Introduction
Sergio Perez held off Charles Leclerc for his first-ever win on the streets of Singapore. At the same time, Carlos Sainz completed the podium, and Max Verstappen finished seventh in an action-packed 2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. The race winner is, however, under investigation for a Safety Car infringement…
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Heavy rain forced a delay of over an hour, with the formation lap beginning at 2105 local time. Although the rain had ceased, the surface was still slippery for the start of the race, when pole-sitter Leclerc lost the lead to Perez into Turn 1, and Sainz quickly pried P3 off Hamilton, who went wide into Turn 1.
Verstappen lost five places to fall to P12 at the start, but he made three up by Lap 9 when the first Safety Car was deployed for Nicholas Latifi and Zhou Guanyu’s collision. Fernando Alonso’s stoppage brought out a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 20, with George Russell becoming the first driver to switch from intermediates to mediums.
Russell’s improving pace triggered drivers to begin swapping for slick tyres on Lap 35. Still, on the following tour, Yuki Tsunoda went straight on into the barriers at Turn 10 to bring out the second Safety Car, before which most of the drivers had stopped for slicks. Crucially, the McLaren drivers hadn’t; Lando Norris came in for a new set of mediums, and Daniel Ricciardo opted for slicks as they emerged fourth and sixth for the restart.
The race restarted on Lap 39 for Perez to continue leading. Meanwhile, Verstappen suffered a heavy lockup in an attempt to pass Leclerc and was briefly bumped to last place before George Russell and Mick Schumacher picked up punctures after making brief contact into Turn 1.
With the two-hour mark approaching, this race would be finished by the timer, and Perez had 26 minutes to hold off a fast-charging Leclerc when DRS was enabled on the 43rd lap. What followed was a stunning chase for victory, Perez unerring in defence as he held off the Monegasque driver by over seven seconds at the chequered flag.
Perez would, however, find himself under investigation for passing the Safety Car just before the second restart – the summons coming after the race.
Sainz completed the podium for Ferrari, having passed Hamilton at the start, while Norris and Ricciardo benefitted from their late Safety Car stops and finished respective P4 and P5.
Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel capitalised on errors from Hamilton and…
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