2024 Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay, Sep 20 - 22

[bananapeel23]

I'm not convinced Ferrari had "comfortably" the fastest car on the grid. Leclerc was comfortably fastest on the S, and was fastest on the M, but McLaren was very quick on the H. Ferrari had trouble getting the Hards in the right window, and just didn't have the same pace as McLaren.

But yeah, I can see Ferrari being strong here. My optimistic prediction is 1. LEC, 2. PIA... I think we're witnessing the start of an incredible driver battle for the next couple of years.

To hang in Piastri’s dirty air for 30+ laps on the hards means he had great pace. He lost the lead due to slow tyre warmup, but once they got into their working window he was clearly at least as fast as Piastri, if not faster. He just got poor drive out of turn 16 where he needed it and lacked the top speed to overtake.

Ferrari might not have had as large of a pace advantage on the hards compared to the softs or mediums, but I’d argue the car was still clearly had the best race pace on both compounds. Leclerc was just stuck between a rock and a hard place where he couldn’t slow down to preserve his tyres because Perez was breathing up his neck, but also couldn’t overtake Piastri without having a tyre wear offset.

I reckon Leclerc wins if Perez is slower because he could drop back to 2-3 seconds behind, preserve his tyres and then make a late push like Perez did. He was incredibly unlucky to get stuck in that sandwich.

[bluechris]

I'm not convinced Ferrari had "comfortably" the fastest car on the grid. Leclerc was comfortably fastest on the S, and was fastest on the M, but McLaren was very quick on the H. Ferrari had trouble getting the Hards in the right window, and just didn't have the same pace as McLaren.

But yeah, I can see Ferrari being strong here. My optimistic prediction is 1. LEC, 2. PIA... I think we're witnessing the start of an incredible driver battle for the next couple of years.

To hang in Piastri’s dirty air for 30+ laps on the hards means he had great pace. He lost the lead due to slow tyre warmup, but once they got into their working window he was clearly at least as fast as Piastri, if not faster. He just got poor drive out of turn 16 where he needed it and lacked the top speed to overtake.

Ferrari might not have had as large of a pace advantage on the hards compared to the softs or mediums, but I’d argue the car was still clearly had the best race pace on both compounds. Leclerc was just stuck between a rock and a hard place where he couldn’t slow down to preserve his tyres because Perez was breathing up his neck, but also couldn’t overtake Piastri without having a tyre wear offset.

I reckon Leclerc wins if Perez is slower because he could drop back to 2-3 seconds behind, preserve his tyres and then make a late push like Perez did. He was incredibly unlucky to get stuck in that sandwich.

I try to remember when was the last time with this soap tyres in the current era, when someone managed to stay behind and so close for 30 laps.. i dont remember anything. To me Ferrari achieving this shows that they were alot better in tyre management.

[Sphere3758]

I'm not convinced Ferrari had "comfortably" the fastest car on the grid. Leclerc was comfortably fastest on the S, and was fastest on the M, but McLaren was very quick on the H. Ferrari had trouble getting the Hards in the right window, and just didn't have the same pace as McLaren.

But yeah, I can see Ferrari being strong here. My optimistic prediction is 1. LEC, 2. PIA... I think we're witnessing the start of an incredible driver battle for the next couple of years.

To hang in Piastri’s dirty air for 30+ laps on the hards means he had great pace. He lost the lead due to slow tyre warmup, but once they got into their working window he was clearly at least as fast as Piastri, if not faster. He just got poor drive out of turn 16 where he needed it and lacked the top speed to overtake.

Ferrari might not have had as large of a pace advantage on the hards compared to the softs or mediums, but I’d argue the car was still clearly had the best race pace on both compounds. Leclerc was just stuck between a rock and a hard place where he couldn’t slow down to preserve his tyres because Perez was breathing up his neck, but also couldn’t overtake Piastri without having a tyre wear offset.

I reckon Leclerc wins if Perez is slower because he could drop back to 2-3 seconds behind, preserve his tyres and then make a late push like Perez did. He was incredibly unlucky to get stuck in that sandwich.

I try to remember when was the last time with this soap tyres in the current era, when someone managed to stay behind and so close for 30 laps.. i dont remember anything. To me Ferrari achieving this shows that they were alot better in tyre management.

It is more Ferrari with Leclerc vs McLaren with Oscar.
I am not convinced that Oscar has solved his tyre management issues (in comparison to Norris). He has made a few ballsy moves in the last 2 races to get free air, which has made him look decent on tyre management. Infact, I think that he knows that is the only way he can compete for the win. Kudos to him for pulling it off for the last 2 races.

And I am convinced that he would not have been able to do what Leclerc did in Baku if the situation were reversed.

[deadhead]

Ferrari had the fastest car on race day last weekend. I thought it was pretty obvious and plenty of data points to back that up

[saviour stivala]

''And I am convinced that he (Oscar) would not have been able to do what Leclerc did in Baku if the situation were reversed''. First of all, what both Oscar and Leclerc did in Baku was what their respective car allowed them to do. What they both did exceptionally brilliant driving, of which the last 30 laps I have never seen before, 30 laps with each lap within less then one second of each other. on the other hand, the first stint proved Leclerc had been able to open a gap of six seconds, and that was not because Oscar was holding back or let it be that, in fact, in the later said 30 laps, not for lack of trying, Oscar could not do that. My personal opinion, the FERRARI/Leclerc combination was the fastest of the two, the FERRARI because of a power unit deployment advantage of which was negated somehow by Mclaren's small drag shedding capability after pitstop.

[codetower]

To hang in Piastri’s dirty air for 30+ laps on the hards means he had great pace. He lost the lead due to slow tyre warmup, but once they got into their working window he was clearly at least as fast as Piastri, if not faster. He just got poor drive out of turn 16 where he needed it and lacked the top speed to overtake.

Ferrari might not have had as large of a pace advantage on the hards compared to the softs or mediums, but I’d argue the car was still clearly had the best race pace on both compounds. Leclerc was just stuck between a rock and a hard place where he couldn’t slow down to preserve his tyres because Perez was breathing up his neck, but also couldn’t overtake Piastri without having a tyre wear offset.

I reckon Leclerc wins if Perez is slower because he could drop back to 2-3 seconds behind, preserve his tyres and then make a late push like Perez did. He was incredibly unlucky to get stuck in that sandwich.

I try to remember when was the last time with this soap tyres in the current era, when someone managed to stay behind and so close for 30 laps.. i dont remember anything. To me Ferrari achieving this shows that they were alot better in tyre management.

It is more Ferrari with Leclerc vs McLaren with Oscar.
I am not convinced that Oscar has solved his tyre management issues (in comparison to Norris). He has made a few ballsy moves in the last 2 races to get free air, which has made him look decent on tyre management. Infact, I think that he knows that is the only way he can compete for the win. Kudos to him for pulling it off for the last 2 races.

And I am convinced that he would not have been able to do what Leclerc did in Baku if the situation were reversed.

I said it a couple of weeks ago. The McLaren is VERY fast in clean air. The difference between being in clean vs dirty air for the MCL38 seems to be much bigger than other cars. This circuit will be interesting with all the DRS zones. It'll definitely negate some of the mini-DRS advantage.

[AR3-GP]

I said it a couple of weeks ago. The McLaren is VERY fast in clean air. The difference between being in clean vs dirty air for the MCL38 seems to be much bigger than other cars.

It's probably because the noodle wings deflect unpredictably in turbulent air.

[Sevach]

I said it a couple of weeks ago. The McLaren is VERY fast in clean air. The difference between being in clean vs dirty air for the MCL38 seems to be much bigger than other cars. This circuit will be interesting with all the DRS zones. It'll definitely negate some of the mini-DRS advantage.

You can gain very little from top speed here anyways, by the time the car reaches 300 KM/H the straight is over, triggering early, say 260, might make you lose time under braking.
And there's still no evidence that mini-DRS has been implemented in max downforce wings.

And in the extra crucial qualy no advantage at all, mini-DRS works when the wing is closed.

It's probably because the noodle wings deflect unpredictably in turbulent air.

I subscribe to this theory as well.

[stephen]

With the wet weather forecast, there should be a lot of drama this weekend at the Marina Bay Circuit but it won't be a surprise if we see another McLaren win this Sunday and I think it will be now Lando's turn to take the win after Oscar's excellent win last week at Baku in which Lando also played his part by holding off Sergio Perez for a couple of laps.

[bananapeel23]

If it ends up properly wet Ferrari is going to have serious issues. but they might end up doing really well on a drying track since they struggle to warm their tyres, and would thus be able to push harder when others start suffering from overheating on a drying track. The SF24 should really be the ideal car for interslicks.

[Sergej]

Competitive sessions will be dry, expecting a battle between Ferrari and McLaren.

[bananapeel23]

Competitive sessions will be dry, expecting a battle between Ferrari and McLaren.

This is Singapore we're talking about. Predicting the weather 2-3 days in advance in anything but broad strokes is futile. Check the weather again 3 hours before the competitive sessions to get something resembling a good idea of whether there will be rain during a given session or not.

[search]

Competitive sessions will be dry, expecting a battle between Ferrari and McLaren.

This is Singapore we're talking about. Predicting the weather 2-3 days in advance in anything but broad strokes is futile. Check the weather again 3 hours before the competitive sessions to get something resembling a good idea of whether there will be rain during a given session or not.

This is not Spa where the weather is alyway unsure, though. Normally in Singapore there's a fairly clear pattern of rain coming down only in the (early) afternoon.

Yes, there can be exceptions (like in 2022), but there's definitely more reason to expect a dry race than not to.

[vanburin]

Competitive sessions will be dry, expecting a battle between Ferrari and McLaren.

This is Singapore we're talking about. Predicting the weather 2-3 days in advance in anything but broad strokes is futile. Check the weather again 3 hours before the competitive sessions to get something resembling a good idea of whether there will be rain during a given session or not.

Yet Singaporean weather is predictably unpredictable, if that makes sense. It experiences VERY similar weather patterns to Florida in the summer. Mid-day downpours expected daily, but by the evening hours they would have dissipated. Rinse, lather, repeat day in and day out.

Aside from weather, it's incredible the difference the temporary re-shaping of S3 helps with the circuit layout, and overall race. I understand that losing the grandstands is a massive punch in the wallet, but simply reverting back to the "real" layout once this construction work is complete would be a massive own-goal in it's own right.

[PlatinumZealot]

Ferrari should be ultra strong here. But.. Expecting Aston and Mercedes to get in the mix. McLaren will be nowhere. One williams in Q3.