McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’, Ricciardo F1 future and more Singapore GP questions

Just seven days after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and we are back for the 18th race of the season, hosted on the streets of Singapore.

Oscar Piastri is the most recent race winner after an impressive victory in Baku while Red Bull will be wanting to claw back the championship lead from McLaren.

Five questions ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix

Can Franco Colapinto prove himself a valuable candidate for the Audi project?

The Sauber seat is one of just two yet to be decided for 2025 but a new potential candidate appears to be Williams junior and current F1 driver Franco Colapinto.

The Argentine, who made a surprise debut in Monza before a points finish in Baku, is reportedly being pushed by Williams to the Sauber team in the hope of getting him some more experience.

Sauber’s own candidates appear to be Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Gabriel Bortoleto but Colapinto may have thrown the cat amongst the pigeons.

The best thing the 21-year-old can do is put in another strong performance this weekend but Singapore takes no prisoners, especially for a driver who had not been training for its physical challenges until recently.

Can Daniel Ricciardo survive the Red Bull chop?

Another rumour on the grapevine is that Red Bull are preparing to announce their driver lineup for 2025 and there are hints that it will be Liam Lawson, not Daniel Ricciardo, in the VCARB seat.

The decision has most likely already been made but if Ricciardo were to put in the best drive of his season in Singapore then he may make the Red Bull bosses reconsider.

If that is not the case then it would at least put him in the shop window for the Sauber seat if he is desperate to stay in F1.

Red Bull arrive at a difficult track in the midst of a crisis

Even in their dominant 2023 season, Singapore was not a track that treated Red Bull well.

It was the sole venue where they failed to win and Max Verstappen could only rise to fifth (thanks to a late George Russell crash) having started 11th. In fact, Red Bull have only won here once in the past decade.

So it is just about the worst circuit for them to come to at a time when they have just been pipped to top spot in the Constructors’.

Christian Horner said Red Bull need to “attack” their rivals but at the moment, Verstappen is reaching to his gun holster and finding a banana there rather than the revolver he had last season.

A week is hardly any time in F1 so there are unlikely to be major changes to the RB20 from Baku and they may be hoping for a weekend of damage limitation ahead of some more favourable venues.

More stats ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

Can Lando Norris bounce back from a bad Baku?

Whether it was a mistake or an ill-timed yellow flag is of little importance as Lando Norris’ Q1 exit had a big impact, not just on the title race, but instead the feeling of inside the McLaren team.

With Norris having to battle his way through the grid, that left team-mate Oscar Piastri to attack and get past Leclerc for a dominant second win in F1.

All the talk has been about McLaren giving priority to Norris in his pursuit of Verstappen but all the while, Piastri has been cutting the gap between himself and his team-mate.

There are 32 points between the McLaren drivers, while Norris trails Verstappen by 59, so do McLaren stick with Plan A and go for the Constructors’? That has always looked like their most likely route to success and to do that, they want both drivers to score as many points as they can.

The competitiveness of the field means McLaren are not in the luxury of choosing who will come first in a one-two and with Piastri in red-hot form, he deserves to be allowed to go for the best result possible. Norris meanwhile will want to bounce back from a bad Baku weekend in Singapore.

Will the FIA be taking a closer look at McLaren’s rear wing?

Speaking of McLaren, there was plenty of focus on one area of their car post-Baku – the rear wing.

Cameras picked up the rear wing appearing to create a small gap at high speeds which some have claimed acts as another mini-DRS, even when their drivers have not pushed the button.

This would not be F1 if the other nine teams did not complain about it and no doubt McLaren’s fiercest rivals will have been requesting the FIA take a closer look at the rear wing of the MCL38.

That may come first this weekend so keep an eye out for any extra FIA cameras or scrutineers in action.

It is definitely worth saying, at this stage, there is no indication whatsoever that McLaren are breaking any rules and regulations – but expect the conversation to continue this weekend.

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