Marina Bay - as the lights go out
This season’s edition of the Singapore Grand Prix began with Sainz on pole, Russell second and Leclerc starting in third. Max Verstappen, who had won the previous 10 races started the race down in P11 was surely looking to gain places at the start.
Zhou was going to have to start in the pitlane due to changes to his Alfa Romeo and Stroll was unfortunately unable to compete due to his heavy crash in qualifying. So this was the starting grid on race day:
As the five red lights went out it was Sainz that stayed confidently in the lead with a good run off of the line along with his teammate, Leclerc who got the jump on Russell then leading onto a Ferrari 1-2.
There was controversy at turn one between Hamilton, Norris and Russell after Hamilton seemingly overtook them off track. This was soon resolved between the three as Hamilton let the both of them through on the next lap, though not without some back-and-forth on team radio.
Is he going to let me back past or...?
Lewis needs to give the position back. He just braked way too late. He committed to it, so he needs to give two positions back
The Early Laps
Tragedy struck for Tsunoda on lap 1 in the form of a puncture due to a collision with Perez. The Japanese driver pulled up on turn 14 because of this. Some people began questioning if this was reason enough for retiring from the race – couldn’t he have made it back the pitlane?
The top running order stayed the same up until lap 18 with Sainz seemingly controlling the lead easily from Leclerc, Russell, Norris and Hamilton.
Sainz reporting he still has a second of pace in hand
Surprised he didn't say two.
On lap 18 Sargent found himself and his Williams in the barrier, he did manage to keep the car going but brought out the safety car due to debris left on track.
This safety car led to a flurry of pit stops from the leading pack with all seven top drivers coming in for hard tyres. The two Red Bulls, who started on the hard tyres, elected to stay out – leaving Verstappen P2 and Perez P4. This was the worst situation for them – they’d been hoping for a long first stint on the hard tyres where they could have taken advantage of their hard tyres while the rest of the field struggled.
Pitlane Chaos
Due to traffic in the pitlane Leclerc and Hamilton were both held up, leading to them falling down the order, though arguably in Leclerc’s case this was his own doing, as he slowed down a little too much on entering the pitlane to give the pit crew time to clear his team mates car as they were double-stacking. On entering the pit lane Alonso crossed the white pit line as he struggled to slow his car down, leading to a 5 second penalty for the Spaniard.
The safety car led the pack until lap 22. Sainz, yet again, remained in control of the race, leading Verstappen and Russell away – who were fighting away for the second place on the podium. Verstappen hadn’t pitted under the safety car as the team wanted to extend his first stint, but he seemed to be struggling on his old hard tyres. Perez was also struggling for grip, as Norris was pressuring him for P4.
Soon enough the two Red Bull drivers had been passed by the Brits and Russell began to chase after Sainz and Norris attempted to find a way past Verstappen, which he managed to on lap 24.
Woe for the Red Bulls
As the laps went on the two Bulls continued to fall down the order, with Hamilton and Leclerc making their way past Verstappen. Perez fell down to P7, and was being chased by Alonso.
Sainz continued to control the race out front with Russell attempting to pressure the Ferrari into a mistake. Not much action happened in the front of the field until a virtual safety car was brought out by Ocon whose Alpine had to be stopped at turn 2.
This VSC prompted the two Mercedes cars to pit for new medium tyres and both were looking to take full advantage in the closing stages of the race.
The two came out on lap 45 in P4 for Russell and P5 for Hamilton respectively, they’d also emerged with plenty of clean air ahead of them – which gave them the best chance to chase down the leading pack.
IThe two Mercedes closed the gap to Leclecs, who was in third place, in just 8 laps – their speed on the fresher tyres was clear; the team had made a great strategic call. With their fresh tyres the pair of Brits made quick work of the Monegasque driver and started their chase after the top 2 spots – currently occupied by Sainz and Norris
It took just a few more laps for the Mercedes pair to catch Norris’ car, which they did on lap 59. By this point Sainz had worked out the Mercedes plan and had positioned himself strategically just under a second ahead of Norris. This daring and risky call enabled Norris to benefit from DNS, making it much harder for the Mercedes duo to pull off a move.
Russell was relentless in his attack on Norris, but was also under pressure from his team mate who was eager to get past him too and seal a podium finish.
Russell loses it
Disaster struck for Russell on the final lap of the race with the driver making a small mistake at turn 10 with the Mercedes car finding itself in the wall. Heartbreak for the British driver who was running in the podium places and was still looking for an overtake on Norris and potentially Sainz.
With Russell out, Hamilton took third position and sealed a place on the podium.
Just a few turns later, the chequered flag fell and it was the Ferrari of Sainz that took first place, a completely dominant display from the Spanish driver with him leading every single lap with assurance. This was his second win in F1.
Norris came home in second place, the Brit defended from the Mercedes cars valiantly with the DRS help from Sainz, taking home his 3rd podium of the season and matching his best result in F1. Hamilton took the final podium spot and the 7 time world champion added another podium to his collection, bringing his total to 196.
The 2023 Singapore Grand Prix was an entertaining race with overtakes all over the field and some unexpected faces on the podiums.
