Drama, controversy and a stunning F1 pole lap: the Singapore Grand Prix's best moments

So much more than just another Monaco at night, the Singapore Grand Prix’s Marina Bay circuit has become one of Formula 1‘s most entertaining tracks.

Introduced back in 2008, the new street race was scheduled for the evening so it would land at a sensible time for European TV audiences, and it’s seen more than its fair share of dramatic events and controversies ever since.

Although it looks glamorous under the city state’s lights, Singapore GP is one of the toughest races on the calendar.

The humidity is relentless like Malaysia, the race regularly runs close to the two-hour limit – and the technical nature of the circuit means it often produces multiple safety cars.

Throw in the fact that it comes late enough in the season to have a strong impact on the title fight, and it’s easy to see why Singapore has become a modern classic.

When the lights go out this weekend, it’ll be the 17th race hosted at Marina Bay, and the first to come with a sprint.

Here you’ll find the moments that stick out from the Singapore GPs so far: from the scandal at the very first night race to last year’s Papaya meltdown.

2008 – Renault’s crashgate win

Singapore’s first grand prix in 2008 should have been remembered as the sport’s first night race – but it’s now also remembered for one of F1’s biggest scandals.

Fernando Alonso had qualified 15th after an engine problem but had the pace to run at the front, so Renault came up with an underhand plan to put him there, starting him light on fuel and pitting him much earlier than anyone else.

Then, with perfect timing, his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr crashed into the wall two laps later, bringing out the safety car which, that season, closed the pitlane. The pack closed up behind the safety car and, when the pitlane reopened, the rest of the grid had to stop for fuel and tyres, launching Alonso into the lead.

Felipe Massa – fighting Lewis Hamilton for the title – had taken pole and was controlling the race when the safety car allowed him to pit, but what should have been routine turned disastrous.

Ferrari’s relatively new traffic-light system – designed to speed up pitstops – told Massa to go with the fuel hose still attached, and he dragged it down the pitlane, knocking over a mechanic on the way. He stopped had to wait for his crew to run down and pull it off. Massa finished outside the points, while Alonso won.

The race was eventful enough, but the truth emerged a year or so later when Piquet – now dropped by Renault – told the FIA the crash had been planned. Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds left the team and were both handed bans, which were later overturned by a French court.

Hamilton won the 2008 title by a single point, and Massa is still pursuing damages in the High Court in London – arguing that the scandal cost him the championship – but a judge has already ruled that the court cannot rewrite the result itself.

2012 – McLaren lets down Hamilton

In 2012, Lewis Hamilton arrived second in the world championship, having won two of the previous three races and took pole by a decent margin. For a while it looked like a routine victory, with Hamilton leading from the start and clear of Sebastian Vettel.

But then the McLaren’s gearbox failed. Vettel inherited the lead and held it, going on to win the race. It dealt a huge blow to Hamilton’s title hopes, with the Englishman saying he would now need to win all six remaining races to stand a chance.

However, Hamilton’s future at McLaren had been the talk of the paddock all weekend, and five days after the race Mercedes announced it had signed him on a three-year deal from 2013 – replacing Michael Schumacher.

2013 – Total Red Bull domination

Red Bull came to Singapore in 2013 at the peak of its domination.

Sebastian Vettel had won the previous two Singapore Grands Prix – and arrived at the Marina Bay circuit chasing his fourth straight title. Vettel took the lead early on, and not even a safety car could faze the then three-time world champion.

Red Bull told him to build a big enough gap to make his final stop without losing the lead, and he obliged – lapping some two seconds faster than any other car after the restart.

The stats tell the story: Vettel took pole, led every lap, set the fastest lap and won by a huge 32.6 seconds, making the Singapore GP the third grand slam of his career.

2015 – Vettel grabs a win for Ferrari

Two years later, Vettel returned to produce another classic performance – but this time for Ferrari. Mercedes won 16 of the 19 races in 2015, but the Silver Arrows simply couldn’t get their tyres working around Marina Bay, and neither car qualified higher than fifth.

That meant Vettel, in his first season at Ferrari, started on pole. The German controlled the race from then on, but later in the race reported a man on the track – prompting a safety car.

As in 2013, Vettel kept his cool at the restart and won by 1.4 seconds from Ricciardo, with Kimi Räikkönen third. It was Vettel’s fourth Singapore win and his third of the season for Ferrari.

2017 – First corner pile-up

After three years of Mercedes domination in the hybrid era, Ferrari arrived in 2017 with a car that could fight with the Silver Arrows – and Singapore looked like the place to take some points.

Mercedes struggled around Marina Bay again, so Vettel took pole while Hamilton could only qualify fifth. Add in the fact that Vettel began the race just three points behind in the championship, and a swing back to Maranello looked likely.

However, there was a twist before the first corner: Räikkönen made a lightning getaway from fourth, Vettel moved across to cover a charging Verstappen, and the Red Bull ended up squeezed between the two Ferraris – with the three of them making contact before Turn 1.

Räikkönen and Verstappen had to retire there and then, while Vettel ended up facing the wrong way just a few corners later, with a badly damaged car.

Vettel’s title rival Hamilton had taken the outside line through the chaos – and somehow came out of it in the lead. He managed the race to leave with a 28-point championship lead, and clinched his fourth title four races later in Mexico.

2018 – Hamilton’s best pole lap, ever?

Lewis Hamilton has over 100 pole positions, but his lap at Singapore in 2018 may be one of the best.

Hamilton arrived with a 30-point lead over Vettel, but Mercedes weren’t expected to have the pace around the Marina Bay circuit.

With that in mind, Ferrari were poised to take points, while the Mercedes driver was focused on damage limitation.

However, Hamilton then produced a qualifying lap that many still rate as one of the best of his career, putting the Mercedes on pole by more than three tenths from Verstappen.

Vettel’s Ferrari ended up only third. Hamilton then turned pole into a win the next day, beating Verstappen and Vettel and stretching his championship lead.

2019 – Ferrari’s undercut row

Ferrari arrived in Singapore in 2019 having won the previous two races with its dubious rocketship engine, and this time Charles Leclerc took pole and led – albeit at a slow pace.

His plan? Deliberately keep the pace slow to bunch the field up. Without any gaps in the field to drop back into, it deterred frontrunners from pitting early for fresh tyres, and to leapfrog the Ferrari when it pitted – the undercut is powerful at Singapore.

His plan might have worked, but Ferrari brought Vettel – running third – in first, and his pace on fresh tyres was enough to put him ahead of Leclerc after the stops.

Leclerc told the team over the radio that he didn’t think it was fair. Vettel won his first race in over a year, with Leclerc second.

2023 – Ferrari breaks Red Bull streak

2023 was another season of Red Bull dominance, and by the time F1 reached Singapore the team had won 15 races in a row – including the last one of 2022. However, a tricky qualifying for the Milton Keynes team saw both Red Bulls knocked out in Q2, and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari on pole.

Sainz led from the start, but a virtual safety car allowed the Mercedes cars to stop for fresh medium tyres and charge back through the field. Sainz knew his worn hards wouldn’t hold them off on their own, so he backed off just enough to keep Lando Norris within a second of him – giving the McLaren DRS to defend second and protect him in the process. It’s a strategy drivers still cite today.

In 2023, it worked, sort of. Russell, while crawling all over the back of Norris, had a lapse of concentration and clipped the wall on the final lap. He crashed out, handing Hamilton third and allowing Sainz to win by eight-tenths.

2024 – Ricciardo helps out Red Bull

The point for fastest lap has gone now, but that’s partly because it invited so much controversy. At the front, Norris won the 2024 race by 20.9 seconds despite brushing the wall twice, and cut Verstappen’s championship lead to 52 points. The controversy was further back.

Daniel Ricciardo was widely expected to lose his RB seat and he was running last when his team brought him in for soft tyres with three laps to go. It seemed odd at the time, until he then set the fastest lap of the race, taking it away from Norris.

He didn’t get any benefit himself, because the bonus point only went to the driver with the fastest lap if they finished in the top ten – Ricciardo was 18th, so nobody got it.

2025 – Papaya rules are put to the test

Last year, McLaren arrived in Singapore needing only a few points to wrap up the constructors’ title, and at that point in the year Oscar Piastri still led Norris in the drivers’ standings.

George Russell put his Mercedes on pole and led into Turn 1, but behind him Norris and Piastri banged wheels after a strong move from the former. Piastri was furious on the radio, saying it wasn’t fair, and the team told him they would discuss it after the race rather than order a swap. The stewards decided there was nothing to investigate, either.

Russell won by more than five seconds from Verstappen, with Norris third and Piastri fourth – enough to secure McLaren’s second constructors’ title in a row. While the team was happy, it was another flashpoint between Piastri and Norris that year.

At the last race, it was Lando Norris – not Oscar Piastri – who took the drivers’ title.