It turned out to be a thrilling final laps in Sunday’s Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, with plenty of drama along the way.
After putting his Ferrari on pole on Saturday, Carlos Sainz wheeled his No. 55 to his first win of the season after leading from start to finish. While Sainz controlled the pace, the race for second in the closing laps entertained.
A virtual safety car for a stopped Esteban Ocon in turn two on lap 44 brought strategy for Mercedes, as they double stacked pitting for fresh tires.
Once back on track, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton scampered their way back to the rear bumper of second-place runner Lando Norris, who was hounding Sainz by under one second.
A desperate Russell made a mistake in turn 10, stuffing his Mercedes into the tire barrier and out of a potential podium result.
“I am lost for words,” a deflated Russell said. “I think we were half a car’s length away from winning the race today. If I was able to pass Lando (Norris), I am sure I would have been able to overtake Carlos (Sainz). Unfortunately I missed that opportunity. I made a mistake by one or two centimeters on that last lap, and I clipped the wall.
“It’s a mistake that has overshadowed my whole weekend. Up to that point, it had been a fantastic race weekend. The car felt great, and the team had done an incredible job. Our strategy was superb, and we were bold and aggressive. It was exciting out there and it’s heart-breaking to be standing here with zero points. Nevertheless, there are positives to take away. I will likely have a bad night tonight and even tomorrow morning. But I will put this behind me and come back stronger next weekend in Japan.”
As Sainz crossed the line, Norris followed suit with Hamilton securing the final podium position after having to yield two positions on the opening stint due to cutting a corner.
“We rolled the dice this weekend and went with an offset tire strategy,” Hamilton said. “I felt like the race was a two-stop today and the team did an amazing job to get us back up there. Having to give back the two positions from the first corner was a shame, but I kept my head down and kept pushing.
“Overall this weekend, I haven’t felt fully comfortable with the car. Today it was in a better place though. If I had had that same feeling yesterday, I think I could have been fighting for the front-row. That may have changed my race today, but I’m still pleased to get on the podium.”
For Sainz, it was his second career victory after winning last year’s British Grand Prix.
“An incredible feeling, an incredible weekend,” said Sainz. “I want to thank everyone in Ferrari for making this huge effort to turn around and manage to win this season after a tricky beginning.
“But now we nailed the weekend, we nailed the race… Everything that we had to do, we did perfect, and we brought home a P1 that I’m sure all Italy, all Ferrari, is going to be proud and happy today.”
Red Bull Salvages Tough Weekend
A Ferrari victory meant the end of a 15-race streak of winning for Red Bull Racing after a struggle of a weekend for the two-car team. Reigning champion Max Verstappen started 11th and managed to secure fifth in the closing laps. His teammate Sergio Perez clawed his way to eighth position.
“I think we did the best we could today,” Verstappen said. “We had good pace and we were just unfortunate with the timing of the safety car, if it weren’t for that, I really think that we would have been in a good place to fight up front. With the strategy today it was really important to not make any mistakes.
“In the end I was able to have some fun catching up on the mediums. For now, the target is to win next weekend in Japan. Everything needs to be perfect to win every race in a season, I knew this day would come and it’s absolutely fine. Everyone sees how dominant we can be and they don’t realize how difficult it really is, we need to get a lot of things right.”
Best Of The Rest
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc edged Verstappen for fourth. Pierre Gasly gave Alpine a sixth-place finish, followed by McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri in seventh.
Liam Lawson earned his first points finish in ninth for AlphaTauri, the team’s best result of the season. Rounding out the top 10 was Haas F-1’s Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen’s teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished just outside the points in 13th.