5 crucial talking points ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has scored a P2 and two wins on the trot following F1's return from the summer break. During the Dutch Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing believed to have found the sweet spot for the up until then rowdy RB21.

The following weekend in Italy, the Austrians implemented a floor upgrade which, coupled with a risky rear wing configuration, helped Verstappen clinch pole and the win in Monza.

A fortnight later, in Azerbaijan, the Dutchman took pole once again, and drove his car home for the win scoring his sixth career Grand Slam in the process. After the race McLaren were adamant the Dutchman had re-entered the title fray, whilst everyone at Red Bull refrained from making any statement related to the title fight, albeit with a hint of cautious optimism.

Why? Although the Baku City Circuit's track layout does have a few fast and narrow turns in the second and final sectors of the track, it is mostly comprised of low speed corner, which is precisely where the RB21 struggled most with shifting balance, understeer and oversteer, resulting in tyre overheating, increased driving difficulty and most importantly, loads of lap time lost.

Should their overturning of this trend persist in Singapore, then the title fight will have indeed become a three-horse race.

All season long McLaren have been the force to be reckoned with, boasting a flawless performance in every regard, which is the reason why their success has largely gone unchallenged this year.

Nevertheless since F1's return from the summer break the team has suffered a race-ending reliability issue, and two poor back-to-back pit stops, all marring Lando Norris' run second half of the season.

Not to mention the difficulties the papaya team encountered setting up their cars for Baku with both drivers complaining of the MCL39's handling and Oscar Piastri putting it in the wall in Q3 on Saturday and on the first lap of the race on Sunday.

Ferrari have been leap-frogged by Mercedes in the Constructors' Standings following an abyssmal weekend in Azerbaijan where both red cars could not make it further up than P8 and P9.

Furthermore, Lewis Hamilton failed to comply with an instruction issued from the pit wall ordering him to give back the position to Charles Leclerc, after the Monegasque had graciously let the Briton by in a bid to increase Ferrari's haul of points and thus defend themselves from Mercedes.

The Scuderia are now the only big team who are yet to win a race this season. If boys in red don't up their game soon, they could be in for a fourth win-less season in the last 10 years. The Scuderia failed to secure victories in 2016, 2020 and 2021 as well.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, prior to his P4 in Azerbaijan had been enduring the toughest period of his F1 career so far with mistakes and lacklustre performances plaguing his run following his first career podium finish in Canada.

Although George Russell has secured a total of seven podium finishes this season including his win at the Canadian Grand Prix, these results are largely down to the Briton's driving.

Mercedes' struggles to come to grips with the W16 have forced them to recall a rear suspension upgrade introduced at the Imola Grand Prix, despite its one-off success at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

If the Silver Arrows are to fend off Ferrari and a revived Red Bull Racing in the fight for P2 in the Constructors' then they better capitalise on the potential turnaround Azerbaijan may represent looking ahead to the remaining seven Grands Prix.

Williams currently head the midfield fight behind the big four, McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Standing at 101 points, the Grove-based outfit lead Racing Bulls who sit in P6 with 72 points and Aston Martin in P7 with 62 points.

Sauber are not far from the Faenza and the Silverstone-based outfits with 55 points, and given the potential outliers left in the calendar like Singapore, Brazil, Las Vegas and Qatar, it could very well be that one of these races throws a spanner in the works, delivers an underdog podium scorer or even an odd race-winner and then the fight heats up again.

For Haas in P9 with 44 points and Alpine dead last in P10 the situation looks to be more definitive than anything else.

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