Night races are a tad more common in Formula 1 nowadays, but the first was the sport’s 800th race, at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
That race, however, is remembered in infamy after Nelson Piquet Jr was ordered to deliberately crash out of the race in order to give Renault teammate Fernando Alonso a chance of winning, which he did.
That race was crucial in the destiny of the 2008 championship as well, as Ferrari’s Felipe Massa went from leading, to having a disastrous pit stop, and then trailing in the midfield.
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Who has the most wins at the Singapore Grand Prix?
Sebastian Vettel has won this race five times, which included his final ever grand prix win in 2019. That day, he perfectly executed the undercut on pole-sitter, and Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc and went from P3 to P1.
He also famously destroyed the field in 2013, after taking pole position with just a single Q3 lap, and opening up a staggering lead of over 30 seconds come the chequered flag. In fact, the German’s advantage over his nearest challengers could often be measured in seconds, rather than tenths, per lap.
#OnThisDay in 2019, the lion of Singapore, Sebastian Vettel, roared again as he stormed to his fifth victory at Marina Bay 🦁
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 22, 2022
The momentous occasion marked the final time Seb would achieve victory in @ScuderiaFerrari red 🔴#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/tzvj6nCQIt
The stand-out driver missing from the winners' list
Max Verstappen has never won the Singapore Grand Prix. In fact, you could count the number of laps that he has led, at this track, on one hand. Such are the extremities of this race: physically, mechanically and aerodynamically, the often-quickest cars cannot find their sweet spot.
But that does not mean that he has not dazzled under the lights. In 2015, he recovered from a lap down to score points; he was on the front row in 2017 and battled gearbox problems to seize a staggering second in 2018, and was brilliant en route to another runners-up place, last year.
Yet of the current calendar, it is only Singapore where he has not won a race. That in itself, is a sublime record considering that his grand prix career is only a decade old.
The unique nature of the Singapore Grand Prix is further exemplified by other sudden instances. In 2009, the race was the only that year not to feature either of the top two cars in the constructors’ championship, Brawn GP and Red Bull.
In 2015, Sebastian Vettel scored the first non-Mercedes pole position of the turbo-hybrid era, while the Silver Arrows languished fifth and sixth, one and a half seconds away from the front. And they could only register a fourth place in the race, courtesy of Nico Rosberg. That race was also famous for a fan invading the track halfway through the event.