F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 16
THE SINGAPORE GP IN 5 KEY MOMENTS
1 Sainz’s tactical masterclass
While the final three laps of the 14th Singapore Grand Prix were a thrilling contest, it was in the dying moments of qualifying the day before when the course towards this outcome was set. And the margins could not have been finer.
On this year’s shorter track layout Carlos Sainz set a time of 1m30.984s, just 0.072s quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell and a further 0.007s faster than Sainz’s Ferrari team-mate. The red die was cast. Charles Leclerc duly became the only driver in the top 14 to start on the soft tyre and his mission was to wrestle second place from Russell at the start (which he accomplished before Turn 1) and sacrifice his own race to help Sainz manage the gap to the chasing pack.
It worked out perfectly. But the downside for the spectators was that the opening 19 laps were little more than a high-speed procession. Zhou Guanyu, running in last place, was matching the lap times of the leaders. Everyone was waiting for something to happen.
It did when Logan Sargeant drove his Williams into the Turn 8 wall. While Sargeant was able to trundle back to the pits with a large chunk of his front wing stuck under his car, the presence of debris on track led to the Safety Car’s deployment on lap 20.
Virtually everyone dived into the pits except for the two out-of-position Red Bulls who had started on the hard compound. Forced to change rubber slightly earlier than was ideal, Sainz now had to nurse his new hard-compound tyres for 42 laps. Leclerc, delayed in his stop, was no longer in a position to play wingman. After 40 laps the Red Bulls demonstrated the likely lifespan of the hards as Sergio Pérez pitted a lap before Verstappen, having dropped a number of positions on lap 39.
Up front Sainz led from Russell and the McLaren of Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton was fourth, having cut straight across the Turn 1 chicane on the opening lap and briefly run second before conceding two places under instructions from race control.
Russell needed a way to pressurise the Ferrari ahead of him, which was still running conservatively to save tyres. An opportunity presented itself on lap 44 when Esteban Ocon parked his stuck-in-sixth Alpine at the pitlane exit. Cue the Virtual Safety Car.
Mercedes went for a high-risk strategy it had held in reserve, having saved a set of medium tyres for each car during qualifying. Despite giving up track position, Russell and Hamilton gained prodigious speed. On lap 45 Russell had a 13.6s deficit to the leader. It came down to 8.6s on lap 51, 6.2s on lap 55 and with four to go Russell was right behind the leading duo.
This is where the top two were smart. Norris knew battling for the win would cost him time and they would both lose out to the Mercedes. Sainz knew his best chance of keeping Russell and Hamilton behind was to ensure Norris had DRS each lap. It was superb tactical driving and it worked as Sainz preserved his lead until the end.
“There was one lap where he [Norris] defended into T16-17 and I had to slow down a lot into Turns 1-2-3 to give him DRS,” said Carlos. “I think that move saved my race and his P2. If they had got past Lando, they would have passed me pretty easily.”
2 Missed opportunity for Russell
especially with fresher tyres in the closing stages, Russell gave his all to get past Norris. But he also had to keep an eye on his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, who was positioned in his wheel
