Nothing quite shows off the raw beauty of F1 cars as well as the spotlights that fight back the night around the streets of Singapore. A stunning lap from Lewis Hamilton on Saturday put him on pole, but just 1 spot behind, Max Verstappen was determined to make up for a disappointing race last year. The stage was set for an epic race. Shame we never got it. Warning: Do not listen while operating heavy machinery.
Join Rian McDonnell and F1 novice Joe Molloy as they stumble and joke their way through each round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
The week saw a lot of off-track action. For one thing, the FIA released artists’ impressions of what the cars could look like after the 2021 rules change. In other news, when Rian was 5, he drew a picture of a house with smoke coming out of the chimney. His mom pretended to be impressed and hung it on the refrigerator door. Both these stories are equally relevant to Formula 1, but here’s the pictures anyway.
We also had lots of movement in the driver’s market. Predicting the driver’s market is starting to be a bit like playing chess at the top of an active volcano. It’s exciting, but ultimately it’s a bit pointless and you’re probably wasting valuable time. Kimi responded to the news in typical style, reminding us all why we’re lucky to have him for 2 more years.
Compared to Marcus Ericsson’s autovehicular acrobatics at Monza, the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday were tame affairs. That all changed when Lewis Hamilton took to the track to set his qualifying time. As Rian said, there are no words. Just watch the lap. If you’re a Ferrari fan, just know that there’s always help out there.
While it was a fairly quiet race at the front of the grid, with Lewis Hamilton leading all the way to the end, Checo Pérez had what could generously be described as an absolute calamity. Not satisfied with forcefully introducing his teammate to the wall outside turn 3, he later resolved to do all he could to put Sergey Sirotkin in an ambulance. After serving a drive-through penalty, the Mexican realised the error of his ways and owned up.
Unfortunately, it looks like the long-term losers will be the fans, with Force India banning their drivers from racing each other for the remainder of the season.
For a full summary of the race, check out Motorsport's write-up, and check out our Facebook and Twitter pages to keep up to date with us at F1 Foolcast!