Red Bull’s Perez wins as the Ferraris finish second and third. Verstappen trailed in seventh, and Hamilton ended ninth.
SINGAPORE—Sergio Perez seems to be the master of street circuits, and on Sunday evening at Marina Bay, the Mexican endured a one-hour rain delay and three safety and two virtual safety car periods to hold off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just over seven seconds to win the Singapore Grand Prix. Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, took third.
Despite his victory, Perez was handed a possible penalty for overtaking the safety car during one of its periods. Perez was not aware of it. “I have no idea what’s going on. I was told to increase the gap, and that’s what I did,” he said when told of the penalty possibility.
Sergio Perez: It was certainly my best performance. I controlled the race. The last few laps were so intense I didn’t feel it that much in the car, but when I got out, I felt it. I gave everything for the win today.
Perez began the race with an excellent start as Leclerc developed wheel spin and ended up second around the first corner. Both drivers opened a quick gap quickly of six seconds, and they held off the rest of the grid, including defending champion Max Verstappen.
If he had won today, Verstappen would have nabbed his second world championship. But it was not to be. He began the race from eighth but moved back, nearly putting his car into an anti-stall situation. He was in 12th before moving up to ninth after seven laps.
The race’s two-hour finishing limit, coupled with six retirements, significantly impacted what happened this Sunday. The day ended for Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams’s Nicholas Latifi when the two struck each other on lap eight. Latifi’s teammate, Alex Albon, who is just back from appendicitis surgery, crashed his car in sector two. He returned the car to the pits but had to retire. Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda retired after entering the barriers at turn 10.
Alpine had two retirements–Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon both had engine failures–and those departures cost the team fourth place in the Constructor’s Championship to McLaren. On the other hand, McLaren had one of its best races in quite a while as Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
With Singapore now in the rearview mirror, next up is the Honda Japanese Grand Prix, which will take place this upcoming weekend. Free Practice sessions begin Friday, 11p Eastern US time, and will be televised by ESPN News.
