For better or for worse, Max Verstappen’s winning streak was stopped at a tally of five races during Sunday’s (Oct. 2) Singapore Grand Prix, though the trophy will still be coming back to Red Bull in the hands of one Sergio Perez.
Having won the Monaco Grand Prix over Memorial Day weekend, Perez has now achieved his first multi-win year in Formula 1, with both wins coming on technical and demanding street circuits. Perez was followed closely by Charles Leclerc, who was the Mexican driver’s only competition throughout the humid evening.
After a series of fumbles and failures from Ferrari, the prancing horses finally looked to be on pace with the Red Bulls, at least on one side of the garage. While Leclerc was able to keep Perez honest – particularly after the field switched to dry tires with little over a half hour remaining in the race – Carlos Sainz had been gapped by Perez and Leclerc by five full seconds by the time the fourth lap started, and that trend held throughout the evening until Sainz came home in third place eight seconds adrift of Leclerc and nearly 16 seconds behind Perez.
McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo managed a double points finish after executing an opportunistic pit strategy and picking up a few pieces from a morbidly frustrating night for Verstappen, while their constructors title rivals, Alpine, faced a double retirement following two sudden engine failures.
Two full safety car periods and three stints under virtual safety car conditions saw six retirements in total. On top of the aforementioned Alpine engine failures, Nicholas Latifi and Zhou Guanyu both retired with damage after colliding on the sixth lap, while Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon both retired after single car incidents.
By virtue of finishing seventh, Verstappen’s title campaign will have to last at least one more week, with both Perez and Leclerc remaining mathematically eligible for the title, bold as the writing on the wall may be.
The Race
By virtue of the circuit being engulfed in torrential rain, the race start was delayed by an hour, with the entire grid starting the race on intermediate tires. The result of this delayed start was a wet, and slowly drying track that pushed the intermediate tires to the edge of their being while also offering zero incentive for any runners to make the switch to slicks.
Zero runners except George Russell, who opted to strap on a set of mediums on lap 23. Losing time hand over fist,…
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