No one doubts at this point in the campaign that the Dutchman Max Verstappen He is on his way to his third consecutive F1 championship title without any major problems. At Monza, the last GP, he achieved his tenth consecutive victory and set a new record. He was heard on the radio outlining the team: “it’s a good statistic”, although he assured that he was not in the records business. However, to achieve the eleventh streak he must face his own demons. The Singaporean It is one of three circuits in the current calendar where He never won, nor did he take pole position or set the fastest lap in a race.
His 47 victories on the circuit
2023 Calendar
Bahrain GP (Sakhir): 2023
Saudi Arabia GP (Jeddah) 2022
Australian GP (Melbourne) 2023
Azerbaijan GP (Baku) 2022
GP Miami (Miami) 2022, 2023
GP Emilia Romagna (Imola) 2021, 2022
Monaco GP (Monaco) 2021, 2023
GP Spain (Barcelona-Catalunya) 2016, 2022, 2023
Canadian GP (Montreal) 2022, 2023
Austrian GP (Spielberg) 2018, 2019, 2021, 2021, 2023
British GP (Silverstone) 2020, 2023
Hungarian GP (Hungaroring) 2022, 2023
Belgian GP (Spa) 2021, 2022, 2023
GP Netherlands (Zandvoort) 2021, 2022, 2023
Italian GP (Monza) 2022, 2023
GP Singapore (Singapore) 0
Japan GP (Suzuka) 2022
GP Qatar (Lusail) 0
United States GP (Austin) 2021, 2022
Mexican GP (Mexico) 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022
Brazilian GP (Interlagos) 2019
GP Las Vegas (Las Vegas) 0
GP Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) 2020, 2021, 2022
Others:
Malaysian GP (Sepang) 2017
German GP (Hockenheim) 2019
French GP (Le Castellet) 2021, 2022
“Singapore is probably the most challenging weekend of the upcoming races. There’s a lot at stake on an urban circuit and the peloton is often very even, not to mention the heat and humidity…”, he explained in a previous statement.
The other two are Losail and Las Vegas, which are making their debut
With three circuits missing Verstappen to conquer Las Vegas is new to this year’s calendar and the Losail It has only been run once, in 2021. Hamilton then won ahead of Verstappen (25.743) who scored extra points for the fastest lap in the race. But there was plenty of tension beforehand due to a penalty the Dutchman received from the Stewards less than two hours before the start of the race – five positions on the grid – for clearly failing to brake under double yellow flags in Q3 on Saturday where he finished second behind polesitter Hamilton.
In Marina Bay He has raced six times and the closest victory came in 2018 when he started second on the grid and finished the race in the same position, 8.961 behind Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. He also got the podium in 2019, third, after Vettel, who finished 3.821 behind, and Leclerc got a position with respect to the start -fourth-.
But the rest of the races should be forgotten, especially the last one. In 2015, his rookie year at Toro Rosso, he started eighth and finished eighth; In 2016 he started fourth and finished sixth, in 2017 he started second on the grid, but was involved in a fatal collision with the two Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen before reaching the first corner on wet asphalt and was abandoned. And not because it was a bad circuit for Red Bull, Checo Pérez managed to dominate the two Ferraris and cross first under the checkered flag.
In this last participation He paid for starting eighth on the grid after aborting his final and decisive lap in Q3 on Saturday due to a team fuel load error. And in the race he dropped another four places when the anti-stall system tripped at the traffic lights and he struggled behind slower cars and after another mistake in search of fifth place finished he seventh on a day when the title was at stake. .
“Zero,” he said when asked if he enjoyed date night on the streets of Marina Bay. “That’s not what I’m happy about, I want to win or at least fight at the front. It’s just frustrating, stuck behind the cars, having trouble at the start, then there’s a big block to get back on track. new. in the back zone”, then indicated the current world champion.
Layout changes
The urban layout of Marina Bay presents new features in the third sector which eliminates curves 16, 17, 18 and 19, with low-speed turns close to 90 degrees, replaced by a straight line connecting at what would be the start of Turn 16 and the end of Turn 19 and that could ‘help’ Verstappen break his curse.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
