"I don't look at it as a dry spell"- Lewis Hamilton dismisses recent struggles
Max Verstappen could claim his second world title this weekend as Formula One returns to the Marina Bay street circuit for the first time since 2019 for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Following his fifth win in succession at Monza two weeks ago, Verstappen’s championship lead stands at 116 points with only 164 available, meaning he will take the crown if he outscores Charles Leclerc by 22 points, Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez by 13 points, and Mercedes’ George Russell by six points.
Verstappen has won the last five races, stretching back to France in mid-July, and with 11 Grand Prix victories this season has the opportunity to break Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s joint-record of 13 wins in a single season.
Due to Covid, Singapore was missing from the calendar in 2020 and 2021 but returns this year. Vettel won in 2019 for Ferrari, the last time the soon-to-be retired German triumphed in F1. Lewis Hamilton, looking for his first win of the season, is a four-time winner in Singapore.
Follow all the action live with The Independent - first practice is at 11am (BST).
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: 10 minutes left in FP2!
Carlos Sainz still leads the way, two-tenths ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc who is finally out on the track in his Ferrari!
Russell and Hamilton are third and fourth respecitvely while Max Verstappen is back in the garage - that front-suspension issue shows no signs of going away on his 25th birthday!
5-10: Ocon, Bottas, Alonso, Perez, Stroll, Norris
Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly is forced into a hasty exit from his AlphaTauri in the pit lane following a sudden fire on the rollover hoop of his car!
(AFP via Getty Images)
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: Halfway through in FP2!
Carlos Sainz is now top of the standings ahead of all the field switching to softs and simulated qualifying laps. Valtteri Bottas is second, with the Mercedes’ of Hamilton and Russell third and fourth.
All the field bar Charles Leclerc, it should be said, as Ferrari mechanics continue to work on what looks to be a pretty stricken Scuderia car after limited running in FP1 earlier too...
5-10: Alonso, Magnussen, Verstappen, Ocon, Stroll, Albon
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: 15 minutes gone in FP2!
Promising early signs again here for Mercedes’ fans - Lewis Hamilton tops the standings after the first 15 minutes, with Carlos Sainz less than a tenth of a second behind!
George Russell is in third, two-tenths off Hamilton, with the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon in fourth and fifth.
The Red Bulls, incidentally, not yet out of the garage yet. A change of front suspension for Max Verstappen’s car and a drive shaft issue which needs solving for Sergio Perez.
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: FP2 is underway!
The cars are back out on track at Marina Bay in Singapore for an hour’s running in free practice 2.
Alex Albon, after FP1 earlier, looks set to compete in the second session of the day tooo - after missing out in Monza due to health issues, his recovery over the past few weeks has been remarkable!
Can Lewis Hamilton, quite possibly, match his first practice toppping of the standings once again on Friday?
(Getty Images,)
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: Odds for this weekend!
Verstappen to win 14 races in 2022 season 2/5
Verstappen to win 8 world titles 10/1
Verstappen to retire with a record of most career wins 20/1
Lewis Hamilton to win a race in 2022 season 6/4
George Russell to win a race in 2022 season 3/1
Lewis Hamilton to retire at end of 2022 season 5/1
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: Ross Brawn backs Mercedes to improve before end of F1 season
Ross Brawn has backed Mercedes to adapt to Formula 1’s new regulations, declaring: “They are not idiots.” Rule-changes introduced for the 2022 F1 season have seen alterations made to the front and rear wings of cars, as well as to the vehicles’ floors.
Mercedes won the constructors’ championship in 2021 and only missed out on the drivers’ title after a controversial final lap in the last race of the season, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed his first championship. Mercedes have been well off the pace this year, however, but Brawn believes that they will improve.
The F1 managing director, who previously worked as Mercedes’ team prinicipal, discussed the new regulations with F1 Insider and said: “Basically, I am very satisfied. The cars can follow each other more closely and overtake better as a result. Side-by-side driving has also become easier.
“Before, not many people knew that a car also lost performance there. [Tyre manufacturer] Pirelli has also contributed to the improvement. So, everything has worked well up to this point.
“The fact that some teams were able to implement the new rules better and the others are upset about it is Formula 1 folklore and was planned beforehand. It has hit Mercedes in particular. But they are not idiots, they will get it right.”
The team are without a win so far in the 2022 Formula 1 season
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, George Russell on targeting a first race victory and off-track fame hitting home
For a man whose irrepressible ambition and unique talent has taken him to the cusp of Formula 1’s summit, George Russell could be forgiven for thinking 2022 hasn’t quite matched his lofty expectations. Waiting in the wings – aching for three years at the back of the pack with Williams – the 24-year-old’s long-heralded spot in the Mercedes garage was, most assumed, the final step on the road to fulfilment. Grand Prix victories, and subsequent title pursuits, were surely a slam-dunk inevitability.
Yet the scale of the struggle at Mercedes this season, toiling with their car’s violent oscillations and unpredictability, sees the Brit widely praised for his steadiness behind the wheel. With six races to go Russell is postioned in fourth, 35 points ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in second is just 16 points clear, as F1 heads to the humidity of Singapore for the first time in three years this weekend.
But despite the commendation, with seven podiums to his name and a top-five finish in every race bar one, race-by-race consistency is not the ultimate aim of the game.
“I don’t care about finishing second in the Championship, it’s not my goal,” Russell sternly tells The Independent, in his team’s Monza motorhome. We’re all here to win. You give me a choice between finishing fourth in the Championship and having a race win or two under my belt or finishing second with no wins, I’ll take fourth. That is now the position we’re in, we want to win a race.”
Exclusive interview: The Mercedes star speaks about the ‘thrill’ of his pole position in Budapest and finding the right balance away from racing
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: FP1 REPORT!
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate, Sergio Perez, took fourth, one spot ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell. Verstappen holds a 116-point championship lead heading into the concluding six rounds of the campaign.
He will win the title here on Sunday night if he takes the chequered flag, and sets the fastest lap, and Perez and Leclerc finish lower than fourth and eighth respectively. The Dutch driver, celebrating his 25th birthday on Friday, led they way for the majority of the one-hour session at the Marina Bay Circuit.
But as darkness descended, Hamilton moved to the top of the timesheets to provide the British driver with early hope that he could force his way into contention. Hamilton has won in Singapore on four occasions and set one of the laps of his life in qualifying for this race in 2018.
And the very early evidence suggests he might be able to take the challenge to Verstappen and his all-conquering Red Bull team. The tight and twisty Marina Bay Circuit in the heat and humidity of Singapore is regarded as one of the most demanding challenges on the schedule.
The Mercedes driver has yet to win a race in 2022 but finished ahead of Max Verstappen.
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton hopes Mercedes aren’t ‘too far away’ from first win ahead of ‘epic’ Singapore GP
Lewis Hamilton remains hopeful that Mercedes are “not too far away” from a first win of the season as F1 returns to Singapore this weekend. The eight-time constructors’ champions are yet to taste victory in 2022 and with just six races to go, the Silver Arrows are looking to avoid their first winless season since 2011.
Hamilton himself has a record to maintain too, having won a race in each of his previous 15 seasons in F1, yet has not been top of the podium in the previous 16 Grands Prix this year. But Hamilton, a four-time winner in Singapore, believes Mercedes are in a “much better place than they’ve ever been” this year as the team look to overhaul Ferrari, 35 points ahead in the standings.
“Good to be back [in Singapore], 2019 feels like a lifetime ago,” Hamilton said, in the FIA press conference ahead of this weekend’s race. The track is epic to drive. It’s a very bumpy ride, that lap in 2018 [qualifying] was definitely one of the best laps of my career. The hope is always that you can feel something similar, the feeling that day was something very unique.
“It was a track we struggled at quite a lot, due to ride quality that we hadn’t been as good as some of the others. We will discover if this is a true theory this weekend. We hope the car works better here, it really depends how bumpy it is. The bumps often upset the car. I have no expectations at all, just trying to have the best weekend with whatever we’re faced with.
The Silver Arrows are looking to avoid their first winless season since 2011
F1 LIVE - Singapore Grand Prix: Formula One to increase number of sprint races to six for 2023 season
Formula 1 has announced that six sprint races will be on the calendar from 2023 - doubling the amount from 2022 and 2021.
The 100km Saturday dash, first introduced at the British Grand Prix last year, has proven popular with teams and fans alike and will be present at 25% of Grand Prix weekends during 2023’s record 24-race calendar.
There was an unanimous agreement to increase the number of sprint events amongst F1 teams at the commission meeting earlier this year, following discussions with the FIA, and a vote amongst the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) today confirmed the plans for next year.
Currently, there are points on offer for the top-eight in the 25-30 minute race - from eight points down to one - with the result determining the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Venues for the 2023 sprints will be confirmed at a later date. This year two sprint races have taken place so far at Imola and Spielberg, both won by Max Verstappen, with one more to come in the penultimate weekend of the season in Brazil.
There are currently three sprint races in the calendar but that number will double for next year
