Formula 1. Singapore Grand Prix. Sprint qualification. Singapore's sprint trick

This year, the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore received in its arsenal the format of a race weekend with a sprint. Therefore, it is not surprising that on Friday morning this first in the history of Formula 1 circuit with artificial lighting was filled with spectators. Promoters did not fail, asking the owners of the championship and the FIA themselves sprint as a marketing ploy.

Overtaking in Singapore is rare and it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of qualifying here. In fact, they are the main argument in the fight for victory in the race, which, despite the urban format of the temporary circuit, has a full distance of 300 km, as on stationary tracks. The proximity to the equator, which is only 120 km from here, predetermines the presence of hot conditions. Even after sunset, when the night covers everything around the glowing snake of the illuminated circuit, the air temperature remains above 30 degrees C. And only asphalt with a heated over 50 degrees in the afternoon, slightly cools to 40 o C.

The relatively wide streets that become sections of the Singapore highway during the weekend create the appearance of overtaking, but the proximity of concrete fences here does not forgive even minor mistakes. And reduced to one session free time and does not give the teams the opportunity to relax. And it gave viewers who arrived at Marina Bay this Friday an added intrigue. I didn't miss you.

As in Friday morning training, sprint qualification confirmed the pattern: the leaders are ahead, the outsiders are behind. Only Carlos Sainz at Williams was in the very tail of the starting grid, losing to Max Verstappen, who unexpectedly took the lead in the initial qualifying segment, almost 3 seconds. There were also red flags. Sergio Perez, having tested both his Cadillac and the fence, broke the front wing of his car against a concrete wall. But since the chassis of the car remained in order, the Mexican decided to make his way to the boxes. Body elements remained under the bottom, and Sergio “entertained” the audience with sparks that flew out from under his “Cadillac” as he moved along the track. In order to collect the remains of the damaged elements of the car, the stewards had to stop the races with red flags.

The plan of the Mexican pilot was justified. Not only did he continue qualifying when the green flags reappeared, but he also managed to be in 20th place in the final minutes, ahead of his team-mate Valterri Bottas and the Williams Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard was the main victim of the first qualifying segment as the speed he showed on Friday morning allowed him to count on a higher place. But then another surprise from the FIA played an additional role. One of the inspectors did not turn on the overtaking mode availability key in time, allowing riders to gain additional power. And after the abolition of red flags, for example, Carlos Sainz was deprived of this “addition”, which significantly reduced his result. The FIA apologized but could not change anything.

This circumstance caused another controversy in the press center of Singapore about the too “twisted” new rules of racing in the Formula 1 championship. Along with the electric component of the new power plants, all these tricks of the FIA, aimed at increasing the number of overtakings, look too artificial. And there are more and more conversations among journalists about simplifying regulations and returning to atmospheric engines, abandoning fashionable hybridization. This, according to experts and media representatives, will increase the personal role of riders in piloting cars, reducing their dependence on the intervention of the team bridges.

The second segment continued the pattern by weeding out slower machines. In the final part, in addition to the riders of the four leading teams, only Pierre Gasley on his Alpin and Liam Lawson on Racing Bulls passed. And in the vanguard were Ferrari cars. They were the fastest at this intermediate stage of qualifying. Lewis Hamilton lost to his partner on a fast lap of 0.3 seconds.

In the final qualifying for the sprint, all the pilots went on the softest and fastest tyres "soft", as stipulated by the regulations. The rapid wear of these tyres in such hot weather, which was yesterday in Singapore, gave some piquancy in the choice of strategy. For example, Red Bull decided to release their leader Max Verstappen for just one try. And this despite the fact that in free races on Friday morning, the Dutch champion did not ride a single lap on these tyres. In fact, “blind” Max had to guess the optimal trajectory of passing the test lap from the first time. And, I must say, he succeeded. The risk was great. After all, there was even a slight hitch on the track, which would cause a short-term appearance of yellow flags, and Verstappen could be at all “without credit time”. And then he would have started in the 10th sprint. But as they say in motorsport, he who does not take risks does not drink champagne. The Red Bull leader won pole with one attempt. This is Max's second sprint qualifying win this season and the Dutchman's 11th sprint pole win.

It will be appropriate to note this fact here. When Sergio Perez crashed in the first segment, yellow flags first appeared. And, as you know, they prohibit overtaking maneuvers of moving cars. But it turned out that Max Verstappen, being on a fast lap, did not slow down quickly enough. As a result, in order to avoid emergency braking in front of the car in front of the traveling Lewis Hamilton, the Red Bull pilot preferred to overtake the opponent. The incident was immediately taken into consideration, but the verdict was postponed after the races. Everyone was sure that Max would not escape punishment and lose his position at the start of the sprint. This paragraph of the regulations is almost always unambiguously interpreted by stewards. Partly, perhaps, also that is why Verstappen took too much risk on his only qualifying lap in the final of the sprint qualifying to be as close to the leaders as possible after the penalty. But in the end, the stewards decided this time not to punish the guilty, and Max avoided the seemingly inevitable fine.

Strangely, he was not punished for driving in an unsafe condition and Sergio Perez. The Mexican did not even receive comments from the stewards about the fact that he drove from turn 4 to the end of the lap, scattering the wreckage of the aerodynamic body kit of his Cadillac, thereby causing the appearance of the red flag regime and stopping qualifying. Will the stewards’ tolerance for the rest of this weekend’s races continue? The torment of Mercedes In Singapore, the German team decided to put their pilots in different cars. The old version went to George Russell, who in the main race due to unscheduled engine replacement will still start from the last row. A new version, tested in Malaysia, was given to Kimi Antonelli. However, free runs clearly demonstrated George's advantage over his partner. The Italian, despite the leadership in the championship, lost on Friday morning to the British 1.25 (!) sec. The management of the Mercedes team even decided to partially return the aerodynamic elements from the old version to the new one, but this did not help Antonelli. Throughout sprint qualifying, he was clearly slower than his teammate. And as a result, today at the start of the sprint, Kimi will prepare his car only in the 7th position, despite the fact that George will share the first row of the starting grille with the pole owner. According to the rules, the penalty for replacing the engine in excess of the planned norm will be applied only to the starting procedure in the race itself, and it does not apply to the sprint.

The Ferrari cars were pretty quick throughout all the races yesterday in Singapore. And had Max Verstappen not been so fast on his only risky attempt in the sprint qualifying final, Charles Leclerc is guaranteed to start today in a shortened race from the front row. In any case, the 3rd starting position of the Monegasque is a high result for the Italian Scuderia. Lewis Hamilton was a bit unlucky. On his decisive fast lap, the British champion after two sectors was ahead of everyone, but suddenly lost his advantage during the last corners. And in the end, he will start only from the 6th position, passing forward not only the top three, but also both cars McLaren. Oscar Piastrie was a little faster than his partner. Thus, two British champions, acting young and 7-times age, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton will start from the 3rd row.

Isaac Hajar, trying to keep pace with his eminent partner, alas, could not remain all 4 wheels of Red Bull within the track. Together with his countryman Pierre Gasley, he received the same punishment from the stewards in the form of annulment of the test circle. And both Frenchmen will start from the 5th row. But the final “eight” of drivers was Liam Lawson, for whom each successful performance is an additional argument in the fight for a place in the car for the next season. Let me remind you that according to the results of the sprint race, only the first 8 riders receive points at the finish line.

The broadcast of the sprint will begin at 12:00 Minsk time. And 4 hours after it, today will be the main qualifying of the Singapore Grand Prix, which will place the riders in places on the starting grid of tomorrow’s race.