Formula One returned to the dazzling streets of Singapore – the venue of the original night race, where the Marina Bay Circuit remains one of the most demanding tests of concentration in an unforgiving climate. The drivers and teams mark it as the most challenging of races, which pushes them to their limits, especially in terms of physicality, extreme heat and humidity. The demanding street circuit requires ultimate concentration, as there are 19 corners packed into 4.94 km and with the absence of run-off areas it means that like Monaco and Baku, there is very little room for error between the walls and barriers. It is also the longest race on the calendar, often lasting the full 2 hours. For Aston Martin, it was envisaged that the low to medium speed track would suit the AMR25s, which would be set up for maximum downforce and minimal rear wing.
Practice Sessions
The first practice session (FP1) evolved quite dramatically, when the brakes on Albon’s Williams caught fire while on track, and despite coming back to his garage area, the marshals and mechanics had to spend time putting the flames out and curtailing the smoke! As this was all happening in the pit lane it didn’t stop action on track. Both Aston Martins had already ventured onto the circuit, running initially on medium tyres, while most of the other drivers were testing on the harder compound, resulting in the Aston pair enjoying early prominence - Alonso quickly finding rhythm and speed and going top of the timesheets in the first quarter of an hour, while Stroll slotted into P10. At the halfway stage Alonso briefly dropped to P4 but reclaimed the top spot, with Stroll only in P16, more than 2 seconds slower than Alonso, suggesting he was struggling to extract as much from his car. He improved after switching to the soft tyres – hauling himself up to P11. As the clock ticked down into the final quarter of an hour and with the track ‘rubbering in’, Alonso bolted on soft tyres and underlined the car’s potential by returning to P1. Both drivers then went out on their final runs with high fuel loads runs and didn’t improve – Alonso finishing in P1, Stroll in P18. Alonso’s session-topping performance was a boost for the team — did they have the pace to clinch some serious points? Not much was learned by anybody in the second free practice session (FP2). Stroll and Alonso were the outliers, both taking the hard tyres out for a spin in the early stages of the hour – after 15 minutes, having covered 6 laps each, Alonso was P8, Stroll P11. On his next lap Alonso climbed to P4, but then red flags interrupted proceedings when Russell hit a wall head on. No sooner had the debris been cleared away and the session had recommenced and Lawson then hit the wall and caused serious damage to the front and rear of his RB car, requiring red flags to be shown again. At this interlude and with just 15 minutes left, Alonso was P9, Stroll P15. Fortunately, the session did restart and both Aston Martins improved – Alonso finished P4, Stroll P6, his improvement offering cautious optimism, but it was a very scrappy session. Overnight rain washed away the rubber from Friday, effectively “resetting” the circuit for Saturday’s final practice session (FP3). The Aston Martin pair headed on track after 6 minutes, but it was only for a reconnaissance lap – they came back in, made final adjustments and off they went again, only to be thwarted by yet another incident caused by Lawson, whose RB found a wall again, requiring the session to be halted. The session restarted after 25 minutes of the hour long session had elapsed, with neither Aston driver having set a representative time. Due to little time being left the pair tried to fit in some long runs with high fuel loads, so neither would expect to be as quick as the previous day. It would also determine the optimal ride height that the team would set the car up for Qualifying and the race. With just 15 minutes left Stroll was P13 and Alonso was P11, although he’d come back to the pits, reporting “something isn't functioning”. Both finished well down the order — Alonso P15, Stroll P17, but the pair had collected 124 laps of data, which would be analysed and decisions made on setup and strategy for Qualifying and the race.
Qualifying
The first round (Q1) quickly saw Stroll show some early pace when he went P1 temporarily, admittedly when only 6 cars had recorded a time. By the time Alonso headed out and placed himself 6th, Stroll had dropped to 11th. They went out again for their final laps and Stroll unfortunately locked up the front tyres in the final sector, lost too much time and only managed to go 14th and Alonso, who also lost time, went 12th. By the time every driver had recorded their final laps, Stroll had dropped to 17th and was eliminated, whereas Alonso scraped through, in 14th. Analysing the result, Aston Martin’s Team Principal, Andy Cowell told Sky that both drivers lost 2-3 tenths of a second at turns 16 &17, due to not being positioned ideally at the apex of turn16. Q2 got underway after a short delay and Alonso slotted into P3 on his first run and by the time all the remaining drivers had set their first times, Alonso was lying in a respectable 6th place. They all lined up again to set their final fast laps and fortunately Alonso ended up P9 and advanced through to the final round. In Q3, after all the first runs, Alonso, who had to use a set of used tyres, could only set the 10th fastest time. On his final lap and on fresher tyres, despite managing to improve his time, every other driver improved their’s also and 10th is where Alonso finished, 0.8 sec. behind Russell who took pole, Verstappen was 2nd and Piastri 3rd. Hours later, it was announced that Williams would have both cars disqualified from Qualifying for a technical infringement on the length of their wings. This would mean that for the race, Stroll would start 15th with the Williams’ cars moved to the back of the grid.
Race
As the grid got going for the formation lap, under the dazzling night lights, the tension built. Both Aston Martins would start on the soft compound tyres, betting on gaining early track positions. McLaren were also aiming to capitalise on their top 5 starting positions, as mathematically, they could secure the Constructors’ Championship by the end of the 62 lap race. When the five red lights went out the roar of 20 engines echoed off the Marina Bay walls — and the race was on. Norris made a good start, gaining two places immediately (and controversially making contact with his teammate), while Alonso also launched well and climbed two spots, before having to concede one after a wheel-to-wheel tussle with Hadjar, for which the Frenchman was placed under investigation by the Stewards. Stroll also made a clean getaway and gained a place by the end of the first lap – the Aston Martins were running P9 and P14 respectively. On lap 4, Alonso reclaimed 8th position from Hadjar with a measured pass, using the soft tyres on his AMR25 to full advantage. Despite being passed, Hadjar was still threatening and keeping within DRS range of Alonso. Stroll, a little further behind, had settled into a rhythm and began closing the gap to Colapinto ahead and eventually moved up to 13th when Colapinto came into the pits early for fresh tyres. At the front, Russell led the race by more than eight seconds from Verstappen, who made an early stop for fresh tyres on Lap 20. The Red Bull rejoined just ahead of Alonso, the two briefly nose-to-tail before Verstappen pulled clear. Moments later, Hadjar spun — freeing Alonso from DRS pressure and giving him 4+ seconds margin of comfort. Soon after, Hadjar had to come in for a pit stop to rid himself of his worn out tyres, which elevated Stroll to 12th. As the pit stop window began for other drivers, Alonso rose to seventh, then sixth as Leclerc and Hamilton pitted. When Antonelli and race leader Russell stopped, Alonso inherited P5, while Stroll advanced to the fringes of the top ten in P10. Then, on lap 22, it was Alonso’s turn to come into the pits for his one and only change of tyres. Disastrously, a stubborn front-right wheel nut refused to budge - the mechanics fought desperately to release it, eventually sending Alonso on his way after a painful 9.2-second stop. He rejoined down in 15th — a cruel blow after such a strong first stint. As a result of the long stop Stroll had moved up to 9th and kept focused, maybe even backing the field up slightly so that Alonso could catch up to the train that had formed behind him. Shortly after the halfway point of the race, Ocon had to pit, which moved Alonso up to 14th and on lap 38 he was alongside Hadjar again and made a feisty pass, declaring on the radio “Trophy for the hero of the race!” for 13th place. Stroll had to pit for fresh tyres on the next lap and despite a clean service, he rejoined at the tail end of the field, in P20. Alonso was now P12, with 20 laps remaining and continued to charge, passing Albon on Lap 42 after forcing the Williams driver into a lock-up. Albon then had to pit and came out last, allowing Stroll to gain a place. He then gained another when Hulkenberg slid off track backwards whilst trying to defend. Stroll then had to yield to the leading trio of Russell, Verstappen and Norris as they lapped him. With just 15 laps remaining, Alonso was relentless in his charge, sweeping past Bearman for tenth on Lap 47, then dispatched Sainz and Lawson in rapid succession, climbing to 8th by Lap 49. His charge was clean, decisive - vintage Alonso. Further back, Stroll, running 18th, recovered places as Lawson and then Sainz pitted, and on lap 52, he had cleared Ocon and was up to P15. Five laps later, Sainz, on newer tyres managed to get past Stroll but the Canadian battled on and managed to gain two more places before taking the chequered flag, finishing 13th. Ahead of him, Alonso had received news that Hamilton was in major trouble and was not able to brake. Alonso, almost 40 seconds behind at the start of the last lap, smelt blood, engaged full throttle and went after Hamilton in hot pursuit. By the end of the lap Hamilton just managed to cross the finish line 0.4 sec ahead of Alonso and they were initially classified as finishing 7th and 8th. However, without brakes and knowing he was being hunted down by Alonso, Hamilton was cutting every corner he could in order to get to the finish line and in doing so he was reported for exceeding track limits too many times and was issued with a 5-second penalty, demoting him to 8th and elevating Alonso to P7. Russell won the race in a Mercedes, Verstappen was 2nd and Norris 3rd. McLaren secured winning the Constructors Championship for the second year running – many congratulations to the team.
Reflections
Singapore was a welcome return to competitiveness for Aston Martin. Alonso’s drive was a masterclass in perseverance – he overtook more competitors than any driver. Despite the 9-second pit stop delay, it would be fair to say that he finished best of the rest and in the right position. Stroll’s race, though less visible, was solid in execution. He stayed out of trouble, managed his tyres well and made a few passes of his own to secure a respectable 13th, capping a clean if unspectacular performance.
Post Race Comments
Commenting afterwards on the race Alonso said, "We had a good race tonight and the car was behaving well. We showed good pace on both stints and the team made a good call to fit the medium tyres, as that enabled us to fight back after a slow pitstop. Hopefully we can score more points at the remaining rounds of the Championship." Stroll was more disappointed, stating, "No opportunities for us today; we tried to sit it out and waited for a Safety Car that never came. We managed to make the soft tyre work for 38 laps. The mediums in the second stint wore off quicker than expected due to traffic, overheating and fighting other cars. It could have gone better for us, but we did the best we could do and we will keep trying. We now look to Texas in two weeks' time."
Indeed, Formula 1 F1 travel to Austin, Texas for the United States Grand Prix, which takes place over the weekend of 17-19 October and with Aston Martin only 4 points behind RB Racing Bulls in the Constructors Championship they will be hoping that they will be able to overhaul them and then go after Williams in 5th.