Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix Prediction: Second pole in a row for Sainz, a shock for Verstappen!

After last weekend we had the track known as the temple of speed, this time we have the Marina Bay track, known as the street track where the night race will be held. Marina Bay will be the scene of a new fight for victory, podiums, points. According to their statements, the teams and drivers are ready for the challenges that this race will bring. However, there will be some changes in Singapore. The first of these is the new technical directive that the FIA has prepared for teams to put an end to flexible wings, both front and rear, and the governing body is asking all teams to have a clear understanding of the limits to which they can go. On the other hand, the Marina Bay track has undergone major changes. The circuit has been shortened, and in the places where there were turns there is now a straight line, which is about 400 meters long, which should bring more opportunities for overtaking. As for the expectations for the race weekend in Singapore, Red Bull has won all the victories in the past 14 weekends, so here they are also the first candidates for the top step of the podium.

And the qualifications did not disappoint, with the biggest shock of the season thus far in the form of the elimination of both Red Bulls in the second qualifying round! In the end, the pole position was won by Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari, ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and another Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in third place. Sainz was 0.072 seconds faster than Russell and 0.079 seconds faster than Leclerc! An excellent fourth was Lando Norris in McLaren ahead of former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes in fifth place. They had a fantastic day at Haas, Kevin Magnussen took sixth place in qualifying ahead of seventh Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin. Eighth was Alpine's Esteban Ocon, and Nico Hulkenberg in Haas in ninth and the excellent Liam Lawson in AlphaTauri must be satisfied with the results in the top ten.

The FIA is introducing announced new measures from this week's Singapore Grand Prix aimed at stopping teams "playing tricks" with flexible wings. While it's unclear how much of an impact the changes will have on each individual team, the sport's top people aren't exactly holding out for dramatic changes in the pecking order. Aston Martin has already had to give up its aggressive wing flex this season, and Mercedes' Toto Wolff is intrigued by the effect of the new rules, Williams performance boss Dave Robson said the requirement is likely to trigger extra work on all teams' cars, and he also hopes to have some influence on the teams ahead of them in the standings.

After the race in Italy, Ferrari showed that they really found the speed and maybe finally can enter into a race to win it or at least finish in the top 3. Both Mercedes looked fine during the practices and qualifications and with a little bit of luck Russel and Hamilton can also fight for a place on the podium. With the new changes, the track is much faster and with more opportunities for overtaking. Ferrari is looking really good all weekend and it won’t be a surprise if we see both drivers on the podium.

OUR PREDICTION: Charles Leclerc podium finish