Race Report: Verstappen beats Leclerc, Antonelli in Singapore

Max Verstappen finally won in Singapore, and he did it the hard way: Sprint pole, Sprint win, Grand Prix pole and the Grand Prix itself. Charles Leclerc finished 7.3 seconds back and Kimi Antonelli was third. Lewis Hamilton argued his way off the podium. George Russell came from 19th to ninth after a grid penalty. Antonelli now leads the championship by 102 points with six races to go.

Win

Max Verstappen. Singapore was the one track on the current calendar where Max had never won. He made up for it this weekend. He chopped across Leclerc into Turn 1, made one stop and was never challenged. His radio wasn’t working for part of the race, and he said “GP did a great job.” It was his 73rd win, in his 250th start. He’s scored 58 points in two weekends and is now 17 points behind Russell for second in the championship. That fight is suddenly very real.

Charles Leclerc. He qualified 0.054 seconds off pole, pushed Max into the first corner, took the VSC stop when Ferrari called it and passed Hamilton on lap 46. Add third in the Sprint and that’s 24 points for the weekend. “We gave it our all today and extracted the maximum.”

Kimi Antonelli. He lost a place to Norris after his VSC stop and could have settled for fourth. Instead he passed Norris and then Hamilton into Turn 16, on a track where passing is hard. He picked up a few track limits warnings and simply drove away from any penalty. A 102 point lead, and Mercedes says the upgrade is finally working.

Liam Lawson. He passed Gasly into Turn 1 and finished best of the rest in seventh, after fifth in the Sprint. That’s ten points for the weekend, and Racing Bulls now lead Alpine by 32 for fifth in the constructors.

Nico Hulkenberg and Audi. Seventh in the Sprint, then eighth in the Grand Prix after holding off Russell’s Mercedes over the final laps. It’s the first time Audi has scored in both the Sprint and the race. Allan McNish called it “one of the best races I have seen Nico drive.”

Isack Hadjar. His car wouldn’t change gear in qualifying and his engine quit in the Sprint. He started from the pit lane and passed Gasly late for the last point.

Fail

Lewis Hamilton’s strategy. Second in the Sprint was great. Sunday was not. Lewis started third on mediums, was the first to stop on lap 19, then stayed out under the VSC and refused a second stop, hoping for another caution that never came. Ferrari said he was six laps short of making a one stop work. His softs died, he lapped a second or two slower than the cars around him, and Antonelli, Norris and Piastri all went by. On the radio he said: “Sorry, boys, I let you down today with that strategy.” Credit to him for owning it. Last week ignoring the pit wall got him a podium. This week it cost him one. He was also checked by the FIA medical team after feeling unwell, and he skipped the media pen.

McLaren. Norris dove down the inside of Piastri at Turn 5 on the last lap of the Sprint while they fought for fourth. Both spun and Piastri ended up in the wall. McLaren scored one point instead of about nine. Andrea Stella called it “simply not acceptable.” The stewards called it a racing incident. Both drivers admitted on Sunday that McLaren is the fourth fastest team right now. Red Bull is seven points behind them in the constructors, so those Sprint points matter.

George Russell. He passed Verstappen for the lead of the Sprint into Turn 1, then crashed at the last corner of the same lap. “It was a silly mistake on my side.” His Sepang engine failure brought a grid penalty for Sunday. He climbed from 19th to ninth, but his only stop came just as the VSC ended and he finished stuck behind Hulkenberg. “That type of luck sums up my season unfortunately!” His lead over Hamilton for second is down to nine points.

Alpine. Franco Colapinto lost power in the Sprint and retired from the race with a driveline failure, after saying reliability had been one of the team’s strong points this year. Gasly started seventh, ran out of rear tires and lost the final point to Hadjar. Zero points again.

Aston Martin. Sepang was a one off. Both cars started from the pit lane after overnight setup changes. Stroll hit Perez on lap 1 of the Sprint and parked with a clutch problem on Sunday. Alonso finished 16th. “The pace just wasn’t there again.”

Gabriel Bortoleto. He crashed at Turn 14 in Q2, was hit from behind at the Sprint restart and retired from the race with a gearbox problem. Then his car caught fire after it was pushed back to the garage. “Overall, a weekend to forget for me.”

WTH

Did Lewis really miss the pit entry? Ferrari called both cars in under the VSC. Leclerc pitted and Hamilton didn’t. Lewis says he missed the entry. Fred Vasseur said one driver “preferred to stay on track” and added, “Don’t blame the team.” The Race noted he made no obvious attempt to turn into the pit lane. Pick your version.

Arvid Lindblad, wrong way driver. He spun behind the Safety Car in the Sprint and briefly drove the wrong way around the track. The stewards took no action.

Pirelli Report:

“As widely expected, regardless of the neutralisations, the one-stop strategy proved to be the most competitive, with the Soft-Medium combination emerging as the most effective option.
The C5 was the star of the race, as it delivered very long stints while maintaining a strong level of performance and offering the advantage of greater grip than the other compounds available. Drivers who used it for around half the race only experienced a performance drop-off in the closing stages.

The Hard tyre was not a strategically attractive option for the teams, as it offered less grip than the C4 which, despite being the softer compound, exhibited virtually no degradation, without providing any tangible advantages in a race already firmly geared towards a one-stop strategy. As a result, although the C3 has proven effective at other circuits, it was not selected by any driver in Singapore.

Tyre degradation was in line with what we had already observed during free practice, and the visual condition of the tyres at the end of the stints was also very encouraging, even over the longest runs. Wear was manageable, although it required a degree of attention, particularly on the rear-right.”

Singapore GP Results: