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🇸🇬 F1'22: R17 - The mixiest of bags

Aston Martin were objectively bad at the start of the season. Without their results being too spectacular, they're in the running for sixth overall somehow.

In the first race under the lights in Singapore since the Before Times in 2019, the vast differences between teams and drivers up and down the grid around halfway through the race gave the Grand Prix in Marina Bay some intrigue. 

Well, that and the downpour. 

Around lap 35, Yuki Tsunoda careered into the barriers, causing a flurry of pit stops under the safety car. Rewind around a dozen or so laps back and George Russell rolled the dice, fitting a set of mediums when the track was not completely dry, contorting himself around the Marina Bay circuit. 

This street circuit was initially included in the next Call of Duty game (although it seems to have been purged from the game), so it was maybe a bit fitting that this was an attritional race with several drivers either blowing out their power units or getting acquainted with the barriers.

Of the six drivers who took their place for their first Formula 1 race in Singapore, only Mick Schumacher saw the chequered flag, and was perhaps unlucky not to take a point after a collision with Russell which put them both out of serious contention. 

In the midfield, it was an incredible day for McLaren, with both Alpines suffering failures and Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo capitalising with a fourth and fifth respectively, throwing them four points above Alpine, before the great driver shuffle happens at the end of the season. 

But I wanted to look at the other team in the driver roulette, and the one that started the whole chain reaction, especially after how plain bad they were at the start of 2022. Aston Martin have recovered brilliantly from an opening pair of flyaway races where they badly stunk out the place.

Here’s a quote from the blog I wrote after the Melbourne race: 

“With the number of crashes they’ve had this season, there is a large repair bill waiting for the Silverstone-based team when they return home, as well as already handing a three-race head start to their rivals. 

“While this isn’t a written-off season for them yet, and the aim is to contend on a long-term basis, a season of pain in the Constructors’ Championship gives you less money to build upon the foundations already put together. This team are in the basement, but they have all the tools to fight upwards.”


Well, if I was anyone in Formula 1, I’d be wearing egg on my face from the way the team have recovered and scrabbled together a collection of points finishes, often stealing the final available point through Lance Stroll. Obviously no team aims to compete in F1 with the aim of finishing tenth, but - someone nudge Lewis Hamilton - it does give you a point and Aston Martin have got there seven times this season. 

In fact, no one in the bottom five constructors has as many top-10 finishes this season with 13. Those 13 points finishes have been enough for them to jump both Alpha Tauri and Haas into seventh. Realistically, they've got a badly-stalling Alfa Romeo in their sights as they could realistically finish top of the bottom half - one place above what they did in 2021. 

With that finish comes extra prize money, extra prestige, extra momentum, extra everything and they’ll also have Fernando Alonso in their ranks. Whether Alonso will be content to finish between 8th and 10th in the majority of races remains to be seen, but it’s interesting to look at the turnaround this season.

The rear wing upgrades the team have bought was not the only controversial change Aston Martin have made this season, their B-spec car being introduced in Barcelona. While they've got 10 of their top-10 finishes since the Spanish GP, it hasn't come without bad feeling in some quarters.

Then there’s also Sebastian Vettel. The four-time world champion started the season late, and then did a couple of stunts around races that had a few in the F1 paddock speculating that he would be calling it a day after this season. They were right, and now Vettel is on his final world tour. 

  
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There’s a quiet race for 11th the drivers’ championship, and Vettel (but probably Daniel Ricciardo) might be the favourite for it. He was unlucky to be overtaken by Max Verstappen towards the end, but with the three-car battle with Hamilton, seeing 12 world championships between the trio scrambling for a handful of points shows just how important even a couple of points can be.

While Aston Martin continue to make steady, unspectacular progress in Formula 1, they’re not drawing many headlines. There aren’t flashy podiums or pole positions coming in - hell, there aren’t even many spectacular overtakes. But there is a lot of hard work on and off track that is helping them move forward at a quicker pace than their rivals. 

The circus moves on to a back-to-back with another returning race with Suzuka in Japan - a real favourite of the drivers with its sweeping curves. The title has been won there before, and it’s still when - rather than if - Max Verstappen will win his second world title. On paper, it looks like Leclerc pulled back 12 points on his rival, but really, this race was about resilience, and Verstappen, Aston Martin and McLaren had it in buckets. 

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