Perez's F1 Win in Singapore Puts Verstappen's Party on Hold

Formula 1’s return to Singapore was delayed by a pre-race downpour, but once it began a peerless Sergio Perez of Red Bull who triumphed while reigning champions Max Verstappen and Mercedes both hit trouble.

Autoweek rounds up the key talking points from Marina Bay.

Perez Rebounds with Resounding Victory

Sergio Perez had endured a difficult run of form in the build-up to the Singapore weekend but responded in fine form. Perez qualified a close second to Charles Leclerc but made a rapid getaway from the front-row of the grid, once the race finally got underway following a deluge in the early evening that caused a 65-minute delay.

Perez mastered the tricky conditions and kept Leclerc at bay throughout the shortened 59-lap race, though had to wait a couple of hours post-race to be assured of victory. Perez was investigated for Safety Car infractions, namely not keeping within 10 car lengths of the Safety Car, but escaped with a separate reprimand and a five-second time penalty. Having beaten Leclerc to the flag by 7.5 seconds it made no difference to the outcome of the Grand Prix. It was by far Perez’s finest performance since linking up with Red Bull as he truly commanded the evening’s actions.

“It was certainly my best performance,” said Perez. “I controlled the race, although the [tyre] warm-up was pretty difficult. The last few laps were so intense. I really didn’t feel it so much in the car, but when I got out of it, I felt it. I pushed [and] I gave everything for the win today.”

Verstappen’s Title Celebration on Hold

Verstappen had his first opportunity to clinch a second F1 world title in Singapore—albeit a long shot. Unfortunately for Verstappen, that possibility to clinch instead turned into a spate of setbacks that brought his five-race victory streak to a dismal conclusion.

Verstappen was rapid during qualifying on a drying circuit but a misunderstanding on Red Bull’s behalf meant he had insufficient fuel in the RB18. Verstappen abandoned his penultimate push lap, believing he had enough for a final effort, but was then called into the pits two corners from the finish line while on course for a pole-winning time.

An irate Verstappen vented on the radio, and criticized Red Bull post-session, after winding up only eighth in qualifying. The Dutchman has performed recovery drives in recent events, but this time his Sunday surge backfired. A slow start relegated him outside of the top 10 and while he steadily made up ground, aided by a mixture of others faltering and his own errors, he too came unstuck.

An attempt to pass Lando Norris on the damp off-line part of the track into Turn 7 failed and he heavily locked up, sailing into the escape road, and damaging his tires. Another pit stop left him firmly out of contention though he nobly recovered to score points courtesy of seventh. It nevertheless brought his victory streak to a shuddering conclusion.

“I think we are still 104 points in the lead, but it is just a very frustrating weekend,” said Verstappen. “I can of course say it doesn’t matter, we have five races left and we have a big lead, but I want to have a good weekend every single time and we had a really terrible weekend. It started, of course, yesterday with the big fuck up in qualifying.”

Verstappen remains 104 points ahead of Leclerc, with Perez 106 back.

A gap of 112 after this Sunday’s race in Japan will be sufficient for the Red Bull driver to be crowned champion.

A rare sloppy day for Mercedes pair

Mercedes’ drivers have largely executed strong weekends in spite of languid machinery in 2022, but that was not the case in Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton started third but dropped behind Carlos Sainz at the start, and made an uncharacteristic error when chasing the Ferrari driver, locking up into Turn 7 and nosing the barriers. That required an extra trip to the pits, dropping him to eighth, and his pursuit of seventh backfired when an attempt at Sebastian Vettel merely opened the door for Verstappen. Hamilton classified ninth.

“I am not going to punish myself for a mistake,” said Hamilton. “It was very tricky conditions for everyone and the problems we have with this car are magnified in the wet. It is a very, very hard car to drive in the rain.”

George Russell’s Sunday was compromised by a Q2 exit on Saturday and fears over his power unit reliability prompted a pre-race change that mandated a pit lane start. From there he had clumsy contact with Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher, in separate incidents, while a premature switch to slicks further compromised his already wounded race.

Coming home with just two points marked Mercedes’ worst return of 2022 and dealt a substantial blow to its chances of challenging Ferrari for second in the championship.

“This season has given us several tough lessons—and today was another one,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “We started from opposite ends of the grid with our two cars, but we couldn't capitalize on the car's race pace with either of them, when it came to an end result. The biggest frustration today is that we couldn't build on the signs of competitive performance we saw in FP2 and in qualifying. Our championship fight for P2 has got significantly more difficult with this result.”

Alpine Woes Hurt 'Best of the Rest' Quest

Alpine had stretched clear of McLaren in the fight for ‘best of the rest’ in the upper echelons of Formula 1’s midfield but it had a horror show in Singapore.

Fernando Alonso superbly secured fifth on the grid, and ran competitively in the first stint, but a sudden engine failure put him out of contention. Esteban Ocon, running outside of the points after an issue left him languishing down the order in qualifying, also suffered an engine failure that halted his A522. McLaren, meanwhile, had a super day, which was aided by a late tire decision to take on slicks.

Lando Norris, already running fourth, converted that position while Daniel Ricciardo vaulted through the order. Having stayed out one lap later than his opponents he was gifted a free stop when the safety car was deployed after Yuki Tsunoda slid into the barriers on cold slicks. Ricciardo emerged in fifth position, which he retained through to the checkered flag, picking up his best result of the year.

That gave McLaren 22 points, overturning its deficit and lifting it four points ahead of Alpine in the race for fourth in the championship.

Haas Drops to Eighth in Constructors' Chase

Haas’ miserable run continued—a sixth straight race outside the top 10—and this time there was a consequence.

Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher were both involved in scrapes during the race that hurt their prospects—Magnussen with Verstappen on the opening lap, and Schumacher with George Russell shortly after the final restart.

It was a day in which opportunities manifested themselves and Haas missed out. Conversely, Aston Martin grabbed a large chunk of points as Lance Stroll raced to sixth, with Sebastian Vettel eighth. That vaulted Aston Martin ahead of Haas and into seventh in the F1 Constructors' Standings, by three points, while a point for Pierre Gasly means Haas is now tied with AlphaTauri for eighth.

F1 Constructors' Championship

Standings

1. Red Bull 576

2. Ferrari 439

3. Mercedes 373

4. McLaren 129

5. Alpine 125

6. Alfa Romeo 52

7. Aston Martin 37

8. Haas 34

9. AlphaTauri 34

10. Williams 6

It could have been worse for Haas, given Gasly was in the mix with the Aston Martins until AlphaTauri brought him in slightly early for slicks.

“I got the black and orange flag which to me seems unnecessary as the part wasn’t about to fall off, there were no safety concerns as it has tethers to the car – it wasn’t even moving,” said Magnussen.

“A disappointing race as we could’ve scored points here realistically, without dreaming of them,” said Haas team principal Guenther Steiner. “The incident on Lap 1 with Kevin, we lost all positions and again we received a black and orange flag, now for the third time, when there is no need for it.

"We have made it very clear to the FIA on the past two occasions and it’s just like you have your back against the wall. Mick was very close to points, almost in it, and then he had contact with Russell and that put him out of the race for points. We showed what was possible, but we didn’t bring any points home.”

Results

F1 Singapore Grand Prix

1. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 59 laps

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +7.5 seconds

3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +15.3

4. Lando Norris, McLaren, +26.1

5. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, +58.2

6. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1:01.3

7. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +1:03.8

8. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, +1:05.0

9. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:06.5

10. Piere Gasly, AlphaTauri, +1:14.5

11. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +1:33.8

12. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1:37.6

13. Mick Schumacher, Haas, +1 lap

14. George Russell, Mercedes, +2 laps

15. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +25 laps

16. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +33 laps

17. Alex Albon, Williams, +34 laps

18. Fernando Alonso, Alpine, +39 laps

19. Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +52 laps

20. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo, +53 laps

Note: Perez was hit with a 5-second penalty following the race, but it did not change the end result.

Driver Standings

1. Max Verstappen 341

2. Charles Leclerc 237

3. Sergio Perez 235

4. George Russell 203

5. Carlos Sainz 202

6. Lewis Hamilton 170

7. Lando Norris 100

8. Esteban Ocon 66

9. Fernando Alonso 59

10. Valtteri Bottas 46

11. Daniel Ricciardo 29

12. Sebastian Vettel 24

13. Pierre Gasly 23

14. Kevin Magnussen 22

15. Lance Stroll 13

16. Mick Schumacher 12

17. Yuki Tsunoda 11

18. Zhou Guanyu 6

19. Alex Albon 4

20. Nyck DeVries 2

21. Nicholas Latifi 0

22. Nico Hulkenberg 2