By Lorcan Read.

As we enter the run-up to the Singaporean Grand Prix, where last year the giants of Red Bull were finally felled by the prancing horse of Ferrari, it is an apt time to look back on the season so far. F1 went racing in Bahrain on 2nd March. And away we go! Red Bull exploded into the front, with Verstappen claiming both pole and the race win, his teammate Perez picking up second. The Bulls dominated the competition for the next five races, picking up a win in each one bar Australia, where the smooth operator Carlos Sainz collected his third career win. But there was a sleeping giant ready and waiting to take the fight to Red Bull for the rest of the season. McLaren Racing, who had been so quick in the back end of last year, brought one of the largest upgrade packages of the year to the Miami GP. And it worked. After an uninspiring qualifying of 5th and 6th for the Papaya Team, a lucky safety car gifted Lando Norris the lead from Verstappen, culminating in Lando Norris taking his first race in a fairytale win.

While ‘Mad Max’s incredible talent in the Red Bull, together with mistakes from McLaren and Norris, allowed Max to pick up wins in Emilia Romagna, Spain, and Canada. However, the weakness of the Red Bull in curb riding meant the Red Bulls were far off the pace in Monaco. The honour of being crowned Winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, arguably the most iconic race on the calendar, was won by one of their own. The Prince of Monaco himself, Charles Leclerc, finally broke his curse. Qualifying in Pole Position in the most important qualifying of the year, no issues faced the Monegasque native in the race, leading home the yellow and green McLaren, in honour of Ayrton Senna, of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz. Austria, ironically the home race of the Goliath Red Bull, marked the beginning of the end of their dominant period. Being pushed by the McLaren of Lando Norris, the two cars came together in a controversial incident still debated by fans to this day, with Russell picking up the win. But the next race of the calendar was not about Red Bull or McLaren, but instead about Mercedes and another historic win in the history books. Lewis Hamilton. Seven-time world champion. Hamilton fought off mistake-ridden McLaren to win a record-breaking 9th Silverstone victory. Special mention must go to Nico Hülkenberg, taking 6th in both Silverstone and Austria in a midfield Haas.

Controversy marred the next few races, with controversial team orders casting a long shadow over Oscar Piastri’s first win for McLaren and a McLaren 1-2, as he overtook Norris in the last few laps after pleading from the race engineers. This controversy followed F1 to Spa, where George Russell seemed to claim a brilliant race win before being disqualified for being underweight, meaning the win went to Lewis Hamilton. Norris showed the true dominance of the McLaren in the Netherlands, bringing the fight to Verstappen in his own house, winning by 22 seconds. He wins in Monaco; he wins in Monza! Mistakes from the McLaren allowed Leclerc to claim another brilliant race win in Monza, with Piastri delivering a wonderful drive to take his second race win in Azerbaijan. This takes us up to today. What will happen in the rest of the season? Will McLaren hold on to the Constructors’ Championship? Will Verstappen hold his Drivers’ Championship? Tune in this week in Singapore.