Perez wins on day to forget for Verstappen: 2022 Singapore GP

Sergio Perez won the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix after springing past polesitter Charles Leclerc at the start and never relinquishing his lead.

Both Ferrari drivers, led by Leclerc, finished on the podium and were followed by the pair of McLarens, who pitted with perfect timing during one of the many safety car periods on a track that began wet and slippery after an afternoon downpour.

The start of the race was delayed by an hour and every driver started on intermediate tyres, in the humidity and under the Singapore lights.

The scene could have been set for Max Verstappen, starting from a lowly eighth, to surge to the front and win, as we’ve seen him do in several races this year. But it was a day to forget for the Dutchman who had a theoretical chance of claiming his second world championship at the Marina Bay race but found himself struggling after a poor start, and then making an error which forced him to make an extra pitstop.

He finished seventh but former title rival Lewis Hamilton fared even worse; hitting the wall and then making a mistake while fighting Verstappen and dropping to ninth.

A total of six cars retired as the barriers (and Alpine’s reliability) took its toll. Here’s how the race played out.

Leclerc started on pole but it was Perez with the better start and he powered into the lead by Turn 1, followed by the Ferrari.

Sainz, fourth on the grid got alongside third-placed Hamilton who suffered wheelspin and the two were side by side into Turn 1. A nudge sent Hamilton slightly off track and behind Sainz in fourth, where he would languish for much of the race.

Verstappen bogged down and found himself in 12th battling Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen in an elbows-out, precarious midfield fight.

A clash with Magnussen showed just how risky it can be in the middle of the pack: Verstappen squeezed the Haas towards the wall and clipped its front wing with the rear wheel.

The championship leader was fortunate to escape without a puncture, but Magnussen’s front endplate was flapping and needing a repair. Stewards decided to take no action.

Towards the back, Albon spun and backed into the wall. He was able to get going again but dropped to the back.

By lap two, Perez was a second ahead of Leclerc, who was followed by Sainz and Hamilton, Norris and Alonso.

Having got the better of Ricciardo and Magnussen, Verstappen moved up to tenth with a pass on Stroll.

Hamilton was complaining about “no grip” from his intermediate tyres on lap three, telling his team that they should have listened to him.

There were no such complaints from Verstappen, who passed Tsunoda for ninth.

Verstappen had dropped 21sec behind Perez by lap 4 and his team-mate was looking relatively comfortable in the lead: 1.2sec ahead of Leclerc, with Sainz a further 5sec behind.

There has been a safety car at every Singapore GP held so far and a clash between Zhou Guanyu and Nicholas Latifi on lap eight ensured that record will continue.

The Alfa Romeo driver was trying to pass on the outside approaching Turn 5, but the Canadian squeezed him to the wall. The left-rear of the Williams clobbered the right front of the Alfa, bringing Zhou to a halt with broken steering and needing recovery, which triggered the safety car.

Latifi limped back to the pits with a puncture, saying he hadn’t seen Zhou. The car was retired.

At the same time, George Russell nudged the other Alfa Romeo as he tried to climb up the field after starting from the pitlane. The Mercedes driver attempted to drive down the inside of Valtteri Bottas but ran down the escape road, clipping Bottas’s front wing with no obvious damage to either car and both still running 15th and 16th.

The safety car closed significant gaps in the top ten, bringing Hamilton back in touch with the top three, having been 9sec behind the leaders. Norris had been 22sec behind; Alonso 28sec beck and verstappen, still in ninth, had been 41sec behind Perez.

Despite a drying track that saw drivers diving off line to cool their tyres, nobody was bold enough to switch to slicks.

The restart on lap 11 brought no change at the front, but Verstappen did move past Vettel, into eighth place, and straight onto the rear wing of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.

He was immediately past the Frenchman and then lining up Alonso in sixth.

Out in front. Perez and Leclerc had once again pulled out a large gap to the rest of the field, the pair running around 1.5sec apart. By lap 18, Sainz was 10sec behind the leader, followed by Hamilton 1.5sec behind.

Norris was 17.5sec behind Perez, just ahead of Alonso, closely pursued by Verstappen.

“Not far from slicks now,” said Sainz on the radio as lap times continued to fall. Asked for his thoughts, Verstappen said it was still too wet.

Despite following less than a second behind, the Dutchman was struggling to pass the Alonso ahead until lap 21 when the Alpine’s engine expired and the car ground to a halt in the run-off at Turn 10, marking the end of Alonso’s 350th grand prix.

Verstappen was up to sixth, but no closer to Perez as a virtual safety car was imposed to recover the car

George Russell became the first to gamble, putting on mediums ready for the restart at lap 23, putting him last. His immediate verdict: “No grip!”

Russell’s first 2min 09sec lap was well behind the 2min typical lap time that the intermediate runners were clocking. Lap 24 brought a faster 2min 5sec effort, but he was still dropping back.

Russell gained company on lap 26, as Albon ran wide at the tight Turn 8 right-hander and understeered into the wall. He managed to reverse out but left his nose in the barrier. Russell moved past as the Williams limped into the pits and a virtual safety car was called to recover the firmly-lodged bodywork, which needed two marshals to wrest away.

Lap 27 brought a return to racing, but not for Albon, who became the second Williams driver to retire in the pits with damage.

There was just enough time for Hamilton to complain about the time he was losing, stuck behind Sainz in fourth before another car was out: Esteban Ocon reporting a failure as smoke spewed out of the back of the car.

Another virtual safety car saw the Ferrari crew out in the pitlane but neither car come in.

There were 15 cars remaining when racing got back underway on lap 30. Verstappen attempted a move on Norris for fifth but hit the accelerator too early and had to brake to avoid overtaking under the VSC.

George Russell was lapping within half a second of the leaders by lap 33, and the strategists were watching.

Pierre Gasly was first in for slicks, and he was followed by Tsunoda, Bottas and Magnussen on lap 34, who pitted from 12th, 13th and 14th.

The leaders stayed out and a frustrated Hamilton tried to get past Sainz but hit the barrier at Turn 7. He managed to reverse out but his front wing was clearly damaged and he’d lost fourth place to Norris.

“The front wing is going to fall off,” radioed Verstappen from behind.

At least it was the right time to have a problem as the pitstops really began in earnest. Leclerc came in, followed by Hamilton — who also had a new nose fitted — and rejoined in ninth, offering his apologies to the team.

Sainz, Perez and Verstappen pitted on lap 36, but those who waited longer were rewarded when Tsunoda hit the barrier in Turn 10. Yellow flags were followed by a safety car and both McLarens took the chance to pit with a much-reduced time loss.

Norris resumed in fourth on mediums and Ricciardo, who had started 16th was sixth on soft tyres, behind Verstappen.

After barrier repairs, the safety car was back in on lap 40 and Verstappen wasted little time in trying to get past Norris again but it was a move that ended any hope he had of clinching the championship.

A heavy lock-up in Turn 5 saw him skidding down the escape road in a cloud of smoke as his tyres vaporised. “I need to pit,” he radioed and returned to the track on soft tyres, in last place.

He wasn’t at the tail-end for long, though. Russell clashed with Schumacher leaving both cars with punctures and headed to the pits.

By now, it was a race against the clock; the multiple safety cars pushing the Grand Prix towards its two hour time limit before the full complement of 61 laps was likely to be completed.

Verstappen was making rapid progress, helped by the activation of DRS and carved through the back of the field to pass Magnussen and then Bottas to move into the points.

A lock-up by Sergio Perez brought a rare moment of alarm for the race-leading Mexican, but he held on to his position with Leclerc seemingly unable to challenge.  However, his team then told him that he was under investigation for a safety car infringement — which would be looked into after the race.

Verstappen continued to add to his points tally as he passed Gasly for ninth, with Hamilton up next. The Mercedes driver was never likely to make it easy for last year’s title rival, but having DRS, thanks to Vettel ahead in seventh place, added to his defence.

Soon, the duel became a three-way battle as Vettel was sucked into the fight. Hamilton tried to pass the Aston Martin but couldn’t get through, and it left the door open for Verstappen who needed no encouragement.

Vettel was next and couldn’t hold Verstappen, and he advanced to seventh behind Lance Stroll, who had benefitted from a well-timed stop.

At the front, Perez had extended his lead to 7.5sec to guard against any penalty for the safety car and crossed the line to win.

2022 Singapore Grand Prix race results