Perez beat pole-sitter Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the first corner and dominated the race until the intermediate-shod field switched to slick tyres.
Perez then encountered engine issues that helped Leclerc to attack in the closing laps, but an error from Leclerc dropped him 2s behind after Perez had sorted out his engine settings.
However, Perez faces a post-race stewards’ investigation for a safety car infringement.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen suffered a poor start, which forced him to charge through until he made an error trying to pass McLaren’s Lando Norris and dropped to last place. He recovered to finish seventh.
2022 Singapore Grand Prix race results
How the Singapore Grand Prix unfolded
After a delayed start due to torrential rain, the field all started on intermediate tyres.
Perez made a great start and passed poleman Leclerc on the run to Turn 1, while Sainz took third from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the first corner after a brush of wheels before the apex of Turn 2. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, making his 350th F1 start, ran sixth behind Norris.
Further back, Verstappen made a dreadful start and cut the inside of Turn 1, dropping back to 12th on the opening lap from eighth on the grid, but he quickly charged his way back into the top 10 by Lap 2.
Nicholas Latifi (Williams) clobbered Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) into the wall approaching Turn 5 on Lap 7 which brought out the first safety car to retrieve the stricken Alfa. Zhou’s teammate Valtteri Bottas was also in the wars as he was clattered into by George Russell’s Mercedes, who started from the pitlane after an engine change.
Perez maintained his lead at the rolling restart on Lap 11, as Verstappen passed the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri to run seventh. Verstappen then got stuck behind Alonso until the Spaniard’s engine failed on Lap 21, which caused a virtual safety car for a couple of laps to deal with his car.
Russell gambled on pitting for medium-compound slicks at this point but was woefully slow as he struggled to keep temperature in them.
The returning Alex Albon, who spun his Williams into the wall on the opening lap, found the wall again at Turn 8 on Lap 26 and lost his front wing against the barriers, causing a second virtual safety car. A third quickly followed as Esteban Ocon’s Alpine expired on Lap 28.
Verstappen almost hit Norris at Turn 7 before the restart, and then attacked him hard for fifth…
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