Singapore, Oct 10
Max Verstappen mastered the tricky wet-to-dry conditions to win the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint on Saturday, while George Russell crashed out on the opening lap and a late collision between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri turned the battle for the podium on its head.
Verstappen started the race in first place, but immediately lost the lead to Russell of Mercedes, who had a rapid start on the slippery Marina Bay Street Circuit. Russell's race, however, came to a dramatic end at the last corner of the first lap when he lost control of his car and crashed into the concrete barriers.
Verstappen took the lead again and kept it during the Safety Car period, taking care of his intermediate tyres as the track slowly dried. The Red Bull driver managed to beat Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari to win the Sprint, which had been started after a heavy downpour had delayed the scheduled start by thirty minutes.
Hamilton came out second after carrying off a brilliant getaway which took him from sixth to third, and since Russell retired, it promoted him to the next position. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc took third place on the podium.
It was in the final phase of the race that Norris tried to pass Piastri at corner five, but the two McLaren drivers collided, and both cars spun around, ruining their chances of finishing on the podium.
Kimi Antonelli, who was leading the championship, was able to finish in fourth place, beating Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, Ollie Bearman of Haas and Nico Hulkenberg of Audi. Norris managed to recover and ended up in eighth position, with Piastri being classified 14th, one lap behind, after having lost ten positions in the incident.
The race was delayed because of heavy rain, which had left standing water at various parts of the circuit, especially near Turns 2 and 3.
After the Medical Car had carried out its inspections, the FIA postponed the start and then sent the field around for formation laps before deciding on a standing start using intermediate tyres.
When the races started, Russell passed Verstappen through the first corner while Hamilton took over from Leclerc, Piastri and Norris to finish in third place. Hamilton's early lead, though, vanished after he crashed on the first lap.
Many other drivers also failed to complete the race. Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll crashed against each other while braking at corner 16, which caused the Aston Martin driver to retire right away, whereas Perez managed to get back to the pits. Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto also pulled in during the early laps.
There was another accident involving three cars, namely Alex Albon from Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto from Audi, and Valtteri Bottas from Cadillac, as a result of which both Bortoleto and Bottas had to retire; Albon managed to continue at first but then also retired late.
As the circuit dried, Verstappen slowly increased his lead over Hamilton, while Leclerc came ever more under pressure from the two McLaren drivers. The Ferrari driver said that his front tyres were very worn, but the changing conditions caused the drivers at the front not to change to slick tyres.
As a result of the collision involving McLaren, Leclerc was able to finish in third place, and Antonelli's fourth-place finish helped to consolidate his position in the championship race. Since Russell retired, he lost out on some valuable points and also fell further behind his Mercedes teammate.
Pierre Gasly came in ninth for Alpine, with Esteban Ocon from Haas, Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, Carlos Sainz from Williams, and the rookie Arvid Lindblad from Racing Bulls following him.
Verstappen obtained the Sprint pole position in Friday's qualifying session, beating Russell, Leclerc and Piastri. The Dutchman was cleared of any grid penalty after a review of the yellow-flag incident that occurred in the first part of qualifying.
The stewards subsequently confirmed that no further action would be taken regarding Hamilton's alleged violation of the yellow flag rule during the Sprint, and the collision involving Albon, Bortoleto and Bottas was also to be reviewed after the race.
