F1 Singapore: Always a Pleasure
Posted on September 23, 2022 Tags: South Australia
And Kyron Brings Home the Bacon
Images courtesy AORC
SINGAPORE: As F1 prepares to go racing through the steamy streets of the fabulous island state of Singapore next weekend the FIA has released its record-breaking 24-event calendar for 2023.
The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix is the standout addition to the lineup while the Chinese Grand Prix returns after a three-year hiatus and Qatar is back after its debut in 2021.
South Africa is the surprise omission with the FIA delegation to the country in July deciding the Kyalami circuit would need to make a number of alterations to be considered for the required Grade One licence.
It was a race Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was keen to have included next year and he made that quite clear to FIA President Mohammed Ahmed bin Sulayem.
“I’ve been pushing a lot in the background to get the Grand Prix there,” Lewis said at Spa-Francorchamps back in August. “I’m happy with the talks that have been [happening], and Stefano [FIA chief executive Domenicali] has been doing an amazing job trying to get it to happen.”
“We (the drivers) want to help the FIA, and Mohammed has been really open with that.
“So we are just going to continue to work on that communication. I’m in touch with him quite a lot. We actually speak quite a bit. And he’s very, very driven…he’s competitive.
“He used to race himself, so he has a competitor sort of mindset. And he’s also very keen on diversity and really pushing for future change.
“So he wants to collaborate with us all on that. So I’m quite happy with it.”
Lewis Hamilton
Can Max win the F1 championship in Singapore?
Red Bull star Max Verstappen has been the dominant force this season leading the driver’s standings by 116 points from Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. winning 11 of the 16 races so far, despite being plagued by mechanical dramas
Theoretically he can win his second world championship title this weekend in Singapore.
To do so, someone a lot smarter than me has calculated the Belgium-born Dutchman needs to:
Beat Leclerc by 22 points.
Beat Red Bull colleague Sergio Perez by 13.
Beat Brit George Russell by six.
And that, according to this very clever person, means Max must win the race with Leclerc ninth or lower, while Perez would have to be fourth or lower without the fastest lap.
The odds of that actually coming to pass – with all the ducks lined up – is something my brainiac mate, regrettably failed to pass on!
White Hard C3, Yellow Medium C4, Red Soft C5 for Singapore
Bacon Smokes Classy AORC Field
WITH JUST ONE ROUND REMAINING in the 2022 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship Tasmanian daredevil Kyron Bacon just couldn’t be beaten, regardless of tough tracks and unpredictable weather in Kingston SE, South Australia, claiming the fastest overall time for Round 10.
Pictured: Kyron Bacon
The E1 superstar became a pure demon behind the handlebars for the Shop Yamaha Offroad Racing Team clocking in another consecutive class win, and fastest overall time of the day of 59:02.532, pushing hard to create a strong Championship lead.
GasGas’s Korey McMahon remained cool, calm and collected all day, regardless of the WR450F test which was hard on both mind and body. After six laps, McMahon claimed second place with Cooper Sheidow (Kessner Motorcycles, KTM Australia) third, further cementing his spot in the E1 Championship.
E2 ace Josh Green (Shop Yamaha Offroad Racing Team) gave Kingston SE everything he had to claim the Round 10 win, despite his injured hand. The weekend’s points pushes out his lead in the E2 Championship.
Rounding out the E2 podium were Beta’s Fraser Higlett and Riley Graham (Yamaha, SKDA).
FIA Motorsport Games
Victorian Philippa Boquida (pictured) becomes the sixth Australian to go to the FIA Motorsport Games, joining Matt Campbell, Stephen and Brenton Grove, Aaron Cameron and karting duo Aiva Anagnostiadis and Peter Bouzinelos.
A highly skilled sim racer, Boquida earned her spot in Team Australia after winning an intense qualifying program throughout September. After posting one of the fastest 20 times during the FIA’s Hot Lap worldwide program, she went on to dominate the two races during the final qualifying stage in what was a faultless performance. She now goes up against the rest of the world with plenty of experience in Esports, having enjoyed a scintillating 2022 season, highlighted by a GT World Challenge Esports Asia Sprint Series Championship title and 10 wins in the competitive RaceOnOz Monday Night League.
EDITED by AC
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