Carlos Sainz demonstrated his tactical awareness in abundance as the Spaniard held off a late Mercedes charge to win the Singapore Grand Prix and end Max Verstappen’s winning run.
Starting from pole, the Ferrari driver navigated his way around the Marina Bay circuit expertly to claim his second career victory ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Lewis Hamilton completed the podium line-up after Mercedes team-mate George Russell crashed out whilst in third place on the final lap.
In the first race of the season that hasn’t seen a Red Bull driver take the chequered flag, let’s look at four things we’ve learnt now the dust has settled from Sunday’s race.
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There’s more than one way to win a race
For Carlos Sainz, Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix pushed his racing acumen and tactical awareness to the limit. However, it was a test the Spaniard passed with flying colours under the hot and muggy night sky.
What the Ferrari driver demonstrated is there’s more than one way to win a Formula One race. If you don’t possess the pure speed to defend from opponents on fresher and more superior tyres, it’s possible to use the speed of the car behind to protect yourself. And that’s what Sainz did beautifully to secure victory.
Sainz started the race on pole, and it was clear from the off that Ferrari sensed an opportunity for a first win since Sainz won the British Grand Prix in 2022.
Charles Leclerc, who qualified third, was used as a sacrificial lamb, firstly starting the race on soft tyres in a bid to overtake George Russell and protect his team-mate out front.
The Monegasque driver completed his first assignment skilfully before backing the pack up on lap 20 to hand Sainz the chance to pit under the safety car and still maintain the lead.
It was then over to Sainz to finish the job for his team and seemingly had proceedings under control until Esteban Ocon triggered a virtual safety car after his Alpine lost power on lap 43.
The race leader stayed out on track, but Mercedes opted to bring both Russell and Hamilton in for a fresh set of medium tyres.
The pair rejoined the race fourth and fifth respectively behind Sainz, Lando Norris and Leclerc.
The 15 second gap between the British pair and Leclerc in third quickly evaporated as the difference in tyres was obvious.
Leclerc couldn’t repeat the help he’d offered Sainz earlier on and was dispatched by both Mercedes drivers on lap 54.
It wasn’t long before the Russell-led Mercedes charge caught up with Norris and Sainz.
For Sainz, it must have seemed like déjà vu.
Last time out at the Italian Grand Prix, Sainz started on pole before being eventually hunted down by the all-conquering Max Verstappen and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to finish third.
Now suddenly, he was being pursued by the two Mercedes drivers who were looking to relegate him once again to the third step of the podium.
However, despite the mental and physical energy that racing in Singapore takes out of a driver, Sainz still possessed the presence of mind and calmness of thought to defend against Russell and Hamilton.
Had Norris been stranded alone in second place, he’d most certainly have been overtaken by one, if not both Mercedes, due to their pace advantage, and left Sainz a sitting duck.
The only way Sainz could make Norris’ car faster was by backing up to within a second of his former McLaren team-mate to allow the Briton to benefit from using DRS, which he duly did.
It was a masterstroke.
Russell was unable to find a way past Norris, the latter defending brilliantly in his own right to stop the former overtaking him on lap 59, before crashing out on the final lap, as Sainz held on with Norris and Hamilton behind.
For all of Verstappen’s dominance this season, so many of his victories have been processions.
Arguably the best driver in the best car, gliding past his opponents with relative ease, although mightily impressive, doesn’t teach us anything new.
This victory for Sainz however, showed us he is a serious talent, who can perform under the most intense pressure, and despite being on waning tyres, could outthink those in pursuit of him.
He wasn’t just driving his car; he was driving the McLaren behind him too and that’s a hallmark of an elite few.
With Red Bull expected to be far more competitive in Japan next time around, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes may be back to fighting over the final podium place, but if it turns out to be a close race at the Suzuka Circuit, Sainz has demonstrated he can thrive in those situations.
This will be a race win remembered by fans and pundits alike as a time where sheer speed wasn’t the reason for victory, it was because of the skill and nous of the driver behind the wheel, and that driver, was Carlos Sainz.
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Liam Lawson looks at home on the grid
For all the drama unfolding at the front of this race, further back in the midfield, rookie Liam Lawson, driving in just his third race in Formula One, guided his Alpha Tauri to ninth place and in doing so, secured his first points in the sport.
The New Zealander, who is deputising for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull’s junior team, made headlines on Saturday during qualifying by knocking out Max Verstappen in Q2 and in doing so, progressing to Q3.
Despite losing places during the start, the 21-year-old drove maturely and looked right at home on the streets of Singapore.
There aren’t many tougher tracks on the calendar and Lawson has laid down a real marker for what he’s capable of.
Having made the final part of qualifying for the first time in Singapore and once again improving upon his best race finish, he’ll go into the Japanese Grand Prix weekend full of confidence that he can gain some more points and crucially, show potential suitors he should have a place on the F1 grid full time next season.
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Verstappen will fight to the bitter end
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen’s race weekend was entirely different to the 14 that preceded it.
So far this season, the Dutchman has won 12 races, including a record 10 in a row, and finished second twice.
We’ve all gotten used to seeing the Red Bull driver standing atop the podium so his absence on Sunday from the post-race celebrations is a story in itself.
He began the race in 11th on hard tyres in a bid to go long into the race.
However, that strategy call didn’t pay off.
Despite finding himself second after the safety car’s first outing, Verstappen still needed to change tyres, and when he finally did so, 40 laps in, he rejoined the race in 15th place.
It would have been easy at that point for the champion-elect to have cruised round, preserved the car and written off the weekend as a blip.
But that’s not in his nature.
You don’t become a double world champion without fighting till the end.
Verstappen knows all too well what can happen on the last lap of a race.
Although no world titles were on offer in Singapore, Verstappen still fought his way through the field, relying on a skillset he’s seldom had to use this season.
He did his level best to dispel the theory that overtaking around the Marina Bay circuit was difficult and salvaged a respectable fifth placed finish, just under 0.3 seconds from Charles Leclerc in fourth.
We can’t be sure entirely as to why Red Bull were so off the pace this weekend, but it would be surprising to see a repeat of this episode in Japan.
But now that Verstappen has had a refresher course in overtaking, even if he does find himself off the front row at Suzuka, he’ll still be a big favourite for victory, because as he showed on Sunday, he’ll fight right up until the chequered flag is waved.
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Distraught Russell missed chance to be Mercedes main man
Unsurprisingly, George Russell was visibly distraught following the Singapore Grand Prix.
The driver from King’s Lynn struggled through his post-race press duties after his final lap crash.
He was running in third at the time and was favourite to win the race in the closing stages due to his Mercedes, on fresher medium tyres, having a sizeable pace advantage over Lando Norris in second and race leader Carlos Sainz.
However, Sainz’s excellent display of tactical driving and a missed opportunity to overtake Norris thwarted Russell’s victory aspirations before the Briton clipped the wall and lost out on a podium place he so richly deserved.
Having qualified second and then driven so well during Sunday’s race, leaving the Marina Bay circuit with nothing to show for his efforts will be bitterly disappointing for the former Williams driver.
Yet, potentially more frustrating for him will be the fact he was the main man in Mercedes’ pursuit of glory, and he let slip that opportunity.
He had put himself in a position ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton to chase down the win, and what a watershed moment it would have been for the 25-year-old had he been the one standing above the seven-time world champion on the podium having claimed victory.
Hamilton, so often cast in the leading role himself, was playing the role of sidekick as Russell was entrusted to be the hero, and it must have stung that he couldn’t finish off the job.
It would have stung even more that he didn’t finish at all, instead, facing the barrier after a last-lap lapse in concentration whilst Hamilton claimed the final podium place.
