Oh, Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2024. You were a remarkable race this season, but for utterly different reasons. This is the one race on the grid you’d expect the most drama out of – insane battles, close calls and collisions, and shocking podiums. Being one of the toughest circuits on the grid, it usually promises a happening race. However, this one was, unfortunately, terribly boring. But the end of the race did result in a shocking goodbye for one of the most skilled drivers on the grid. On second thought, maybe the Singapore Grand Prix 2024 didn’t disappoint after all!
As we head into another weekend of racing action, this time in Austin, USA, from 18 to 20 October, let’s look back at a race that edged us all the way till McLaren’s Lando Norris crossed the checkered flag and took his first-ever victory in Singapore. But it edged us not in the way you think. Till the very end, we were hoping for something bombastic to go down. Something that would change the trajectory of the race. But nothing came. I fear this might have been one of the most uneventful on-track racing this season.
You see, this season has been one for the books with the heart-attack-inducing battles and racing we’ve seen. And if not that, then how about the historic Singapore Grand Prix 2023? Last year, we saw Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz do the unthinkable and snatch a win from Red Bull in a season they’d dominated. How dare we forget Sainz’s incredible strategy that shaped the podium last year? And as a Mercedes fan, something I’d truly like to forget is George Russell’s gut-wrenching DNF that ended in the barriers in the final lap. You see what I mean? The magic of Formula 1!
However, this year, I watched the race with my very own eyes, sitting at the Turn 1 Grandstand in the earnest hope of catching something going wrong in a red zone of every Singapore Grand Prix, or in Norris’ case, the turn where he usually slips up despite starting in pole from a fantastic qualifying. But I was dismayed. I’ll always wish for safe racing, but, shockingly, this was the first Singapore Grand Prix in history where a safety car was not deployed at all throughout the race. A safety car is usually all it takes for a lacklustre race to rise from the trenches.
Watching the race in real-time meant watching the gap between race leader Norris and the supremely skilled driver (oh, and reigning World Champion) hot on his tail, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, widening with every lap. The rocketship prowess in the Red Bull last year has now transferred to McLaren, and it’s heartening to see Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri, learning to maximise its potential for wins. They’ve been doing so well that, for the first time since 2014, McLaren is leading the Constructors’ Championship, and we might just see a McLaren driver being crowned World Champion!
As a writer and Formula 1 fan, I could not be more thrilled for a race well-dominated by Norris from the very first lap. But as a Mercedes fan, seeing our eight-time-world champion, Lewis Hamilton, falling through the ranks after probably his best qualifying of the season had me losing my smile with every lap. A bad decision to start on the soft tyres in a bid to get ahead proved costly for the team, as we saw Hamilton finish P6 despite starting in a powerful P3.
You see, qualifying in Singapore is crucial. Unless something extremely unprecedented goes down, the top three you see at the end of qualifying usually end up being the top three in the final race. Seeing Verstappen and Hamilton in P2 and P3, respectively, at the end of qualifying, Formula 1 fans were quaking: “Could we see a rerun of the Verstappen-Hamilton rivalry on our very streets? Could Verstappen and his fresh rivalry with Norris spell trouble for the polesitter?” However, McLaren was too fast, Red Bull is just flailing nowadays, and Hamilton’s tyres were not it.
Nonetheless, can we hear some commotion for our latest rookie on the grid, who raced alongside Alex Albon in that Williams? Ladies and gentlemen, Franco Colapinto! Replacing Logan Sargeant, Colapinto has outdone himself in his second Formula 1 race here in Singapore, performing especially well as he finished 11th in one of the toughest races on the grid! Albon retired his car due to cooling issues, but Colapinto didn’t back down.
We may only see him for the rest of the season, with Sainz joining Albon in the shocking announcement announcing his move to Williams in 2025 (that I’m still reeling from), but what a pleasure watching such fine racing that day from this young talent! I so hope to see him with a permanent spot on the grid soon. We can’t wait for more from you, Franco Colapinto!
But with the wave of the checkered flag and a magnificent Singapore-style celebration with fireworks against our gorgeous skyline came news that we’d all seen coming but still couldn’t stomach when it did – Daniel Ricciardo’s mid-season departure from Visa Cash App Red Bull (VCARB).
In the Singapore Grand Prix 2024, Norris was fast and was trying to scrape every point he could to finally put him in the lead for the championship. But when Ricciardo got the fastest lap and won that point instead of him, he helped the current polesitter on the championship rankings, also his former teammate, Max Verstappen.
The honey badger of the grid whose smile never faded, no matter the atrocities thrown his way, might be saying goodbye to us for real this time. While we never know what the future has in store for this incredible driver who’s had a career filled with glories but also setbacks, we know all too well by now that drivers do indeed return to race. Call me hopelessly hopeful, but with Sergio Perez’s dropping performance, we never know what might happen. Nonetheless, Daniel, you’ve had an exceptional run, and it’s been an honour watching you race.
On that note, let’s formally welcome Liam Lawson to the grid, who will be racing alongside Yuki Tsunoda for VCARB starting from the Austin Grand Prix from 18 to 20 October! We saw him do a phenomenal job last year in Ricciardo’s place at the Singapore Grand Prix 2023, and we know he’s a young talent with a great future in this sport.
It will be a joy watching him grow and compete in a grid filled with world champions like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and Fernando Alonso, as well as newcomers like Colapinto this season (is our dearest Oscar Piastri still a rookie?), and Mercedes’ 2025 driver Kimi Antonelli and Haas’ Oliver Bearman (who we saw stepping in for Sainz in the Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and clinching 7th place!).
What tickets should you get for the Singapore Grand Prix 2025?
We’ve established that the 2025 grid will be fascinating to watch (especially with Hamilton racing in red for Ferrari next year!). So, you know that the Singapore Grand Prix 2025 is unmissable, right? We might be early, but here’s what our experience was like so you can start planning your time at the Marina Bay Street Circuit next year! Early bird tickets might have all flown away, but regular tickets will be hitting us, and you’ll need to be ready when they do.
So here’s what our team’s experience was like at the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2024.
First of all, I curse myself for forgetting how massive the circuit is. Zone 4 itself, which is where all the entertainment action goes down, with the Padang Stage being graced by the Grand Prix’s headliners, requires immense walking and sneaking through MRT stations as underpasses to get from one station to another. Don’t even get me started on the trek from Zone 1 to 4!
After the Drivers’ Meet-and-Greet at Zone 1 (which was obviously unmissable for me, despite a mere fleeting five to ten minutes with each team), I raced over to Zone 4 to catch BABYMONSTER performing at the Padang Stage. I’d never walked so fast in my life, yet I took 20 minutes to get there. Even though I speedwalked! And the merciless sun that never fails to make its presence known as sweat trickles down your forehead, back, and legs is just the cherry on top.
This is why you need to really think through where you’d want to stick around and what kind of access you’re looking for. Zone 4 is the closest to all the entertainment performances. This year, we saw OneRepublic, Kylie Minogue, and Lenny Kravitz headline at the Padang Stage. It’s a chill zone with semi-decent views of the racing action. The grandstands in this zone aren’t prime, however, as this zone is mostly known for the viewing platforms for walkabout ticketholders. But that’s a whole other spiel, so let’s get into it!
As for the grandstands, the Orange @ Empress Grandstand is a great option as it’s located between two little turns, which is a tricky spot that forces the drivers to slow down. This means you get a few extra milliseconds to admire your favourite drivers and their gorgeous cars. That was all I really got to explore, but upon a closer look at the map of all the grandstands, most of them are at the straights, so they might not be too happening. But the straights are also where the DRS zones are, so you might catch some battles and overtakes!
As for walkabout ticketholders, I have some bad news for you. Unfortunately, I don’t think these tickets are worth what you’re getting into when you enter the circuit. On qualifying day, the viewing platforms were fully occupied with attendees who’d queued up three hours before qualifying even began! Imagine race day!
There aren’t nearly enough platforms for the number of ticketholders there might be, which means you’ll have to find your luck in random spots along the track. But these spots might not have the televisions that screen the whole race, which means you’ll be very clueless about what’s happening, with only the occasional “ooh”s and “ahh”s from those in the grandstands who know exactly what’s going on. It pained me when Sainz crashed during qualifying, which resulted in a red flag, but we had no idea what was going on and who’d crashed.
So, you see, these tickets are not for those of you who are a Formula 1 fan and want to catch the racing action. But if you’re there for the entertainment, the walkabout tickets are the best option for you. Most importantly, for a Formula 1 fan, the Zone 4 Walkabout tickets do not give you access to Zone 1, where the Drivers’ Meet-and-Greet takes place. It lasts barely an hour on Friday and Saturday, but to see the human side of your drivers is an experience I’d catch every year, and I implore you to do so, too!
That’s where the Premier Walkabout tickets step in. With this ticket, you’re not limited to merely Zone 4, like you would with Zone 4 Walkabout tickets. You get to explore the entire circuit, every single zone, which means that you have more viewing platforms to choose from for the best vantage point, including Zone 1, where the race kicks off, etc.
You’d still have to dash to clinch a spot, but good news – there are some platforms exclusive to Premier Walkabout ticketholders. You’d still have to run to get your spot, but you’d have better odds than the regular walkabout tickets. But hey! With tickets for days 1 and 2, you’d get to attend the Drivers’ Meet-and-Greet! A win is a win.
To feel like a king and queen during the most extravagant weekend of the year, the hospitality packages might be for you. You definitely won’t see a single bead of sweat when you’re chilling in the Paddock Club or the suites, where the best views and a luxurious experience are guaranteed. In these hospitality packages, you’d be entering a whole new world that’s alien to the rest of the attendees. You’ll be in paradise, ladies and gentlemen.
But, oh, the price tag is hefty. Extremely hefty. And that’s why, before I shed tears about how it might be years (decades, even) before I might get to experience this myself, I’d like to not-so-seamlessly segue into how to choose which days to buy tickets for!
If you’re able to, I’d easily recommend a three-day pass as your first choice. It’s monetarily more worth it than purchasing single-day tickets. For a three-day pass, you’d really have to be a Formula 1 fan, which means Zone 4 Walkabout tickets are out of the count. You can purchase them once the entertainment line-up is out, which is usually released in parts, with some announced in April and some in June to July (or it could be like this year when all the performers were dropped like a bomb in July!) and decide from there.
If you’d still like to buy single-day tickets, I’d recommend getting them for Saturday for the qualifying. Fridays are slow with two Free Practice Sessions where you see the track and the drivers warming up for the big race. The grandstands and viewing platforms are significantly emptier, so you’ll get to stretch your arms a little wider and watch the vroom-vroom with more ease.
While watching the race live on Sunday with Formula 1 fans all around you is a whole new experience, one I’d recommend getting a taste of at least once, you’re missing a lot of the little details of the race due to your limited view that you can only watch on screens like overtakes, collisions and crashes, on-board views, and more. Though the whole race is screened on the television monitors all around the circuit, the surrounding noise makes it tough to catch little things like radio communication, which can give you a lot of insight into the race sometimes.
As for Saturday, qualifying doesn’t require the same macroscopic view that watching the race on the screens gives you, so wherever you’re situated, you’ll still get a great view and an enjoyable experience rooting for your favourites. And it’s still a crucial part of the weekend, so you’re not missing the action. It’s the perfect balance!
As for the grandstands, the ones closest to the pits – Pit Entry Grandstand, Orange @ Pit Grandstand, Super Pit Grandstand – will promise you a lot more face-time with the drivers and the pit action. You also get to see the start of the Grand Prix, as well as the race winner passing the checkered flag! The Turn 1 Grandstand, which is where I was, was also a great view to watch drivers setting off and the overtake attempts at Turn 1, which is a notorious spot for the Singapore Grand Prix and across all Grand Prix.
With that, you might now have a clearer idea before the battle for the tickets for the Singapore Grand Prix 2025 officially begins. We have a whole year ahead of us till the drivers return to our shores for more historic racing (we’ve even yet to see the end of this season!), but, for some reason, the anticipation for ticketing is awfully reminiscent of the ticketing bloodbaths we’ve experienced for concerts. With how fast early-bird tickets flew off, I fear securing the regular tickets (which are only getting more expensive every year) will be a fight for our lives.
The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2024 was something. It made history, but for the strangest reasons – being the first Singapore Grand Prix since its beginning in 2008 to have no safety car deployed. Nonetheless, it was an incredible experience being there, and the energy in the air just as they say – electric. I’d do it all over again, and I hope you would, too.
The season has been shaping up to be especially intriguing, with the end of Red Bull dominance, the return of the GOAT, Lewis Hamilton, and how first-time winners this season, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, are now the leading drivers in most races, even securing McLaren’s first lead in the Constructors’ Championship since 2014. But the question remains – who will be crowned the World Champion? Will Max Verstappen remain on top with his deteriorating car? Or will Lando Norris rise through the ranks and snatch it from him?
You never know what might happen, which is why you always have to remember the number one rule for Formula 1: Never stop watching.
Formula 1 2024
The 2024 Grand Prix season is not over yet! Stay tuned to F1’s official website, Instagram and TikTok pages for more. For ticketing updates, keep a close eye on Singapore Grand Prix’s official website, Instagram and TikTok pages!
Photos by Leo Chia of the DANAMIC Team.
