3 shocking moments from F1 Singapore GP

A 100% safety car record lines the upcoming Formula 1 race in Singapore, increasing the probability of an interesting race this weekend – as it has done many times before. 

The Singapore Grand Prix is one in which many teams and drivers expect, and predict, a safety car to appear at least once, to add some additional spice into the race. 

From loose fuel pipes, Ferrari sandwiches, controversies to an incredible qualifying lap, the Marina Bay Street Circuit has seen it all. 

Due to its tight and claustrophobic nature, where the walls can be millimetres from the Pirelli rubber, what have been the most shocking moments from the Singapore GP?

1. Felipe Massa’s fuel rig (2008)

Ahead of the inaugural Singapore’s night race – the first of its kind at the time, Ferrari’s championship contender, Felipe Massa, started on pole position alongside his title-rival, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. 

For most of the first stint, Massa commanded the lead of the race out in front. However, after Renault’s Fernando Alonso pitted on lap 12, on the alternate strategy, the Spaniard’s teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed out in an area of the track which forced race control to deploy the safety car.   

During a time where, if the safety car was brought out, the pit lane was automatically closed, the pack was forced to bunch up. By the time the pit lane reopened, the teams were forced to double stack. Ferrari was one of the teams to do so, Massa was the first into the pit lane for the iconic Italian outfit. 

With new tyres, and a splash of fuel, Massa was given the green light to get back out on track. But as the Brazilian bolted away from his pit box, he took his fuel rig with him. Massa stopped at the end of the pit lane, followed by a running pack of Ferrari mechanics, who managed to dislodge the rig from his fuel tank.

By the end of the season, the pit lane incident looked to prove costly to Massa’s championship hopes as the Brazilian lost the drivers title, to Hamilton, by a single point.

2. Max Verstappen’s Ferrari sandwich (2017)

In fairly damp conditions, Verstappen lined up in second on the grid, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and alongside the Iceman’s German teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who was on pole. 

As the lights went out Vettel and Verstappen got a fairly even start but the trouble came after Raikkonen got the better start of the two. When the trio raced down into turn one, the Red Bull driver found himself as the meat in a Ferrari sandwich. 

Contact was inevitably made between the three drivers and carnage quickly ensued.

Verstappen slowed down after the contact as Raikkonen slid across the pit exit with terminal suspension damage. The Finnish driver failed to slow down enough to as he headed his way towards the first corner which resulted in another collision between Raikkonen and Verstappen, as the Finn slid into the side of the Red Bull.

The resulting contact pushed both drivers into the side of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who tried his best to make it through the first corner. All three were forced to retire from the race on the run-off area, at turn one.

Vettel soon retired from the race, in the following corners after the German started leaking fluids across the circuit.

3. Felipe Massa’s sliding overtake (2012)

After Michael Schumacher’s scary shunt into the rear of Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne, in the latter stages of the 2012 Singapore GP, Massa nearly binned his car into the wall in his fight with Williams’ Bruno Senna.

Once the race had gotten back underway, when the safety car peeled back into the pit lane after the Schumacher/Vergne crash, Massa continued his charge towards the front but had to contend with Senna, in ninth-place.

As the two battled through the second sector around the Singapore Sling and towards Anderson Bridge, Senna squeezed Massa to the inside wall at the hairpin at turn 13. This caused the Ferrari driver to temporarily lose control of his rear tyres, under braking.

Despite the temporary loss of control, Massa managed to hit a very early apex and still pass the Williams on the exit.

By the end of the race, Massa finished the race in eighth from a 13th-place start on the grid.

That’s it for the article: 3 shocking moments from F1 Singapore GP! What do you think, were there any other shocking moments from previous Singapore GP races? Let us know in the comments!

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.