The final stretch of the 2022 Formula 1 season kicks off at Marina Bay for the much-awaited return of the Singapore Grand Prix. If night races are your thing, then you’ve come to the right place.
Given its twisty nature, the Marina Bay Street Circuit will provide the drivers their toughest challenge yet this season, but perhaps this might be the final hurdle for a back-to-back champion this weekend.
Max Verstappen has built a sizeable gap in the driver standings with 335 points, while his team Red Bull holds a similar advantage with 545 points in the constructors.
Since the title races are basically sewn up at this point, the battle for second between Ferrari and Mercedes is another thing to monitor as we go along.
Without further ado, SBOTOP brings to you the latest Singapore Grand Prix 2022 updates.
One more for Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen will get his opportunity to clinch his second consecutive Formula 1 World Championship this Sunday. If he wins and Charles Leclerc finishes at eighth or lower while teammate Sergio Perez is at P4 or lower, then the title would officially be his.
Having won 11 races so far this season and the last five on the bounce, the Dutchman has a 116-point lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
However, Verstappen isn’t letting his guard down, saying that it will be “quite a long shot” for him to secure the 2022 championship. Instead, he said that he’s focused on enjoying the weekend.
“I think Suzuka will be my first proper opportunity to win the title. So I’m looking forward to Singapore right now, but I’m also very excited for next week.”
Meanwhile, his rivals Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are out to delay Verstappen’s coronation, but both expressed cautious optimism about their chances.
“We’re able to predict, pretty much, where we’re going – whether it will work in one place compared to another,” said Hamilton. “We’re in a much better place, I think, than we’ve ever been, so I hope that we’re not far away.”
“Just extract the maximum out of the car and show that we have grown from the mistakes we’ve done this year and just try to execute the weekends perfectly, and hopefully having a win on Sunday,” said Leclerc.
Mercedes have yet to win a race this season but they came close several times. Hamilton finished P2 in France and Hungary, while teammate George Russell was also second in Netherlands.
Ferrari, on the other hand, were once contenders for the title but their self-inflicted mishaps throughout this season proved to be costly. Charles Leclerc was the last winner for the Scuderia in Austria last July.
Formula 1 silly season in full effect
The retirement of Sebastian Vettel and the departures of Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo from Alpine and McLaren have opened up four seats as of this writing.
Alpine are still searching for Alonso’s replacement and they’re currently linked with Nyck de Vries, who had a spectacular Formula 1 debut in Monza.
Mick Schumacher’s future with Haas is reportedly hanging in the balance, while it’s been an open secret that AlphaTauri are thinking about bringing in a new driver despite the fact that Pierre Gasly is contracted to them for 2023.
Last but not the least, there’s a vacancy at Williams now that Nicholas Latifi has announced that he’ll leave at the end of this season.
Besides Nyck de Vries, Mick Schumacher, Pierre Gasly, and Daniel Ricciardo, the other leading candidates for those four vacancies are Antonio Giovinazzi, Jack Doohan, Logan Sargeant, Colton Herta, and Nico Hulkenberg.
History
Charles Leclerc was the last racer to win pole in 2019, but it was his former Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel who won in Marina Bay, and that was the final Formula 1 victory for the retiring German.
Sebastian Vettel has the most wins with five – including a three-peat from 2011 to 2013 – while Lewis Hamilton is right behind him with four, with the last from 2018.
Fernando Alonso is the only active driver besides Hamilton and Vettel who has won here as the Aston Martin-bound Spaniard triumphed in 2008 and 2010.
What are the odds?
Max Verstappen is tipped by the Singapore Grand Prix 2022 odds to win, not only this race, but the 2022 Formula 1 championship too. He is priced at 1.25 while the closest behind him is Charles Leclerc at 1.45. Carlos Sainz Jr., Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, and George Russell figure in a tight battle for the third podium spot as they’re priced at 1.50, 1.60, 1.77, and 1.80 respectively.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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