September 18 ------ Ferrari's Carlos Sainz picked up his second Formula 1 career win as he led the 62-lap Singapore GP from start to finish. And Max Verstappen only finished P5 to end his record-breaking 10-win streak, the longest so far in the tournament’s history.
Ferrari’s Sainz banked on his pole position early in the race with teammate Charles Leclerc tailing behind in what seemed like the team’s strategy to protect Sainz’s lead by slowing down the drivers rallying behind. The pair went on a double stack for hard compounds when a safety car was announced on Lap 20 after AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda’s retirement. While it went as smooth as it could be for Sainz, Leclerc’s pit stop took more time which resulted in him dropping four places back.
The Red Bull pair of Verstappen and Sergio Perez, in what seemed like a fault in strategy, did not take advantage of the safety car situation and went on with their hard tyres. Their worn out wheels did not hold up well against their competitors as Verstappen got overtaken by Mercedes’ George Russell on Lap 23, McLaren’s Lando Norris on Lap 24, then Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc both on Lap 28, who all sported fresher hard compounds.
Verstappen and Perez only pitted for medium tyres come laps 40 and 41 and fell to P15 and P17, respectively. On Lap 43, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was the second driver to DNF, followed by Alfa Romeo’s Valterri Bottas. The final lap standings had Mercedes fans hoping for a potential double podium as they closed in on Norris on P2, but were met with a huge frustration as Russell crashed into the barriers. Norris secured the silver finish to the delight of the “CarLando” fans, and Hamilton took P3 through the checkered flag. While still within the points, this was Verstappen's worst finish after 15 rounds (sans the called off Italian GP). Perez, reputed as a master of street circuits, was able to go five places up from his P12 in the qualifying.
Despite this, the Red Bull pair are still on top of the driver's standings with 374 and 223 points, respectively. Hamilton is third with 180 points. Only 19 drivers competed in the Marina Bay Street Circuit race as it missed Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll following his massive crash in the qualifying. Meanwhile, AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo was still recovering from his injury and continuing in his place was Liam Lawson who picked up his first points after finishing P9.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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