2024 Singapore GP Qualifying Update & Tips – JP
2024 Singapore GP Qualifying Preview
James Punt has already posted his outright preview, read that here. Check out his 2024 Singapore GP qualifying update and tips below.
2024 Singapore GP Qualifying
The three practice sessions have finished and it has left a confusing picture. Yesterday was all about Norris and Leclerc, the rest well off their pace.
Overnight, the teams all made changes to the cars set up, and the torrential downpours washed the track clean. The result was that Norris got even faster, Mercedes got closer to the pace and Ferrari have taken a wrong turn and are right off the pace.
We have seen a lot of very close sessions this season, but today Norris was nearly half a second faster than Russell in second place and around a second faster than the Ferraris. On the face of it, we can just give the pole to Norris and crack on with the race tomorrow. It is all a bit odd. Yes, the track can change when it gets washed clean, but Norris was in a different formula today.
Finalise Setups
We have a couple of hours for the teams to finalise their setups. Some may back track to yesterday’s setup, but that smacks of desperation. The track conditions will change somewhat between FP3 and qualifying but not massively, and we are talking about Norris being massively faster.
We have backed Leclerc for pole and that looked a good bet yesterday, but they have seriously dropped the ball somewhere. Leclerc was complaining that the team had sent him out to scrub the soft tyres and he never did a flying lap on brand new tyres. He said that just killed the grip. Maybe if they go back to their normal procedures he will discover more grip, but it is hard to fancy anyone but Norris now.
Piastri has the same car, but he has been consistently slower than Norris all weekend. Russell was second fastest but the Mercedes looked a real handful. Toto Wolff does not expect their car to be on the front row, and he too was confused as to the change in the pecking order overnight.
Norris is now a 1.67 shot, which could be a steal if what happened in FP3 carries through.
I think we have lost this one, but when something looks a bit strange, it is not a good idea to be getting stuck in, trying to chase the losses. I will leave fastest qualifier alone today.
Match Bet
We had a couple of belting match bets last weekend. Perez to outqualify Verstappen and Colapinto to out qualify Albon. You can only back Perez to beat Max on one track, and that is at Baku. Normal service is now resumed with Perez nearly a second off Verstappen and looking like reaching Q2 is not a given.
Colapinto, on the other hand, is keeping very close to Albon, despite this being his first visit to the track. The gap between the two was just 0.040s in FP3 and I will have another go with Colapinto.
