The Singapore Grand Prix 2019 was the 15th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on September 22nd.

Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.

Final results

1
2
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:58:33.667
Finished
2
1
LEC
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
+2.641
Finished
3
1
VER
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+3.821
Finished
4
2
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
+4.608
Finished
5
-
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
+6.119
Finished
6
-
ALB
Alexander Albon
Red Bull
+11.663
Finished
7
2
NOR
Lando Norris
McLaren
+14.769
Finished
8
3
GAS
Pierre Gasly
Toro Rosso
+15.547
Finished
9
1
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Renault
+16.718
Finished
10
-
GIO
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo
+27.855
Finished
11
6
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Haas F1 Team
+35.436
Finished
12
5
SAI
Carlos Sainz
McLaren
+35.974
Finished
13
3
STR
Lance Stroll
Racing Point
+36.419
Finished
14
6
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Renault
+37.660
Finished
15
1
KVY
Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso
+38.178
Finished
16
3
KUB
Robert Kubica
Williams
+47.024
Finished
17
4
MAG
Kevin Magnussen
Haas F1 Team
+1:26.522
Finished
18
6
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Alfa Romeo
Collision
19
4
PER
Sergio Pérez
Racing Point
Engine
20
2
RUS
George Russell
Williams
Collision
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
HUL
RUS
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
KVY
13
PER
14
15
RAI
16
17
18
MAG
19
VET
VER
20
LEC
NOR
ALB
21
KUB
22
BOT
23
GRO
24
25
26
HAM
27
28
29
30
31
STR
32
GAS
33
34
RIC
GIO
35
GRO
SAI
36
HUL
KVY
GIO
37
38
39
40
41
STR
42
43
44
KUB
STR
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
MAG
57
58
59
60
61

There were a total of 28 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 18-23: 9 stops
  • Laps 34-36: 7 stops

The fastest pit stop was Alexander Albon's, stopping the clock at 28.606 seconds during his pit stop on lap 20, while the slowest one was was Romain Grosjean's, who stopped the clock at 43.576 seconds, 14.970 seconds slower than Albon, during his pit stop on lap 35.

These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.

Strategy

We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only 6 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.

The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.

1 stop

  • 2
    George Russell
  • 4
    Sergio Pérez
  • 6
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • 2
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 1
    Max Verstappen
  • 1
    Charles Leclerc
  • 2
    Lando Norris
  • -
    Alexander Albon
  • -
    Valtteri Bottas
  • 2
    Lewis Hamilton
  • 3
    Pierre Gasly
  • 6
    Daniel Ricciardo
  • 5
    Carlos Sainz

2 stops

  • 1
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • 1
    Daniil Kvyat
  • 4
    Kevin Magnussen
  • 3
    Robert Kubica
  • 6
    Romain Grosjean
  • -
    Antonio Giovinazzi

3 stops

  • 3
    Lance Stroll

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.6 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average.

This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 1 stop.

It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, Kimi Räikkönen, and George Russell, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Sergio Pérez, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 42.

Collision

  • Kimi Räikkönen
    Lap 49
  • George Russell
    Lap 34

Engine

  • Sergio Pérez
    Lap 42

Qualifying

#1
LEC
#2
HAM
#3
VET
#4
VER
#5
BOT
#6
ALB
#7
SAI
#8
HUL
#9
NOR
#10
PER
#11
GIO
#12
GAS
#13
RAI
#14
MAG
#15
KVY
#16
STR
#17
GRO
#18
RUS
#19
KUB
#20
RIC

Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.191 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:36.217. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.

Q1

  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:37.317
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:37.565
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:38.014
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:38.374
  • Max Verstappen
    1:38.540
  • Lando Norris
    1:38.606
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:38.882
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:39.001
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:39.085
  • Alexander Albon
    1:39.106
  • Antonio Giovinazzi
    1:39.272
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:39.454
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:39.909
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:39.942
  • Daniil Kvyat
    1:39.957
  • Lance Stroll
    1:39.979
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:40.277
  • George Russell
    1:40.867
  • Robert Kubica
    1:41.186

Q2

  • Charles Leclerc
    1:36.650
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:36.720
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:36.933
  • Max Verstappen
    1:37.089
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:37.142
  • Lando Norris
    1:37.572
  • Alexander Albon
    1:37.865
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:37.982
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:38.520
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.580
  • Antonio Giovinazzi
    1:38.697
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:38.699
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:38.858
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:39.650

Q3

  • Charles Leclerc
    1:36.217
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:36.408
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:36.437
  • Max Verstappen
    1:36.813
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:37.146
  • Alexander Albon
    1:37.411
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:37.818
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.264
  • Lando Norris
    1:38.329

Track evolution

Q1
-0.865
seconds faster
Q2
-0.188
seconds faster
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.