2024 Singapore Grand Prix Heroes and Zeroes

[Jericoke]

Heroes

Lando Norris. Dominant win.  McLaren is putting together a fantastic season, very exciting to see.  Even with a few bumbles on track, Norris had the win in hand.

Max.  Second place by a large margin.  Red Bull might've lost their mojo, but Max is still leagues ahead of his teammate.

Piastri.  Qualifying is important on a street track, and Oscar showed how important that is!  A solid third place, could've done better.

Zeroes
A bit of a dull race over all.  A few mistakes on the first lap.  A bad strategy call (honestly, a high percentage gamble that just went sour) for Hamilton, and that's it really.

The drivers/teams are all worried about losing something instead of gaining anything, and not taking chances.

[Dare]

Hero     Danny R getting fastest lap and taking 1 point away from
            Lando. A point here and a point there may factor in the WDC

[Andy B]

DR dead last is probably the final nail in his coffin!

[Dare]

DR dead last is probably the final nail in his coffin!

He did get fast lap to help Max out. Sergio keeps looking bad race after race

[Andy B]

DR dead last is probably the final nail in his coffin!

He did get fast lap to help Max out. Sergio keeps looking bad race after race

He had a new set of softs on the track when at race end it was at its best so nothing special, he's had his day.

[Dare]

DR dead last is probably the final nail in his coffin!

He did get fast lap to help Max out. Sergio keeps looking bad race after race

He had a new set of softs on the track when at race end it was at its best so nothing special, he's had his day.

I agree. I'm not too sure how sporting that was. Almost like having 4 cars on your team

[Jericoke]

DR dead last is probably the final nail in his coffin!

He did get fast lap to help Max out. Sergio keeps looking bad race after race

He had a new set of softs on the track when at race end it was at its best so nothing special, he's had his day.

I agree. I'm not too sure how sporting that was. Almost like having 4 cars on your team

I'm surprised it took this many years for the second Red Bull team to become a factor in the championship fight.  There may have been times when The STRs held Hamilton up for a brief moment while lapping traffic in his fights with Verstappen, but never anything that felt especially egregious.

Maybe the opportunity never came up before, but I do feel that Horner/Marko/Mateschitz expected their purchase of Minardi would help the 'big team' in more ways than just incubating young drivers.  All within the rules, naturally, but pushing the rules, as everyone does in F1.

(And honestly, with open grid slots, I've always been surprised McLaren and Ferrari never created their own 'B team'.  Sure Sauber (and Haas) work closely with Ferrari, but never on a race strategy level.  I don't feel that any Mercedes or Renault powered teams felt beholden to the factory teams, aside from occasionally using a preferred driver)

[rmassart]

I agree. I'm not too sure how sporting that was. Almost like having 4 cars on your team

Indeed, although I do wonder whether starting Hamilton on softs in order to get ahead of Max was a similar Mercedes engine level strategy. It was a bit of a gamble with no obvious upside except to delay Max a little if he did jump him at the start.

[Jericoke]

I agree. I'm not too sure how sporting that was. Almost like having 4 cars on your team

Indeed, although I do wonder whether starting Hamilton on softs in order to get ahead of Max was a similar Mercedes engine level strategy. It was a bit of a gamble with no obvious upside except to delay Max a little if he did jump him at the start.

During the gridwalk F1TV noted that Hamilton had 2 sets of tires available, so he could offer up a different strategy to those around him.  He was never going to get anywhere using the same strategy as everyone, so he had do something different.  It was a gamble, probably expecting a safety car or a red flag.  The gamble didn't pay off, but I'm not sure he'd have gotten any further on a conservative strategy either.

[rmassart]

The gamble didn't pay off, but I'm not sure he'd have gotten any further on a conservative strategy either.

Well, Russell started 4th and finished 4th. Hamilton started 3rd and finished 6th. So that strategy seems to have cost him a podium. On softs he was always going to have to pit first and then run a very long stint on the hards. Even if he had got up to 2nd at the start, I can't see how he would have stayed there... I realise he was banking on a safety car but those are a lottery and it might equally ruin his race as much as anyone else's.

[Andy B]

DR dead last is probably the final nail in his coffin!

He did get fast lap to help Max out. Sergio keeps looking bad race after race

He had a new set of softs on the track when at race end it was at its best so nothing special, he's had his day.

I agree. I'm not too sure how sporting that was. Almost like having 4 cars on your team

Absolutely so expect another rule to come out as there was no benefit to gaining fastest lap other than aiding MV in a different team.

[Willy]

I am not sure if I am remembering correctly but I seem to recall that the 1 point for fastest lap was only available to those in the top 10 places.
Is this not the case?
Was it ever the case?

[rmassart]

I am not sure if I am remembering correctly but I seem to recall that the 1 point for fastest lap was only available to those in the top 10 places.
Is this not the case?
Was it ever the case?

Yes, that is the case. By Ricardo setting the fastest he deprived Lando of a valuable point. Ricardo himself got no extra point, meaning there was no reason for him to get fastest lap other than to help another team's driver...

[cosworth151]

They can always say that it was a farewell present, a last hurrah, to a long serving and very popular driver.

[Robem64]

They can always say that it was a farewell present, a last hurrah, to a long serving and very popular driver.

They can try that spin but given they didn't announce DR was leaving before or immediately after the race and, at the time of writing this, still haven't then it could be a difficult reason to convince the wider public of. In my opinion, a very poor way to handle the situation - at least allow DR to be given a proper send off by fans. Personally, I would ditch Perez and put DR in the car. What's the worst that could happen!