Perhaps it was no surprise in the end. Back in the Mercedes heyday, Singapore was often viewed as its bogey track, despite the fact it four times between 2014 and 2019. Ferrari always seemed to step up and challenge the Silver Arrows, and it was the same this time around as the dominant Red Bull cracked, and Carlos Sainz was there to storm to a well-deserved pole position - his second straight after doing so at Monza last time out. Elsewhere, a rookie starred while things continue to go from bad to worse for the most under pressure driver on the grid. But we start our round-up of Winners and Losers from qualifying for the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, unusually, with a loser.
Loser - Red Bull
Both cars getting dumped in Q2 and the RB19 doing its best Bucking Bronco impression only goes to show how hard it is to turn up each week, steam-roller the opposition and walk away with the points and trophy. Red Bull has not gotten on top of the car all weekend, switching ride heights and balance in a bid to find the golden sweet spot. It was an uncharacteristically sloppy execution as well from the usually razor-sharp race team, with Max Verstappen facing three different investigations for impeding. He was very fortunate to escape a harsher sanction than two reprimands for stopping at the pit-lane exit for no apparent good reason other than to build a gap to the traffic, and then dawdling and blocking Yuki Tsunoda - although the team didn't tell him in time. Still, a soon to be three-time champion should know better than to be on the racing line not at racing speed. What did Christian Horner say? " The car was just not responding to changes, [we had] understeer, oversteer, braking issues, it's like we haven't managed to get the tyre into the right working window."
Winner - Carlos Sainz
Sainz is finding his feet with the SF-23 and has been the better of the two Ferrari drivers since the summer break. He's out-qualified Charles Leclerc all three times and has been the form driver all weekend at Marina Bay, topping two of the practice sessions. He must convert this pole into a win. With Red Bull out of the equation, a good start and clean first lap is a must for Sainz who will have to battle the Ferrari's lack of race pace that has plagued the SF-23 all season. What did Sainz say? "It's been the story of the year that we have a very good car at certain tracks and in certain conditions like one lap and short apexes, quick changes of direction seems to be very good."
Winner - Liam Lawson
After Friday practice, Liam Lawson was visibly dealing with the after-effects of his first trip to the Singapore GP. But there's no better tonic for that than making it through to Q3 for the first time at the most difficult circuit he's come to at AlphaTauri - and knocking out the World Champion in the process. 0.007s was the gap to Verstappen in the end as Lawson further reinforced his claims for a full-time 2024 seat. Even more impressive was the fact that he felt even more potential was in the car that was not extracted. That is a great sign for a driver long overdue his F1 chance. What did Lawson say? "It's obviously exciting to be in Q3, but we definitely didn't maximise - something we have to look at. For me, I think it was [tyre] warm-up related so I just didn't feel that jump in grip for the last lap. So happy to be in Q3, but I still saw more potential there."
Loser - Yuki Tsunoda
And on the flip-side, there is Yuki Tsunoda. He topped Q1 with a decent lap and looked set to continue that into Q2, but his first lap was aborted by Verstappen's block. His second attempt was ruined by a lock-up into Turn 14 that threw away a chance of Q3 having set times through the first two sectors that could have seen him through. Fine margins, but the AlphaTauri driver was on the wrong side and lines up at best 15th and behind both Red Bulls and Lawson. What did Tsunoda say? "I went straight into Turn 14, had a lock up and it was my mistake. It is really incredibly frustrating because the car pace was really good."
Winner - Haas
On paper, Singapore would not be a track Haas had circled at the beginning of the year owing to its high tyre degradation trait and the fact that the VF-23 lunches its tyres. But F1 isn't done on paper, and so Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were both able to advance through to Q3, with the duo sixth and ninth on the grid. The single-lap pace has been strong all season, and for a team who has been dragged through the doldrums in 2023, this comes as a timely boost. It is difficult to overtake in Singapore and so there is every chance of nabbing a point or two. The huge upgrade package is coming in the United States, and this is the best chance until then to put some much-needed points on the board. What did Kevin Magnussen say? "For whatever reason, the car is stronger on this track. We've done a good job and capitalised on the good form of the car and got both cars into Q3 and are starting in a good position.
Loser - Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll is enduring a rotten run of form at the moment, with the end result being the huge accident in Q1 that destroyed the AMR23. It was a scrappy session for Stroll who was impeded by Logan Sargeant early on, got caught up in the traffic nonsense before the accident. He has scored just 12 points since the Canadian GP in June as Aston Martin's early season form has burst with the team slipping to fourth in the standings. Hopefully this can act as a release for Stroll, the valve venting the pressure building on him and come back with a fresh start. He needs it. What did Stroll say? "We were feeling good after FP3, but it just didn't go our way at all with bad out laps, traffic, poor tyre preparation. When those things pile up it turns into a negative spiral, then the result of that was having the crash. "
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