Ishika Kumar, Pune
Max Verstappen’s streak breaks as Carlos Sainz wins the nail-biting Singapore F1 Grand Prix and Red Bull’s dominance takes a back seat, as the Singapore Grand Prix delivers a dramatic spectacle beyond the sport’s imagination.
For the first time this season, Verstappen’s record 10 winning streak and the 14 consecutive wins for Red Bull were brought to an end by Ferrari as Verstappen struggled in the midfield the entire weekend. Somehow he managed to be at the 5th position by the end of the race with 11th position on the grid and maintaining his lead in the world championship over teammate Sergio Pérez to 151 points.
Red Bull and Verstappen had been struggling with pace all weekend in Singapore, the car not gripping the track and being off balance. Race day being a little sympathetic still struggling at the hard overtake marina bay
Disappointed with the car the entire weekend. Verstappen was furious with its performance in qualifying.
“I don’t know if you saw that, but that was a shocking, absolutely shocking experience,” expressed after a sad knockout post-Q2
Sainz’s win from pole, the second of his career, was hard fought and deserved after a nail-biter at Marina Bay until the flag fell. The Spaniard took the win as the Brits battled wheel to wheel for 2nd and 3rd place at the podium.
The Safety car was brought out as Logan Sargeant got it wrong at Turn 8 and went straight into the barrier with his front wing dragging under his car, following the race leader Sainz as well as Leclerc went for a double-pit. Unfortunately for Leclerc, Ferrari held him back for “traffic” as everyone except Verstappen, Perez, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou pitted.
Sainz, speaking about the wheel-to-wheel nail biter said, “Wins never come easy and today we had a bit of everything,”
“We had to fight for it, we had to be strategic, we had to nail everything and commit to our plans. We managed to bring home a win that was never easy but that feels incredible.”
Indeed the frenetic race couldn’t be better portrayed by the sad ending for George Russell who had led the late Mercedes charge and chased down the leaders. Being late on the brakes and closing the gap with Norris as he scrapped the barriers and went off on the final lap, resulting in Hamilton taking the last podium place.
Standings: 2023 Singapore Grand Prix:
1. Carlos SAINZ Ferrari 1:46:37.418
2. Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.812
3. Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +1.269
4. Charles LECLERC Ferrari +21.177
5. Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +21.441