Crazy race in Singapore! 6 drivers didn’t see the finish, McLaren celebrates a great result, Ferrari on the podium. Who dominated the VC of Singapore?

Absolutely insane race! The Singapore Grand Prix offered a lot of collisions, safety cars and yellow flags in addition to some tough battles. The final standings also correspond to the race. Verstappen and Hamilton had a bad race, while McLaren and Aston Martin can celebrate. Who won the Singapore Grand Prix?

Like Sunday’s MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix, the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix was delayed by almost an hour. This was due to unfavourable conditions or too much water at the Marina Bay circuit.

Charles Leclerc started the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position, with Sergio Pérez filling in on the front row. Hamilton, Sainz, Alonso, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Magnussen, Cunoda – this was the order of the elite ten at the start of the race.

It should be noted, given the conditions, all drivers started on intermediate tyres.

The opening of the Singapore VC

Despite Leclerc and Pérez having exactly the same reaction time, it was the Mexican driver who took the top spot after all five lights were out. On the other hand, Max Verstappen got off to a poor start, even dropping out of the top ten in points.

Lewis Hamilton also had a disappointing start, opting to put his monoposto into second gear. However, he failed to get off to a good start and dropped to fourth place behind Carlos Sainz.

The fans witnessed the first exciting moment at the very start of the Singapore Grand Prix when Alex Albon in the Williams so-called kissed the rear wall of his car. However, he was able to continue the race.

Latifi’s other controversial collision

Kevin Magnussen was cautioned by race HQ on lap seven, via the black and orange flag. The reason was a damaged front wing. However, the fans witnessed a very controversial moment on lap 8.

Nicholas Latifi and Kuan-yu Zhou collided in a duel, with the blame clearly going to the Canadian pilot. He ran into the Chinese pilot before turn 5, who was subsequently unable to do anything. The result? The car stopped at turn five and out of the race.

Latifi then said over the team radio that he had not seen the Chinese pilot in the service of Alfa Romeo and therefore left him no room. However, after reaching the pits, the team decided to withdraw him from the race.

Yellow flags were waved on the track and the race directorate resorted to a safety car exit. He pitted at the end of lap 10. That’s how the standings fell out after 15 laps of the Singapore Grand Prix.

More yellow flags were displayed on lap 22 when Fernando Alonso’s car was shut down at Turn 10 due to a power unit failure. Notably, the Spanish legend was driving his 350th career race in Singapore.

The virtual safety car was used by George Russell, who was in the rear positions, for a pit stop with his mechanics. He simply had nothing to lose, so Mercedes came up with a very bold move – fitting the British driver with a medium dry set of tyres.

However, on a wet track Russell was unable to get this specification working properly and in his first few laps out of the pits he was running three to four seconds slower than his rivals ahead of him.

By lap twenty-three we were able to race again, but the green flags were only on for the next three laps. On lap twenty-six, Albon encountered understeer in his car. His car couldn’t make it through turn 8 and hit the wall.

Although Albon managed to reach his mechanics without a front wing, they, like Latifi, decided to withdraw him from the Singapore Grand Prix.

Two laps later, the yellow came out again at the Marina Bay circuit when Esteban Ocon shut down his Alpine on the exit of Turn 13. The reason? A technical failure.

At the stroke of lap 30, green flags waved on the circuit, at which point five drivers – Ocon, Albon, Alonso, Latifi and Zhou – did not continue in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Fans were treated to more drama on lap 33 when Briton Hamilton hit the barrier at Turn 7 and damaged his front wing. The seven-time world champion lost one position and split the Norris-Verstappen pairing.

On laps 34 to 37, several drivers went to their mechanics for a change to a medium set of tyres. The track had dried sufficiently by this time, although the drivers were still slippery in several parts of the circuit.

Only Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas were wearing the red set, and therefore the fastest specification tyre. However, many drivers took advantage of the safety car, which came out on the track on lap 36 as a result of a big collision involving Júki Cunoda. The latter crashed into the wall at Turn 10 after a driving error.

The McLaren team made the most of the situation, having their drivers in fourth and sixth place. The race directors eventually resorted to a time-out as the deadline for the Grand Prix to be completed slowly but surely approached.

Time countdown – 38 minutes to go

With thirty-five minutes to go, the safety car pulled back into the pits. But it didn’t take long for things to happen on track again.

Two minutes after the safety car pitted, Verstappen made a big mistake, braking significantly and then having to go to his mechanics for new tyres. The result? A drop to last fourteenth place.

However, he fought his way forward in the rest of the Singapore Grand Prix, thanks in part to the mutual contact between Russell and Mick Schumacher, after which they both had to pit.

Verstappen moved up to ninth after a few more minutes, passing Gasly, Bottas and Magnussen. The duel for seventh offered further drama, with Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen sharing the spoils.

Up front, it looked like a big battle for the podium again, specifically third place, between Norris and Sainz. However, the Spanish driver managed to pass his former teammate in the end.

The battle for seventh place was won by Verstappen, who overtook Vettel at the very end. Hamilton dropped out of this battle with a minute and a half to go when he braked at turn eight and dropped to ninth.

Singapore Grand Prix results

So this is what the overall standings look like at the end of the Singapore Grand Prix. It was a great victory for Mexican Pérez, who was accompanied on the podium by both Ferrari drivers. Sainz, it should be noted, scored his 14th career podium.

The McLaren team recorded a great result – Norris finished fourth, Ricciardo fifth. Thanks to the Singapore Grand Prix results, the British team from Woking is back in fourth place in the Constructors’ Cup ahead of Alpine.

The Aston Martin stable also has both drivers on points, while Hamilton and Verstappen have had a poor race. One point for tenth place was scored by Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri, with a point for fastest lap of the race going to Russell.

Source: F1 TV