Red Bull dominance was temporarily halted in 2023 as Carlos Sainz produced a masterful drive to win around Marina Bay ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton

Producing one of the most intelligent drives ever seen, Carlos Sainz ended Red Bull’s 2023 win streak at the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris as Mercedes’ charge in the dying laps ended in heartbreak with George Russell crashing out on the final lap, handing P3 to teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc fended off Max Verstappen to finish P4 as the Dutchman failed to keep his 100% podium rate in 2023 alive. Pierre Gasly finished ahead of Oscar Piastri as the Australian fought from bad luck in qualifying to go from P17 to P7 in his first race at Marina Bay.

Sergio Perez endured a horrifically scrappy day, which featured him taking out Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon meaning he finished in P8, ahead of Liam Lawson. The Alpha Tauri driver keeps putting forward his case for a full time drive in 2024 as he gained crucial points for his team, finishing ahead of Kevin Magnussen.

Qualifying Rundown

It was all smiles at Ferrari as Carlos Sainz secured back to back pole positions for the Scuderia, whilst teammate Leclerc will start in P3. George Russell starts P2, with teammate Hamilton (P5) and McLaren’s Lando Norris (P4) meaning 4 different teams filled the Top 5.

Q1 was headlined by a massive crash for Lance Stroll who has been ruled out of Sunday’s main race. In the dying seconds of the session, the Canadian smashed into the final corner barrier at approximately 150mph (240kph). Thankfully, Stroll climbed out of his wrecked Aston Martin by himself.

This incident knocked out Oscar Piastri in an incredibly unlucky turn of events for the Australian. He is one to watch as his McLaren is definitely fast enough to challenge the podium positions around Marina Bay. Both Alfa Romeos and the Williams of Logan Sargeant were also out. The American is yet to outqualify his teammate in 2023.

Red Bull were finding it difficult around Singapore, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez off the pace in qualifying. The endured a shock double knockout in Q2, a remarkably poor effort for the team that has won every single race since Abu Dhabi 2022.

They were joined by Gasly, Albon and Tsunoda, but a special mention has to go to the other driver for Alpha Tauri. Liam Lawson put in one of the best laps of his career to get into Q3 in what is only his second full F1 weekend to knockout Verstappen. The Kiwi is impressing for the Faenza outfit in Daniel Ricciardo’s absence.

This opened the door for an unbelievable Q3. Both Haas cars made it into the top 10 shootout, as Magnussen starts P6 ahead of Alonso and Ocon, and teammate Hulkenberg starts P9 ahead of Lawson. All eyes are on the Top 5 though as all of them look to be the first to end Red Bull’s consecutive win streak.

Carlos Sainz pipped George Russell by 72 miliseconds to take pole, with Charles Leclerc only 7 miliseconds behind the Mercedes. Lando Norris was a further two tenths off the Monegasque as Lewis Hamilton felt he ‘was just slow’, with the veteran looking to get his first win since Jeddah 2021. Strategy is going to be key on race day with all 5 so evenly matched.

Race Rundown

Race Start

Carlos Sainz led ahead of teammate Leclerc into Turn 1 as George Russell could not defend against the Monegasque, who was on the soft compound tyres at the start. Russell also needed to be aware of teammate Hamilton and Lando Norris going side by side into the first corer and pushed his teammate wide as Lewis gained two positions at the start.

He would have to hand both back and drop down to P5. Behind there was a scrap featuring Red Bull’s Perez against Yuki Tsunoda, as the Mexican drove into the Japanese drivers rear right. Tsunoda would have to retire with damage and has been so unlucky in the last two races, completing only half a lap in the last two grand prix.

Red Bulls struggle to fight through the pack

Max Verstappen was providing some brilliant mature driving and clean overtakes unlike teammate Perez. By lap 11 he was up to P8 ahead of both Haas drivers and Gasly, whilst Perez was still in his starting position behind Lawson.

However the Dutchman’s charge was ended as he hit tyre heating issues and had to cool down his hard compound tyres as Red Bull were thinking about the long run instead of immediately charging to the front. By lap 19, both drivers had not moved positions, and this gamble was about to backfire…

Logan Sargeant in the wall

Williams’ Logan Sargeant went into the Turn 8 barrier and was now driving around the circuit with a broken front wing. The American rookie is already under pressure for a 2024 seat having not scored a point in 2023 so far, and this error compounds his ever-growing headaches this season.

Everyone rushed into the pits for their stops considering the timing of Sargeant’s coincidently aligned with the pit window for the first stops. Carlos Sainz managed to get in and out of his pit before any other drivers had gone by. As for teammate Charles Leclerc, it was a different story.

Leclerc was trying to avoid double stacking with Sainz, and in doing so he put himself under risk from other drivers coming into their respective pits. As a result he was jumped by Russell and Norris. Notably, both Red Bull drivers stayed out.

Sainz led from Verstappen and Russell, with Perez ahead of Norris, Leclerc and Hamilton as Alonso, Ocon and Bottas rounded off the Top 10. Bottas was another driver staying out on the same hard tyres he started the race on, and like the Red Bulls, he was about to struggle.

Safety Car Restart

Carlos Sainz nailed his restart and left Max Verstappen in his dust into Turn 1. George Russell was immediately challenging the Dutchman, and Norris was piling pressure on Perez. At Turn 16, Russell overtook Verstappen and Norris passed Perez, who was now under immense pressure from Lewis Hamilton.

Onto lap 24, the Mercedes veteran completed the move into Turn 7 with the help of DRS. Verstappen was then overtaken by Lando Norris at Turn 14 with both Red Bull drivers really struggling during this restart period. Valterri Bottas had gone from P10 all the way down to P17 during this time frame.

On lap 27, Hamilton was Verstappen’s latest intruder. He was up to P4 into Turn 7. Perez was now down to P7 because of Charles Leclerc and had Alonso chasing him. Leclerc overtook the other Red Bull on the next lap.

Ocon’s day goes from Brilliant to Disastrous

Perez was doing a decent job holding up Alonso and had done it to an extent that Ocon had closed the gap to the two drivers. On Lap 37, Alonso attacked Perez into Turn 7, but Perez was wise enough to optimise his exit and get the position back. The two drivers were side by side for the next 2 corners, as Ocon picked his moment perfectly.

Alonso ran wide out of Turn 9 allowing the Alpine to breeze by the Aston Martin. On lap 39, unlike Fernando, Ocon timed his move into Turn 7 optimally, allowing him to overtake Perez into Turn 8 and 9.

Pere was really struggling now and lost another 2 positions before he pit on lap 40. Teammate Verstappen came in on lap 41 as both Red Bulls were in P15 and P17, albeit on better tyres.

Their pit stop timing was incredibly unlucky as a Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Ocon, who had been running in P6 was stranded at Turn 2 with a mechanical failure. It had been such a great birthday for Esteban, but his bad luck in 2023 continues. DNFs in back to back races is not what him or Alpine would have ever wanted.

Mercedes’ Strategic Gamble

Under the VSC, Mercedes took a risk to pit both cars onto new sets of medium tyres. Having seen how quickly the Red Bull’s were on the new tyres, on lap 45 they did the same. They were not the only ones with Williams’ Alex Albon doing the same.

With 17 laps to go, the massive questions was how quick were Mercedes going to be. Could they hunt down race leader Carlos Sainz in time and fight for the race lead. In their way was Sainz’s teammate Leclerc, and the Spaniard’s old teammate Lando Norris.

The Silver Arrows hunt down the Top 3

The gap from Russell to Leclerc in P3 was 14 seconds, and to race leader Sainz was 17 seconds. Lewis Hamilton was a further 5 seconds back from his teammate in P5. Thus began their hunt for their first win since Brazil 2022.

Over the next laps, the gap decreased rapidly. By lap 51, Russell was only 4 seconds behind Leclerc and 9 seconds behind Sainz, as Lewis Hamilton was also closing the gap to his teammate and was now only 3 seconds behind him.

Meanwhile, the Red Bulls were charging there way through the field. Verstappen eyed Liam Lawson into Turn 16 on lap 51 and overtook the Kiwi for P8, as Liam was nursing his worn hard tyres to earn crucial points for his team. Perez was busy fighting Alex Albon for P12 as the Williams driver was also in the hunt for the Top 10 positions.

On lap 53, George Russell’s hunt on Leclerc was over as he overtook the Ferrari on the exit of Turn 14. Teammate Lewis Hamilton was only 1 seconds behind Russell now, and overtook the Monegasque driver for P4 into Turn 7 on the next lap. The gap between the Top 4 was down to 8 seconds now, with 8 laps remaining.

Top 4 duel for the win

3 other drivers to watch for included Max Verstappen who was up into P6 on lap 58, completing a move on Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. His teammate Sergio Perez was in P11 behind Alex Albon, who was into the Top 10 thanks to some brilliant strategy work at Williams. The gap between the top 4 was down to a meer 2.8 seconds.

Carlos Sainz realised if he had Lando behind him as a buffer, that would maximise his chances of winning. Tactically, he held Lando 0.8 seconds so he could have DRS, but not be close enough to pass him.

Behind, the battle between Perez and Albon had gone sour for the Thai driver, who had been running as high as P9 and rapidly catching up to P8. The Mexican sent a divebomb on Albon who had no option but avoid race ending contact as the Red Bull T-boned the Williams at the turn 13 hairpin. A move that summarised Perez’s 250th Grand Prix.

Sainz wins amidst last lap heartbreak

The last 3 laps between our top 4 drivers was nail-biting. Carlos Sainz was doing all he could to keep Lando Norris behind him as the McLaren was under a lot of pressure from both Mercedes drivers. Norris defended a move from George Russell into Turn 14 on lap 60 but couldn’t squeeze past the McLaren.

He had Lewis Hamilton all over his rear end and debatably it was the veteran at this time that looked more dangerous than Russell. They squabbled for a corner which allowed Norris to create a buffer to the two Silver Arrows.

Onto the final lap and Sainz had a gap to Norris which meant his first win of the season was all but sealed. The final two spots were not however, as Russell hassled Norris into the second sector. Norris touched the wall into the entry at Turn 10, but avoided race ending contact. Russell did the same, but the same luck was not to go his way.

The Mercedes went straight on into the Turn 10 barrier allowing teammate Hamilton by. Heartbreak for Russell, who will want to improve on his race craft before the next race weekend in Japan. He had dominated Hamilton all weekend until the dying laps of the race, when the pressure was on him to get the job done.

As for the Ferrari in front, he not only got his job done in terms of leading every lap of the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, but his masterful strategic move in keeping Lando in his DRS completed a brilliant 1-2 for the two ex-teammates.

He masterminded one of the great drives to end Red Bull’s 100% win record in 2023. Lando Norris can celebrate a well earnt P2 for McLaren who get another podium this season.

Race Summary

Where did it go wrong for Mercedes? They made a strategic gamble that looked to get them not just a win but a potential 1-2. Instead of a definite P2, which George Russell would have achieved if he did not pit, the Brit stares at a Marina Bay barrier in despair. Teammate Lewis Hamilton looked faster, and who knows what would’ve happened if he was ahead of George.

Charles Leclerc held off a hard charging Verstappen by just 2 tenths of a second. The Monegasque’s tyres had fallen off the cliff and was losing upwards of 4 seconds a lap to the Dutchman. As much as Ferrari will celebrate the win and P4 thus closing the gap to Mercedes in the constructors to just 24 points, they were 1-2 for the first 20 laps.

It is a bittersweet day for Alpine. P6 for Pierre Gasly is brilliant, but teammate Esteban Ocon could have well finished in the Top 5 if his gearbox had not failed. His French compatriot finished ahead of Oscar Piastri, who drove superbly to fightback from P17 on the grid to P7. Another brilliant effort by the Australian.

As for the person who finished in P8, a lot went badly for Sergio Perez. The Mexican got knocked out in Q2 for the 7th time in 2023, took out 2 drivers and at one stage was overtaken by 3 cars in a single sector. A forgettable 250th GP for Sergio.

Our driver of the weekend is Liam Lawson, who has stepped in to fill Daniel Ricciardo’s shoes at Alpha Tauri unbelievably. He knocked out Verstappen in Q2 qualifying in P10, and converted it into his teams best result of the season. He is impressing so much that a 2024 seat is more than deserved. Whether it is at Alpha Tauri, or even at Williams is the question.

Kevin Magnussen brought home an important point for Haas, who increase their lead over Alfa Romeo to 2 points in their battle for P8. Alex Albon will be gutted to miss out on a top 10 finish, considering he had a definite Top 9 finish coming his way before contact with Perez.

Marina Bay provided the best weekend in Formula 1 yet and highlighted the fact a battle for P2 is not good enough. The rulings on flexi wings hindered Red Bull and took them out of the picture, resulting in 3 teams and 4 drivers fighting for the win.

We hope that we will see the same heading to a landmark track on the F1 calendar: Suzuka, Japan. Can Red Bull find what went wrong at Singapore and win yet again in 2023, or have the rule changes brought their competitors closer to them?