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Singapore Grand Prix: F1 Race Results

With Verstappen starting in 11th, could we see someone other than Red Bull take victory for the first time this season?

Caitlyn Gordon 7 min read

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Carlos Sainz takes his first win of the season after a dramatic race in Singapore which saw the two Red Bulls struggle. 

Sainz takes victory under the Singapore lights. Photo credits: Mark Thompson via Getty Images
Sainz takes victory under the Singapore lights. Photo credits: Mark Thompson via Getty Images

The Ferrari of Carlos Sainz has been the man to beat all weekend. The Spaniard wowed in practice, topping the times in both FP2 and FP3. Sainz later converted his promising practice times to a pole during Qualifying.

Both Red Bulls had a tough start to the weekend. Verstappen was struggling to come to terms with his cars’ new set-up and Perez suffered with more rear-end issues. A quick change to Verstappen’s car in FP3 gave a glimmer of hope after his times started to improve and he finished fourth in FP3. However, happiness was short-lived as a shocking Q2 exit happened for both of the Red Bulls and saw Verstappen start outside of the top 10.

It was Liam Lawson who twisted the knife in Red Bull’s heart as he knocked out Verstappen in the final seconds to enter Q3 at his first Singapore Grand Prix.

Lance Stroll who suffered a huge 110mph crash against the wall has been ruled out of the race after he says he is “still sore” from the shunt. Due to this announcement happening last minute, no reserve driver will be stepping in for the Canadian.

With the weekend so far rounded up, how did the Singapore Grand Prix pan out? Can Verstappen push his way through the grid and add number 11 to his name? Let’s find out…

The starting grid

Lights out

Half of the grid decided to start with the medium compounds, while Charles Leclerc – who starts in third – takes a gamble on the soft compound tyre. The two Red Bulls start on the hard tyres as they are looking to have a better evening than yesterday.

As the lights went out on the Marina Bay circuit, Carlos Sainz who has had an incredible weekend so far shot ahead of the rest of the pack, and Leclerc who had a slightly better get away than the Mercedes jumped ahead of Russell making it a Ferrari 1-2.

Hamilton was left with no space after coming wheel-to-wheel with his teammate and had to go wide and off the track into the first corner. This caused him to take third position off his teammate. Still battling into the next couple of corners Russell sent a radio to his engineer asking why he hadn’t been given the position back yet. A few moments later Hamilton obliged and let both his teammate and Lando Norris through after Norris complained Hamilton gained an advantage against him.

Down the pecking order, Tsunoda had to retire his car after being hit with a puncture when coming close to Sergio Perez. The AlphaTauri driver has had a weekend to forget after having to retire from Qualifying yesterday as well. No yellow flag was brought out as his car was parked behind the barrier of Turn 14.

Verstappen who started in 11th, moved positions up to eighth after battling with the HAAS of Kevin Magnussen. The other Red Bull sits in 14th after losing a place to Piastri on the 7th lap.

The race starts to develop

As the race started to pan out more, the two Ferraris were still leading. Leclerc on the softs was keeping within DRS distance of Sainz and waiting for the right moment to attack, however, with the softs his tyres starting to degrade more quickly than the  Spaniard, and he will be feeling the pressure of maintaining them.

Verstappen who was pushing on his hard starts was starting to wear them away while trying to catch up to Ocon. Verstappens’ engineer told the Dutchman to stop racing this hard, as their strategy was looking to go long and continuing at that speed would be a disadvantage. Verstappen slowed down and sat at a comfortable 1.8 seconds behind Ocon.

Logan Sargeant in the Williams lost control of his car and hit the barrier slightly. He was able to maintain the power of the car and head into the pits. The Williams front wing was torn off with carbon fibre all over the track and this caused the first safety car of the race.

The safety car comes out

Ferrari decided to double stack during the safety car, Sainz came in first and had a clear and clean pitstop. When Leclerc came in, his pitstop was delayed after cars started to shoot into the pitlane causing his pit time to be 32 seconds. This significantly hindered Leclerc’s race who came out in sixth place while his teammate stayed ahead in front. The two Red Bulls stayed out on their hard tyres and found themselves in second and fourth.

Sargeant’s car was able to be repaired and returned back to the track.

With the safety car ending, Sainz started to back the pack up and pounced ahead of the rest of the grid. Verstappen in second was looking to redeem his weekend in Singapore was already 1.2 seconds behind after the restart and started to receive pressure from Russell who was edging closer. The Red Bull car was sliding across the track which Verstappen was finding hard to maintain and Russell found the right moment and overtook Verstappen. He kept slipping down the pecking order as Norris overtook the struggling Dutchman.

Action was kicking off on the track now with Alonso being issued a five-second penalty due to a pit-lane entry incident during the safety car. Hamilton battled past Perez who dropped from fourth to seventh position. The Brit flew past the other Red Bull with no struggle and started to hunt down Norris for third.

The Bulls now sat in sixth and seventh and started to slip five seconds being Leclerc in fifth. It was clear the car just wasn’t comfortable with the track, Christian Horner mentioned how this is the same car that won in Monza and Zandvoort just a couple of weeks ago but isn’t sure why it’s not gelling with Singapore.

Halfway through

The front four drivers were all in contention for taking first place, Sainz who was hanging on for first place had the three Brits, Russell, Norris and Hamilton all within one second of each other and trying to overtake the Ferrari. Leclerc who was disadvantaged during the pitstop recovered slightly and was now within a second behind Hamilton in fifth place on lap 39.

Down the field, Piastri who started in 17th after an unfortunate red flag in Qualifying, fought his way up to 10th place and was starting to gain his way closer to Gasly in 9th.

Ocon who had put in a mega few laps started to struggle and pulled off at the exit of the pitlane. The VSC was brought out, the leaders stayed out and didn’t pit while Albon and Magnussen came into the pits.

After a lap during the VSC. Mercedes decided to gamble and double stack in the pit. The two stops were both clean and quick and put them out into fresh air. The pair came out in fourth and fifth on a fresh pair of mediums.

Alonso then headed into the pit however, an issue arose on one of the rear-end tyres causing his pit time to be 25 seconds. This race is one to forget for Alonso who was handed a five-second penalty earlier on in the race. It continued to get worse for the Spaniard who slipped down to 17th and over nine seconds behind after going off at Turn 14.

The battle till the end

Mercedes on the fresher tyres were now starting to catch up with Leclerc in third position. The gamble the team took seemed to be working in their favour with Russell overtaking the Monegasque on lap 54. Just a few corners later Hamilton also overtook the Ferrari.

Bottas had gearbox issues and had to retire from the race. He parked the Alfa Romeo in a safe place meaning no safety cars would be brought out. The other Ferrari of Leclerc dropped off in pace and was now 12 seconds behind Hamilton in fourth.

Norris who had the DRS advantage in second and was now only 0.8 behind was building more pressure on the back of Sainz’s gearbox. Sainz who never pitted was managing his tyres making sure they didn’t wear anymore and he could maintain his position in first. However, the struggling Spainaird’s front tyres were now gone and now all he could do was defend.

Russell’s exit out of Turn 14 brought himself and Norris close together, this caused both of the Mercedes on the heel of Norris, with only two laps remaining it was all to play for. The two Mercedes were pushing hard to try to pass the papaya, Sainz in front was giving some help to Norris in behind so he could defend against the stronger pair.

Last lap chaos
Russell hitting the barrier on the final lap. Photo credits: @F1 on X
Russell hitting the barrier on the final lap. Photo credits: @F1 on X

The final lap saw Russell push as hard as he could however, a shocking turn of events saw the Brit slide off and hit the barrier on the final few corners which saw his hopes of a podium position finished. Hamilton who took his teammate’s spot earned his spot on the podium.

Sainz who held onto first place, won the Driver of the Day after an incredible drive to secure his first win of the season. Norris finished second which is his third podium of the season.

Verstappen who struggled all race found himself in fifth position which after the tough battle he had with his car all weekend was a great result. It does however end his 10 consecutive wins in a row.

More to follow…

Full results can be found here.

Featured image credits: @F1 via X

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