Which F1 drivers do well at Singapore Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel successful at Marina Bay

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The Singapore Grand Prix debuted on the Formula 1 calendar in 2008 but it has only seen a select few drivers record a win, so F1 Oversteer looks into its most successful.

Only a handful of stars can claim to have tasted success on the streets of Singapore since F1 held its first-ever night race nearly 20 years ago. Controversy even engulfed the first edition as Fernando Alonso won the first Singapore Grand Prix after Renault manipulated Crashgate.

It was a much less controversial race in 2010 when Alonso became the first repeat winner of the Formula 1 Singapore GP. Ferrari took the Spaniard back to the top step of the podium at Marina Bay after he held off title rival Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull by a mere 0.293 seconds.

Sebastian Vettel is the most successful F1 driver at the Singapore Grand Prix

Yet while Alonso denied Vettel in the 2010 Singapore GP, that year’s title swung the way of the Red Bull driver. The German also went on to be the most successful Formula 1 driver in Singapore with the Milton Keynes team and later Ferrari as Vettel sealed a total of five wins.

Vettel took his first victory on the streets of Singapore in the 2011 race and returned to the top of the podium in 2012 and 2013. His move to Ferrari in 2015 also returned Vettel to glory at the Singapore GP with the win that year and in 2019 before F1 stayed away due to Covid.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Singapore GP from Crashgate to Ferrari vs Max Verstappen

The Covid-19 pandemic meant Formula 1 did not stage the Singapore Grand Prix in 2020 or 2021. F1 has even seen three fresh names join the winners’ list since returning in 2022 with Sergio Perez for Red Bull, Carlos Sainz for Ferrari and Lando Norris for McLaren respectively.

Perez, Sainz and Norris joined Nico Rosberg as the only previous single-time winner of the Singapore GP after the German’s victory in his F1 title-winning 2016 season with Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton also won at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the Silver Arrows three times.

Hamilton further won the Singapore Grand Prix in 2009 with a Mercedes engine in the back of his McLaren. Securing three wins with Mercedes then saw the Briton match Vettel as the most successful F1 driver at the Singapore GP, before the German won a fifth time in 2019.

The Singapore GP has seen three repeat winners as a Formula 1 race

Given the recent spate of first-time winners, only three Formula 1 drivers in Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso have multiple Singapore Grand Prix wins to their names to date. Rosberg retiring after winning the F1 title in 2016 leaves Perez, Sainz and Norris next in line to join the group.