The Singapore Grand Prix 2022 was the 17th round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, during the weekend of September 30th to October 2nd.
Sergio Pérez won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, and Carlos Sainz completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 21 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 33-36: 15 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 29.407 seconds during his pit stop on lap 35, while the slowest one was was Lewis Hamilton's, who stopped the clock at 41.019 seconds, 11.612 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 34.
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 3 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Sergio Pérez, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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4Valtteri Bottas
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3Pierre Gasly
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5Yuki Tsunoda
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6Lewis Hamilton
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5Sebastian Vettel
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1Charles Leclerc
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1Sergio Pérez
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1Carlos Sainz
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5Lance Stroll
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11Daniel Ricciardo
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2Lando Norris
2 stops
-
3Kevin Magnussen
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1Mick Schumacher
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1Max Verstappen
4 stops
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14George Russell
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.9 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 14 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
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 were some incidents during the race, with 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Yuki Tsunoda, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 34, Esteban Ocon, and Fernando Alonso, both suffered an engine malfunction, Alexander Albon, and Nicholas Latifi, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Guanyu Zhou, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 6.
Accident
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Yuki TsunodaLap 34
Engine
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Esteban OconLap 26
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Fernando AlonsoLap 20
Collision damage
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Alexander AlbonLap 25
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Nicholas LatifiLap 7
Collision
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Guanyu ZhouLap 6
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.022 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:49.412. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sergio Pérez.
Track evolution
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 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.