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.