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Tyres NorthamptonRed Bull's supremacy in Singapore continued as the Marina Bay Street Circuit returned to the Formula One calendar. However, rather than Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez took P1 as the Mexican took a commanding victory like we've grown accustomed to seeing from his champion teammate.
A front-row start for Perez turned into P1 at the first corner. From there on, the Red Bull driver looked assured and peerless throughout the gruelling two-hour race with the usual Safety Car slowdowns synonymous with the Singapore Grand Prix.
A pre-race downpour delayed lights out, and for the second time in F1 history, a wet night race began with the 20 drivers equipping Pirelli's Intermediate tyres to tackle the damp track. Perez used the grip to take his Red Bull past polesitter Charles Leclerc's Ferrari into the first corner.
Perez faced the daunting prospect of being the single team representative in the lead ahead of a pair of Ferraris after Carlos Sainz muscled past Lewis Hamilton to snatch P3 at the race start. Verstappen, meanwhile, dropped four places in the opening laps from P8 to sit in P12 and found out how unforgiving the midfield can be when Haas's Kevin Magnussen slammed the door on any Lap 1 overtaking hopes Max might've had.
Instead, the inevitable Verstappen fightback began on Lap 2, when the Dutchman overtook Magnussen and Lance Stroll in quick succession before taking Yuki Tsunoda's P9 on Lap 3. Verstappen's overtakes were even more impressive, considering that he executed them without any DRS assistance because of the wet conditions.
Perez and Leclerc created a sizable gap on Sainz's P3 in the early laps, but the first Safety Car appearance of the evening soon nullified any benefit from their hard work. Nicholas Latifi drove into the path of Guanyu Zhou, breaking the Alfa Romeo's front suspension and causing his Williams team to retire him once the Canadian trundled back to the pit lane.
The closing up of the field allowed Verstappen to close in and overtake Sebastian Vettel for P8 once green flag racing resumed, but any further progress would have to wait. The drying track proved troublesome for the remaining runners seeking to extend their Intermediate tyre life until dry Pirellis became viable. With everybody unsure when the crossover point from wet tyres to dry would be, it took a second slow down before a driver took a gamble on slicks.
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Fernando Alonso's engine failure triggered a Virtual Safety Car, and George Russell decided to risk a set of Pirelli's Medium tyres. However, his Mercedes drifted out of Turn 3 in an early example of the slippery track being too wet for dry tyres, but the Briton persevered, losing more and more time as the race continued.
In a race full of incidents, Alex Albon joined his Williams teammate, Latifi, in retiring after a slow-speed crash into the wall. Esteban Ocon also mimicked his teammate Alonso's DNF by having an engine failure that triggered a Virtual Safety Car. But of most consequence for any possible race win, Hamilton lost control of his Mercedes and went straight into the barriers at Turn 7 from P4.
Hamilton somehow avoided significant damage from his crash and re-emerged onto the track in the middle of a Lando Norris and Max Verstappen fight for P5. However, Hamilton's loose front wing soon meant he would pit for repairs, but fortunately, at around the same time, the sister Mercedes finally began setting fast lap times, showing dry tyres were the best choice.
As the field began to swap out their green-walled Pirellis for Soft or Medium dry tyres, Yuki Tsunoda became the next victim of the Marina Bay Street Circuit's walls and ended his race deep in the Tecpro barriers at Turn 10.
The McLaren duo of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo hadn't pitted by this point and massively benefited from the subsequent timing of the Safety Car slowdown. The pair would finish P4 and P5, taking crucial points for McLaren's fight with Alpine in the Constructors' Championship.
On what would be the final restart of the race, Verstappen's frustration at still running behind Norris became too much, and the Red Bull driver went for a move on the inside of Turn 7. However, the wet surface off the racing line saw the reigning champion slide straight into the run-off area instead of passing Norris. Verstappen fell back to P13 after pitting to get rid of his flat-spotted medium Pirellis.
A spirited second fightback for Verstappen over the remaining 19 laps had him in P7 by the chequered flag, but only thanks to a second mistake from Hamilton on the damp track, allowing Verstappen through. So, Verstappen didn't take the win (or the title) this time; instead, the day belonged to the sister Red Bull of Perez.
The only threat to Perez's win came from an FIA investigation into leaving too large a gap to the Safety Car. Still, even with a five-second penalty, Perez took his fourth F1 win – his first that didn't require any failings of other teams or drivers. After two weeks without racing, it's a rapid turnaround for the sport, which will return to the iconic Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.
