If you've been waiting for a nail-biting kind of race in 2023, you're in luck, as the Singapore Grand Prix delivered all kinds of chaos, beginning yesterday in Qualifying, when both Red Bulls were knocked out of Q2. Taking advantage of Red Bull's woes was Carlos Sainz, throwing his Ferrari on pole for a consecutive race weekend. George Russell and Charles Leclerc line up alongside him in 2nd and 3rd.
With the Red Bulls down in 11th and 13th on race day, Sainz leads everyone away cleanly for the formation lap. There are different strategies being played out up and down the field, with the majority starting on the yellow striped medium tyre. Others, such as Leclerc, have gone bold with the soft compound, with the remaining few, including the Red Bulls, going long on the hards. When the lights go out, Sainz gets a good start, keeping the lead into turn one.
After falling to third, Russell is quickly passed by his teammate; Hamilton, who seems to have made the move off track at Turn Two. Kevin Magnussen, who joined Nico Hulkenberg in making Q3 for Haas, falls from sixth to eighth. But, it's the Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez that the world is watching. Verstappen passes the Alpha Tauri of Liam Lawson for tenth, before making a move on Hulkenberg for ninth. Perez stays stationary in thirteenth. The yellow flag is shown in Sector Two/Three during the first lap. Yuki Tsunoda has stopped his Alpha Tauri. Luckily, he has parked up out of the way, so no Safety Car is needed. Back at Mercedes, Hamilton gives third place back to Russell. But now it's Lando Norris on the radio, telling his McLaren team that Hamilton should give him his place back also.
The first pitstop of the evening is underway with Zhou Guanyu stopping for Alfa Romeo. He gets rid of his soft tyres, throwing on the hards instead. Race control decide to note Hamilton for gaining an advantage over the McLaren on the first lap. On lap four, they reverse positions, cancelling any means for an investigation. Remember Tsunoda's DNF? A replay shows that it was caused by a puncture, after making contact with Perez on the opening lap. Could this explain as to why Perez is still trundling around down in thirteenth? Does he have damage, also? As for Verstappen, he's still in ninth, stuck behind Magnussen. But, with the help of DRS, he makes the move at Turn Fourteen, with the Alpine of Esteban Ocon his next target.
Up front, Sainz is still leading, with Leclerc just a couple of seconds behind. Both Ferraris seem to be holding Russell off for now. Sainz tells his team: "I could go at this pace forever," hinting that he may currently be in tyre management mode. However, Leclerc's opinion differs. "I think Carlos is slowing down," he tells his engineer. Alexander Albon in the Williams is currently lapping faster than the leader. Despite this, within a couple of laps, Leclerc has dropped out of DRS range to his teammate, managing to set the fastest lap of the race in the process, which is soon beaten by Sainz.
The infamous DRS train begins to form in the lower half of the points positions with Magnussen as the "conductor." Behind him sits Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, with Lawson and Perez not too much further behind. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri is told over team radio that a rain shower is imminent. This could spice things up!
A yellow flag is thrown at Turn 8 with Logan Sargeant in the barriers after a bout of understeer. He gets going again, but the track is littered with debris from the Williams' front wing. Team strategists may be experiencing a nightmare as they decide whether to bring in their drivers. However, the Safety Car is deployed and a stampede of cars enters the pits. Red Bull, as expected decide to stay out, preferring track position over new rubber. After a slow stop for Leclerc, the order back on track is Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Norris, Leclerc and Hamilton. Fernando Alonso, the sole Aston Martin running after a crash in qualifying caused Lance Stroll to withdraw, has trouble entering the pitlane, locking up and crossing that all important white line that shouldn't be crossed. He is noted by the stewards.
With the Safety Car coming in, Sainz backs up the pack behind him, bolting clear of Verstappen at the restart. Verstappen, however, is under pressure from Russell, and Leclerc from Hamilton. Both Mercedes get past their respective rivals. Perez, who sits in fourth, gets passed by Norris, with Hamilton also eyeing up last year's race winner. Valtteri Bottas, who also started on hards, stayed out during the Safety Car. Like the Red Bulls, he's struggling and falls further back down the grid to sixteenth place.
Perez, the new leader of the DRS train, has a large group of cars challenging him for seventh. But, the Red Bull driver has other things on his mind; complaining over team radio that Hamilton overtook him off track and should give the place back. Unfortunately for him, Hamilton is long gone, getting past Verstappen further up the road, who quickly then looses another place to Leclerc. Sainz, still leading, is taking a slower approach to winning the race. "He's managing a lot, he is very slow, I guess he is trying to back us up," Russell reports to the Mercedes team.
Halfway through the race and Magnussen is shown a black and white flag after forcing a driver off track. He falls out of DRS range to Ocon and has the second Alpine right on his tail. Gasly attempts a move but Magnussen closes the door. Perez is still leading the DRS train up ahead, Alonso sitting patiently, waiting to pounce. Elsewhere, Verstappen's tyre woes continue with him telling the team, "it is like driving on ice." Could we soon be seeing a Red Bull pitstop?
Alonso considers a move but is blocked by Perez. Ocon, taking advantage of this, pushes his way past the Aston Martin, claiming eighth at turn nine. Up front, Sainz believes it's time to push. He tells Ferrari, "Let me know when you think it's good to push. I should have 1s of pace in hand." The message is relayed to Russell who responds, "I'm surprised he didn't say 2s." But, back to Perez and the DRS train. With evident front wing damage from his lap one clash with Tsunoda, Perez is passed by Ocon, Alonso and Gasly. Red Bull finally decide to bring in their driver, switching him from hards to mediums. A lap later, Verstappen follows suite, with both drivers rejoining last and fifteenth, respectively.
Despite getting past Alonso and Perez just a few laps prior, Ocon is out. Parking his Alpine at the side of the track at the pit exit. A disappointing end to a decent race, on his birthday too. A Virtual Safety Car is deployed. With the front runners already past the pits, it's the midfield drivers of Magnussen and Albon taking advantage of the slower ontrack action. They throw on new rubber and head on out again. The next time around, Mercedes pull in both of their drivers, fitting them with the extra pair of medium tyres that they had available. They return to the track in fourth and fifth, with fresher rubber than their competitors. Alonso also stops for Aston Martin, taking his five second penalty he received from his earlier pitlane adventures. A slow stop drops him out of the points to fifteenth. And with that, we're back racing.
Sainz leads Norris by just over one second with Leclerc under three seconds further back. The Mercedes duo are ten seconds behind Leclerc but, with their new rubber, this is looking like a sprint to the finish. They quickly pass Leclerc, and set their sights on the leaders. In the midfield, Verstappen is on the hunt for points. He passes Zhou and then Hulkenberg, moving himself into ninth, before barging his way past Lawson, who doesn't make it easy for the World Championship leader.
As for Perez, he is stuck behind Albon. They are both noted by the stewards for a pit exit infringement. However, like Verstappen, they are taking advantage of their fresher tyres and are moving up the field. They pass Zhou, Hulkenberg and close in on Lawson. Talking of Verstappen, he's past Piastri for seventh and is quick to make another move, this time on Gasly for sixth position. At the back, Bottas slips into the pit lane to retire after a miserable afternoon/evening.
Five laps left and Sainz leads from Norris by less than a second. Russell finds himself a second behind Norris and Hamilton a second behind Russell. Sainz, trying to hold onto the lead for his life, tells Ferrari that he is purposely giving Norris DRS. But, with four laps left, the top four are split by only 1.7 seconds.
There's a brief yellow flag for Albon who seems to have stopped on track. The stewards are quick to note an incident that happened between the Williams driver and Perez. Perez moves up to tenth as Albon falls down the field but manages to get going once again. However, while this plays out, it's starting to kick off up front. Russell is clinging onto the back of Norris with no way past, giving Sainz a chance to pull clear a little.
Final lap and it's close. But, there's drama as Russell closes in on Norris. He clips the barrier and finds himself stuck in the wall. Sainz manages to hold on, taking only his second win ever in Formula One. Norris comes home second with Hamilton in third. Verstappen, who was closing in on Leclerc, doesn't quite beat him to the line, with the duo finishing in fifth and fourth, respectively. Gasly comes across the line in sixth, followed by Piastri, Perez (who received a five second penalty for his clash with Albon), Lawson and Magnussen.
Phew, what a race. You can't deny, it's been a pleasure to watch Red Bull and Verstappen make history, but this race was a breath of fresh air. With only one week until the next race, we'll have to wait to see why Red Bull were so off the pace this weekend. But until then, we'll celebrate Sainz's victory. See you in Suzuka.
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