Formula 1
THE STREAK IS OVER! SAINZ PUTS ON A SUPER DRIVE TO WIN IN SINGAPORE! NORRIS WITH DRS KEEPS THE MERCS BEHIND AND, GEORGE CRASHES UNDER LCH PRESSURE.
SINGAPORE (AP) — Carlos Sainz Jr. won the Singapore Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday as Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s historic win streaks in Formula One came to an end.
“I think we did the best we could today. We had good pace and we were just unfortunate with the timing of the safety car, if it weren’t for that, I really think that we would have been in a good place to fight up front. With the strategy today it was really important to not make any mistakes. In the end I was able to have some fun catching up on the mediums. For now, the target is to win next weekend in Japan. Everything needs to be perfect to win every race in a season, I knew this day would come and it’s absolutely fine. Everyone sees how dominant we can be and they don’t realise how difficult it really is, we need to get a lot of things right.”
Red Bull had dreamed of winning every race this year but had Verstappen fifth and Perez eighth after struggling all weekend in Singapore.
Verstappen’s winning run ended at 10 races and Red Bull’s at 15, including one at the end of last year. Both are Formula One records.
Sainz started on pole position and held on with badly worn tires over tense final laps for his second career win in F1 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. George Russell crashed the other Mercedes on the final lap from third position to promote Hamilton to the podium.
“I felt under control. I felt like I could manage well and we brought it home. That was the best feeling,” Sainz said.
Sainz admitted after the race he had slowed down to ensure Norris stay within the one-second window that allowed the McLaren driver access to the DRS straight-line speed boost — a valuable aid in holding off the two Mercedes.
“We rolled the dice this weekend,” Hamilton said after a Mercedes strategy call saw both cars stop for fresh tires late on, meaning Russell dropped back from second in pursuit of the win.
Charles Leclerc was fourth after failing to hold off the Mercedes cars on older tires, ahead of Verstappen in fifth. The champion had an eventful race after starting 11th and was briefly second on track behind Sainz, though only because almost all other cars stopped for fresh tires. After Verstappen’s own pit stop, he fought his way back through the field from 15th.
Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine, Oscar Piastri seventh for McLaren after qualifying 18th and Perez eighth. Rookie Liam Lawson scored his first points in ninth for AlphaTauri and Kevin Magnussen was 10th for Haas.