After weeks of giving chase, McLaren seized the lead in the constructors’ championship last weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finally overtaking Red Bull and cementing its spot atop F1 for the first time since 2014. Oscar Piastri played the hero for the team, winning for the second time in five races, while Lando Norris climbed up to fourth from an uncharacteristically low starting place down in 17th.
McLaren now finds the target on its back as the paddock makes way for another street circuit at the Singapore Grand Prix. Drivers will take to the track at the challenging Marina Bay circuit this upcoming weekend with two championships still hanging in the balance. McLaren holds just a 20-point lead over Max Verstappen-led Red Bull, a margin that could easily be flipped in a single race. Verstappen, meanwhile, maintains an advantage over Norris in the drivers’ standings, but the gap has narrowed to 59 points with seven races left. Apart from the battles at the top, intrigue abounds in the midfield and plenty of drivers are still racing for the few available spots on next year’s grid, making the stakes high across the board.
Here are the three main story lines to watch at the Singapore Grand Prix:
Piastri’s Position
Just a few weeks ago, when Piastri narrowly avoided colliding with his teammate on a bold pass at the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren made clear that it intended to prioritize Norris to aid the 24-year-old in his pursuit of his first drivers’ championship. Piastri fell in line, saying that he hoped to help his teammate in any way possible, but responded by winning in Baku with Norris out of the picture for a podium. So where does McLaren go from here?
Across the last seven races, no one in F1 has been better than Piastri. The 23-year-old Australian has won twice and scored 135 points, never finishing worse than fourth in any outing. The next closest competitor to Piastri has been Norris, who has amassed 31 points less than his teammate. For what it’s worth, the Red Bull drivers—McLaren’s main competition—have been far worse. Verstappen has racked up 94 points in the same span, while Sergio Perez has tallied just 32.
All of that to say, Piastri has been the best driver on track and it hasn’t been close. While McLaren would surely like to leave this season hoisting two trophies and not just one, the team’s determination to not declare a number one driver and wait so long to emphasize Norris’s individual championship pursuit allowed Piastri to blossom into a future world champion right in front of everyone’s eyes.
As for the present, Norris still has the time to reel in Verstappen, but may need to rely on his teammate for assistance now more than ever. Piastri, however, trails Norris by just 32 points—a margin in which he nearly outscored his teammate by over the last seven races.
Piastri may be forced into the role of loyal teammate with seven races remaining, but he’s as responsible (if not more so) for McLaren’s run at a constructors’ championship. The team will need to manage both drivers effectively in the final stretch to maintain harmony in the garage and ensure this partnership remains one that dominates in the years to come—not just in 2024.
Perez’s Response to Another Setback
The Red Bull driver seemed poised for his best drive since May (seriously) in Baku, on a street circuit where he’s had success in the past, until disaster struck. A misfortunate entangling with Carlos Sainz saw both cars flung into the wall, resulting in a third DNF for Perez in his last 10 races.
The writing has been on the wall that McLaren would overtake Red Bull for the constructors’ championship lead for some time now, but for it to happen in a race where Perez was almost flawless for 49 of 51 laps is a gut punch for the 34-year-old. How he responds to circumstances that were out of his control in Azerbaijan may dictate his outlook for the final seven races, in addition to next year.
Perez will play a pivotal role in the coming weeks, both attempting to keep his team in touch with McLaren and his teammate ahead of Norris. The good news for Red Bull is that Perez has developed somewhat of a reputation for his ability on street circuits like Marina Bay. In fact, he won the Singapore Grand Prix in 2022, which kickstarted a run that stretched into the next season that was arguably the best of his career (three wins and eight podiums in 11 starts).
Unfortunately, last year’s outing in Singapore was a different story for Red Bull. Perez qualified in 13th and Verstappen started in 11th in Marina Bay, and neither driver was able to salvage a podium as the duo finished eighth and fifth, respectively. Of course, those results at that point of a dominant season didn’t matter. This weekend’s very much do and it’ll take both Verstappen and Perez at the top of their game to make an impact.
Kevin Magnussen Returns As Williams Challenges Haas
As Lewis Hamilton aptly pointed out after Baku, a talented crop of young drivers is entering the F1 inner circle, highlighted by the performances last week of Franco Colapinto at Williams and Oliver Bearman at Haas. Both drivers, who scored points and split the seven-time world champion at race’s end, showed why they both have potential for futures in F1.
But for now, it’s time for Haas to bring back a trusted veteran—at least for seven more races.
Magnussen, fresh off his one-race ban for exceeding the number of penalty points allowed across a 12-month span, will return to the grid in Singapore. Though Bearman impressed in what will become his car next year, Haas will turn to Magnussen at a time when it needs to fend off a late-season challenge from Williams.
Williams, who already dumped Logan Sargeant and signed Carlos Sainz for next season, saw both of its current drivers finish in the top 10 in Baku and now trails Haas by just 13 points in the constructors’ standings. Considering the team just walked away with 10 points last weekend, that margin could be made up quickly with any shenanigans (or DNFs) by the top teams. Not to mention that RB, which has gone scoreless the last three races, is only five points clear of Haas.
So the matchup is as follows: Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg against Alex Albon and Colapinto. Every end-of-season position matters and while the focus has rightfully been on the battle for first, this year’s midfield scrap is as competitive as ever.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Singapore Grand Prix Preview: Oscar Piastri Eyes Continued Dominance.