Here’s a breakdown of the last 14 races of the 2022 Formula 1 calendar before we witness the Singapore Grand Prix.

Photos: Formula 1

SINGAPORE

It’s been two years since the Formula 1 festivities came to Singapore (owing to the COVID-19 pandemic) but the race is finally returning to the Marina Bay Street Circuit this year. But before we get swept up with the Singapore Night Race weekend from the 30th of September to the 2nd of October, let’s look back at the championship standings thus far.

Even before the race lands in our lion city, Max “The Lion” Verstappen has racked up a significant points advantage for himself, taking pole for 9 out of the 14 races post the Belgian Grand Prix.

Currently, he leads the F1 driver’s championship with 284 points, beating out his fellow Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez’s 191 points and the WDC second runner-up Charles Leclerc of Ferrari – who has 186 points.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has had some rough luck with the Mercedes-AMG W13 E Performance race car for the 2023 season. Wrought with porpoising issues and an overall lack of pace (which we’ll no doubt hear about in the next season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive). He is currently out of the top 5 drivers in the WDC with just 146 points, trailing behind teammate George Russell who stands 5th in the championship with 170 points.

At present, Red Bull leads the constructor’s championship with 475 points. Running in second is the Ferrari F1 team with 357 points, followed by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team with 317 points. It’s a far cry from the dominant Mercedes team that we’ve grown accustomed to – who have won the last 7 world driver’s championships.

Thankfully, the team seems to have sorted out their issues with the W13 car and has shown more consistent performance with fewer retirements than Ferrari (two from Mercedes versus seven from Ferrari).

In other news, Audi has announced their intention to enter Formula 1 in 2026, Daniel Ricciardo is being shunned from McLaren in favour of Aussie rookie Oscar Piastri – the latter of whom has publicly rejected the seat at Alpine. Alfa Romeo has also announced that the team will leave the sport at the end of the 2203 season.

Fernando Alonso has also announced that he will be leaving the ALpine F1 team and joining the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 team next year on a multi-year contract. With Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at Aston Martin, that brings us to the saddest news of all – Sebastian Vettel is retiring from F1. The German four-time world champion’s seat will be taken over by the Spanish two-time world champion for the 2023 season.

TL;DR – Max is leading the WDC by miles, Alpine has one vacant seat, the future of Alfa Romeo post-2023 is up in the air and this will be the last time Sebastian Vettel races in the Singapore GP.

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