Date: 17/09/2023
Venue: Marina Bay Street Circuit
Max Verstappen must overcome a Marina Bay Street Circuit hoodoo to extend his winning sequence and justify being 1/4 in the Singapore Grand Prix odds.
The Red Bull ace set a new record of 10 straight Formula One victories when prevailing at the Italian Grand Prix but has never triumphed at this event.
His form figures read 8-6-DNF-2-3-7, although circumstances have gone against him during a dominant last few years.
This race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic and Verstappen had to abandon his final qualifying lap last year after running short of fuel.
Having been in contention for pole position, the flying Dutchman was forced to start from eighth on the grid and dropped back to 12th place on lap one.
However, Verstappen did lock up when trying to overtake Lando Norris at one point, highlighting how this tricky street circuit can cause any driver problems.
For those looking for a value alternative in their Singapore Grand Prix predictions, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez is an obvious option at 9/1.
The Mexican suffered a dip in form after impressing early on this season, when successful in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
However, he has chased home the imperious Verstappen twice in the last three races and now returns to the scene of last year’s triumph.
After being second fastest in qualifying, Perez flew past Charles Leclerc into turn one 12 months ago and went on to claim victory despite a five-second penalty.
Red Bull chief Christian Horner is wary of maintaining his team’s perfect record this term at what he describes as one of the toughest races on the calendar, though.
Horner said: “We saw last year how perilous it can be. We’ll just do our best to keep this momentum running.
“One day we’re going to get beaten. That’s inevitable, guaranteed. It’s just a question of when and we’ve just got to make the ‘when’ as far away as we can.”
Ferrari performed well here in 2022, with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both getting on the podium, and they are 33/1 and 28/1 respectively this time.
The Italian outfit also enjoyed a good weekend on home turf at Monza last time out, but street circuits have proved troublesome for them this season.
Mercedes could be the team to watch in terms of Singapore Grand Prix betting tips, with Lewis Hamilton 16/1 and George Russell 25/1.
Hamilton has performed especially well on similar circuits and hopes are high for a bold showing at Marina Bay.
Toto Wolff commented: “The next race is Singapore, so back to high downforce and coming towards our direction a little bit more. It will be important for us to maximise that opportunity when it comes.”
Russell added: “I’m looking forward to heading to Singapore next. We were competitive there last year and I think that our car will be better suited to that circuit, so hopefully we can fight a bit closer to the front.”
Past Singapore GP winners
2022 Perez (Red Bull), Leclerc (Ferrari), Sainz (Ferrari)
2019 Vettel (Ferrari), Leclerc (Ferrari), Verstappen (Red Bull)
2018 Hamilton (Mercedes), Verstappen (Red Bull), Vettel (Ferrari)
2017 Hamilton (Mercedes), Ricciardo (Red Bull), Bottas (Mercedes)
2016 Rosberg (Mercedes), Ricciardo (Red Bull), Hamilton (Mercedes)
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