo being discarded. Maybe Lawson can be loaned out to Williams for a season to replace Logan Sargeant first? I just can’t see Christian Horner and co letting go of Lawson’s future. They think too much of him for that.

P.S. When I fly with Singapore Airlines this weekend, what are the chances I get this crew?

Another in an entertaining series of national anthem renditions this season.

Chelsea – Red Bull will be back and as fearsome as ever in Suzuka. I don’t want to believe it, but their struggles across the weekend appear to be setup-related, and Singapore is a known weakness for the team. In other Red Bull news, their response to Helmut Marko’s comments about Sergio Perez was about as emphatic as a mug of peppermint tea. It’s no great surprise, but extremely disappointing, and arguably a missed opportunity for them to capture some much-needed goodwill. Lame.

Cold take of the weekend

Gavin – Yuki Tsunoda is on borrowed time. Rumours of a Yuki announcement at the next race weekend, his home race of Suzuka, are swirling around and I can’t see that they would fire him there so they must be extending his contract, if anything. Yuki brings in money from Honda who are in effect still engine suppliers to Red Bull so there are some politics involved, but this engine supplier contract is due to change in the near future with Red Bull moving to Ford with the regulation changes in 2026. However, if Nyck de Vries can be dropped just like that then so can Yuki no matter what contract he has.

Aiden – Red Bull will take a 1-2 at Suzuka this weekend and the rest will be competing for third place. It’s not what I want, but sadly, I can see it happening.

Chelsea – It’s hard to find a pundit that isn’t impressed by Liam Lawson, but any hopes of him getting a full-time seat next year are starting to dim. All signs point to Yuki Tsunoda retaining his seat for 2024, which means Lawson will put his reserve pants back on and return to the wings where he waits. With Ricciardo not expected to return until Qatar, we should at least get the opportunity to see Lawson on one of his most familiar tracks in Suzuka.

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