Motorsport

Red Bull’s winning streak is over! The winner was decided in the last round. Who won the drama in SIngapore?

The streets of Singapore always offer races full of twists and turns and drama thanks to the difficulty of the circuit and the walls that line the entire track, forgiving no mistake. In one of the toughest races of the season, Carlos Sainz kept his cool as he ended Red Bull’s reign over the 2023 class with his second career victory after a superb performance.

Published

10 months ago

17. 9. 2023

Dominik Barták

Zdroj: Mark Thompson, Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

At first glance, the starting grid in Singapore was very different to the other races this season. Not only was the dominant RB19 not on pole position for the fourth time in the last five races, neither of the Austrian stable’s drivers featured in the top 10.

Ferrari made a great start to take the win

The Ferrari drivers made an amazing start to the race. Carlos Sainz comfortably held on to the top spot and Charles Leclerc made a great start to move ahead of George Russell into second place before the first corner.

The Italian stable was helped by the ensuing battle between the Mercedes drivers. Lewis Hamilton overtook his teammate and Lando Norris off the track and didn’t want to give back third place for a long time. By the time the British drivers had regrouped as they should have, Ferrari had managed to build a comfortable lead out of DRS range.

Juki Cunoda didn’t complete a single lap and will want to forget this weekend as quickly as possible. After contact with Sergio Pérez, he blew a rear tyre and was forced to retire his car.

The field settled down after Max Vertappen’s manoeuvre to take eighth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. Only Pérez was putting pressure on Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly was in close pursuit of Haas, fighting for the final points positions for a long time.

Sargeant’s crash into the wall significantly affected the race

The stability of the race held until lap 20 when Logan Sargeant hit the barrier and lost his front wing. As a result, the safety car was called to the track and everyone except Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas headed to the pits.

This stop did not go well at all for Leclerc. Although the team changed his tyres quickly, he had to wait three seconds before he could restart due to pit lane traffic. He lost second place and dropped down to seventh after a botched restart.

Russell made great use of the safety car, quickly getting ahead of Verstappen, and immediately began his pursuit run. He was able to cut his deficit to less than one second and won the opportunity to use DRS.

Verstappen logically dropped back on the old tyres after the restart. In addition to Russell, Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc passed him without any significant problems. In sixth place, he finally had a lull as he held off his teammate Perez, who had patched up the field 3 seconds behind him.

Pérez, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon put on a beautiful battle on lap 37. The battle between the three drivers for seventh place lasted four corners and the Mexican in the service of Red Bull emerged victorious in the end. Alonso, who had started the duel with his attack on Pérez, eventually fell behind Ocon, who two laps later, with a beautiful manoeuvre, fought his way past Pérez in the same place.

The struggling Red Bulls finally went for a tyre change after forty laps. Verstappen exited the pits in 15th. Pérez was in second to last place, just ahead of Bottas.

Ocon’s birthday race ended early

The final twist came on lap 44. On the home straight, Ocon’s engine failed, forcing him to stop at the exit of the pit lane. The following virtual safety car was used by Mercedes, who called both of their drivers into the pits.

They were the only members of the leading five to take this risk. With sixteen laps to go, they began a great chase in which they had to shave more than a second off their deficit every lap to have any hope of victory.

Russell made the first move in the battle for the win with just nine laps to go when he passed Leclerc into Turn 14. The Monegasque was passed by Hamilton on the next lap.

Sainz managed the end of the race perfectly

With four laps to go, Sainz came up with an interesting tactic, slowing down to give the trailing Norris the DRS advantage. This allowed Norris to better defend against Russell’s attack and serve as a shield for Sainz.

The Spaniard’s unconventional move worked to perfection, with Norris fending off Russell’s attack and the Spanish racer cruising to a hard-earned victory.

In addition, Russell made a completely incomprehensible mistake on the last lap and ended up in the barrier. Hamilton completed the podium.

Pure agony for George Russell on the final lap💥#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/9Rug7lX08J
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 17, 2023

Even after such a miserable weekend for Red Bull, the Austrian team is not leaving empty-handed. Verstappen went from 11th to 5th like a hot knife through butter and Pérez took at least 4 points for 8th place.

Somewhat lost in the mad race were the fantastic performances of Gasly and Piastri. Both drivers improved significantly on their starting positions and finished the race in 6th and 7th.

Lawson scored his first points in F1 filling in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo. Magnussen was the last driver to score points.

From Singapore, the queen of motorsport moves to the iconic Suzuka circuit in Japan. Red Bull will have a second chance to secure the Constructors’ Cup title.