2024 Singapore GP
Results
Race
George Russell
1:37.047 Fastest Lap
62 Laps
4th
Lewis Hamilton
1:37.393 Fastest Lap
62 Laps
6th
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton
1:29.841 Fastest Lap
16 Laps
3rd
George Russell
1:29.867 Fastest Lap
17 Laps
4th
The second double-header after the summer break came to an end with the floodlit spectacle on the streets of Singapore.
After a difficult Friday, the team bounced back on Saturday to lock-out the second row of the grid. Lewis started the race from P3, George from P4.
The top five on the grid had one set of new Hard tyres and one set of new Medium tyres available for the Grand Prix. All of the top 13 drivers started on Medium tyres, except Lewis, who was on slightly used Softs.
Lewis attacked Max Verstappen at the start but was unable to get past him. George was under pressure from Oscar Piastri and Nico Hülkenberg but managed to defend P4. After that, our duo concentrated on managing their tyres.
After 17 laps, Lewis was the first Silver Arrow to pit from P3, changing from Soft to Hard tyres. He returned to the track in P13 behind Kevin Magnussen.
Lewis used his fresh tyres to work his way back through the field and into the top 10. In lap 26, he caught Yuki Tsunoda and passed him just before Turn 16, but then ran wide, allowing Tsunoda to pass again.
Shortly afterwards, George came into the pits for his stop. He changed to the Hard tyre and rejoined ahead of Lewis, who had now overtaken Tsunoda's VCARB.
Halfway through the race, George had closed the gap on Charles Leclerc in P4, who had not yet stopped, and attacked him at Turn 16, but had to swerve across the run-off area. Soon after, Leclerc came into the pits and George was released into clean air. Lewis was behind him in P5.
George was in a long-distance duel with Oscar Piastri, who had not pitted yet and was in P2. When he came in on lap 39 to change from Medium to Hard tyres, he dropped behind our duo, but he had 10 laps fresher tyres than George and 20 laps fresher tyres than Lewis, who was only 1.4 seconds ahead of him and had no chance of holding off the onrushing McLaren.
Piastri closed the gap to George within a few laps and was able to overtake him on fresher tyres into Turn 7 to secure the final podium place.
With 12 laps to go, Leclerc caught Lewis and passed him in the fight for P5. The gap to George was another eight seconds.
In the end, the Ferrari was unable to overtake George, who finished the race in P4, with Lewis finishing sixth.
Formula 1 will now take a break before the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, next month, which marks the start of the first of two triple-headers that will herald the final phase of the 2024 F1 season.
George Russell
After a very difficult Friday, we would have likely taken P4 in the Grand Prix. Our pace in Qualifying however made us believe we could achieve more. Today was no doubt a difficult race for us, both challenging in terms of our pace but also physically. The McLarens were very impressive and in another league to us, whilst Max (Verstappen) had the legs on us. We were able to hold off the Ferrari of Charles (Leclerc) in the closing stages, so it was very much an evening of damage limitation. Given the pace of the car, that was the very best we could have achieved.
We have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks to understand why we’ve struggled to challenge at the front in the past few races. We haven’t been as competitive since the summer break and that is frustrating. We will work hard to get on top of it though and hopefully the updates we bring to the next race in Austin will help us take a step closer to the front.
Lewis Hamilton
It is hard to describe the range of emotions you feel when we have a difficult race like that. This year continues to be a testing one for everyone, but we are all pushing as hard as we can. We don’t always get things right and that was the case today with our strategy. We all head into the weekend, and every decision we take, with the right intentions and sometimes it doesn’t work out. It can be frustrating, but we are all in this together.
We have lost some form to the leaders in the past few races and we’re working hard to figure out why that is. We will do what we do best though and that is to come together as a team, analyse and refocus ahead of Austin. We will head there with energy, drive, and determination. It’s another opportunity to show what we can do when we get things right and to hopefully take a step forward with the car.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO
That was a really painful evening for us. P4 and P6 is not a good result after starting P3 and P4. Our strategy decisions in the race were determined by our experiences in the past here where track position is crucial. We thought that the Soft tyre would give Lewis an advantage at the start but that turned out to be the wrong decision. With our challenges managing the rear surfaces, we went backwards. Overtaking proved possible, contrary to previous races here where it has been more processional, and in hindsight we should have started him on the Medium.
It doesn’t hide the fact though that we were too slow today. We are struggling at the moment with tracks that are hot and demanding on traction, like here and Baku, but that is no excuse. It is difficult for us to accept but we must do and find a way to improve. We now look ahead to Austin where we will have an update coming and we hope that will move us forward.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
Our pace was ultimately poor today and that made for an incredibly challenging evening. Having qualified within a couple of tenths of Norris and Verstappen, we anticipated being able to race for the podium. That shaped our decision to start on the Soft compound with Lewis as we looked to make up ground on the opening lap. Unfortunately, with our lack of pace and struggles to control the rear tyre temperatures, that proved the incorrect decision and left him in for a tough race.
It was very much a case of a defensive strategy and race for George. We had to pick our battles, and it was clear that we didn’t have the speed to be in a fight with the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. He was much faster and, with a tyre advantage, was always going to get through. George did well to hold off the hard-charging Ferrari of Leclerc and limit the damage.
We’ve now got the opportunity over the next few weeks to analyse and understand what happened to our pace today. We had moments over the weekend where we were competitive, so we know there is inherent pace in the car. We will also be bringing an update package to the car at the next race and we hope that can bring us closer to the fight at the front.
2024 Singapore GP Result
1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +20.945 |
3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +41.823 |
4 | George Russell | Mercedes-AMG | +1:01.040 |
5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +1:02.430 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG | +1:25.248 |
7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +1:36.039 |
8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +1 lap |
9 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | +1 lap |
10 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | +1 lap |
11 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | +1 lap |
12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | +1 lap |
13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +1 lap |
14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +1 lap |
15 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | +1 lap |
16 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | +1 lap |
17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +1 lap |
18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Racing Bulls | +1 lap |
19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +5 laps |
Alexander Albon | Williams | DNF |