Singapore Grand Prix: Perez – Leclerc – Sainz

Dark. Dry track. Air +26…27С, Route +29…28С

Formula 1 returned to Singapore after a three-year hiatus and there were no empty seats in the grandstands on race day. The stage was the seventeenth on the calendar – and the first where the fate of the championship title could be decided ahead of schedule. Max Verstappen arrived at Marina Bay with a 116-point lead with six stages to go and would have to win for the title on the condition that Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez underperformed.

But the front row of the grid was shared only by Leclerc and Perez, and in qualifying, Verstappen didn’t have enough fuel for the last attempt – and the team, much to the driver’s dismay, called him into the pits, preventing him from hitting the grid. could start. circle. Max was only eighth and Hamilton and Sainz started the race from the second row.

One of the factors of the weekend in Singapore was the weather. On Saturday it rained all day, practice lasted only half an hour and qualifying on the drying track proved to be one of the most interesting over the course of the season – the battle continued until the last seconds, resulting in the top three fits in five hundredths!

George Russell only qualified 11th due to brake problems and had his power station replaced in a closed park, so he started from the pit lane.

Before the race it rained heavily and the start had to be postponed. The safety car drove onto the track, but there was so much water that the Mercedes AMG GT fluttered against the door in some parts.

When the rain subsided, the employees of the autodrome started to clear the water. Instead of 20:00 local time, the riders went to the warm-up lap at 21:05.

In some places the asphalt was almost dry and in some places it remained wet. It was especially slippery in the areas where the new tarmac was laid – in turns 1 and 3, 5 to 7, 12 to 13, 14 and 15 to 19.

All riders started on intermediate tires.

At the start, Perez was ahead of Leclerc, who led the race, and Sainz – Hamilton, who forced Lewis off the track. Verstappen dropped back to 12th place. Alonso lost two positions but regained one by overtaking Gasly. Vettel won five places back at the start. Elbon turned and walked on.

Top ten in the second round: Perez – Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Norris – Alonso – Gasley – Vettel – Tsunoda – Stroll.

Verstappen overtook Magnussen and Stroll and moved up to tenth place.

On lap 4, Verstappen passed Tsunoda for 9th place.

On lap 5, Russell overtook Latifi for 17th.

Magnussen was shown a black and orange flag – he drove with a damaged front wing at the start and entered the pits to replace it.

On lap 7, Zhou Latifi attacked at Turn 5, the riders collided, Guanyu withdrew from the race, Latifi went to the pits with a puncture, swapped tires and front wing, but was unable to continue due to a breakdown. The stewards punished Latifi with a loss of five positions in the next race and two penalty points.

The safety car drove off to evacuate Zhou’s car and remove the wreckage.

Top ten behind the safety car: Perez – Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Norris – Alonso – Gasley – Vettel – Verstappen – Tsunoda.

In the 10th round, a restart was announced. Verstappen was ahead of Vettel and Gasly just missed him – and Max moved up to seventh.

The asphalt dried up very slowly, puddles remained outside the route. The riders rode without DRS, unable to battle for position – the peloton gradually stretched

On lap 21 Fernando Alonso retired at turn ten due to power plant problems. In Singapore, the Spaniard started in the 350th Grand Prix, but was unable to finish. To evacuate his car, a virtual safety car mode was announced.

Russell switched tyres, was the first to switch to slicks and struggled to keep the car on track, which was seriously inferior to its rivals in terms of speed.

On lap 23, the riders were able to continue the battle.

On lap 26, Albon crashed into the guardrail at turn eight and returned to the pits with no front wing, where he retired. They announced the regime of the virtual security machine – it was necessary to remove the wreckage.

On the 27th lap, the riders continued to fight.

On lap 28, Okon stopped on the track and blew out a puff of smoke – a double outage due to problems with the Alpine engines. Re-announced Security Virtual Machine Mode.

On lap 30, the riders continued to fight. Verstappen tried to attack Norris, but accelerated to the safety car line and had to brake.

On lap 33 Hamilton crashed into the guardrail when he was seventh, lost three positions and continued with a damaged front wing.

Everyone waited for the dry areas where the new tarmac had been laid, and when Russell picked up speed on the slicks, the riders rushed to the pits.

On lap 34, Gasly switched tires, on lap 35 Leclerc, Hamilton, Vettel and Schumacher, on lap 36 Perez, Sainz, Verstappen and Stroll.

On lap 36, Tsunoda crashed the car into turn ten and was out of action. The safety car drove away.

Russell, Norris and Ricciardo have changed tires. The whole pack switched to slicks – Riccardo and Bottas chose Soft, the rest chose Medium.

Top ten behind the safety car: Perez – Leclerc – Sainz – Norris – Verstappen – Ricciardo – Stroll – Vettel – Hamilton – Gasley.

On the 39th lap, a restart was announced. Russell beat Magnussen for 13th place. Verstappen attacked Norris but blocked the tires and drove into the safety pocket after losing three positions.

On lap 41, Verstappen entered the pits and replaced the damaged rubber.

Russell attacked Schumacher, there was contact – and both riders went into the pits with a flat tire.

Top ten in round 43: Perez – Leclerc – Sainz – Norris – Ricciardo – Stroll – Vettel – Hamilton – Gasley – Bottas.

On lap 44 the drivers were allowed to use DRS, but overtaking was not made any easier – Leclerc pressed Perez firmly and Hamilton – Vettel were unable to attack.

On lap 48, Verstappen overtook Magnussen, who had lost speed, in the battle for 11th position.

On lap 50, Verstappen overtook Bottas, after which Gasly missed him for the second time in the race.

The engineer informed Pérez that the stewards were investigating a possible violation of the rules behind the safety car – he released the safety car twice over a distance of more than ten car lengths – and asked for the pace to be increased to a ​​to compensate for any five-second race. penalty, which Sergio did. A few hours after the finish, the stewards punished Perez with an official warning, a five-second and two-point penalty, but his final position did not change.

Russell switched tires on lap 53.

Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen drove in a close group, putting each other under pressure. Lewis overtook Sebastian but didn’t fit into the corner and missed Max. On the last lap, Verstappen was ahead of Vettel in the battle for seventh place.

After a two-hour break, the race was called off, the riders managed to complete 59 of the 61 laps.

Sergio Perez won the Singapore Grand Prix with his second win of the season and the fourth of his career. Charles Leclerc climbed to the second step of the podium, Carlos Sainz finished third.

Team McLaren beat Alpine for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, while Aston Martin moved up to seventh.

Already next week the battle in Suzuka continues.

Race results

* added five seconds to Perez’s result for a safety car violation

best lapTime: George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:46.458 (lap 56, 171.211 km/h)

Reasons for leaving

Championship position : Individual

Championship position : Constructors’ Championship