Victory comes to Perez on day of waiting: 2022 Singapore GP

F1

The 2022 Singapore GP was already delayed, then Sergio Perez had to wait hours to see his fourth F1 victory confirmed

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Victory came for Perez on eventful day

Red Bull

It started late, finished late, and the result was confirmed late, but despite multiple penalties for the race winner, nothing actually changed.

The Singapore Grand Prix was a bizarre affair in many ways, after a torrential downpour for an hour before the race drenched the track, leading to a delay to the start procedure. Once the rain eased, the pit lane was opened, leading to an eventual start time just over an hour later than originally planned.

By then, track conditions were good enough for everyone to start on intermediate tyres, but there was a wide variety in the different launches across the grid. Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc got a good initial getaway, as did Lewis Hamilton directly behind him, but in the second phase the cars on the inside of the track – Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz – launched past each of them to run first and third respectively.

The same couldn’t be said for Max Verstappen, who went into anti-stall and dropped even further from his eighth-place on the grid to run 12th after a close scrape with Kevin Magnussen that left the Haas with a slightly damaged front wing.

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Perez converts second on grid into lead

Much to Guenther Steiner’s anger, that damage led to yet another black and orange flag for a Haas driver – demanding Magnussen pit for a replacement – and by then Verstappen had climbed into the top ten but was stuck behind Sebastian Vettel in ninth. The wet conditions meant he was nearly 30 seconds off the lead on lap seven, when Nicolas Latifi squeezed Guanyu Zhou into the wall approaching Turn 5 causing a safety car.

And then the controversy started, as Hamilton radioed his team to say Perez had dropped more than ten car lengths behind the safety car. It wouldn’t be noted for some time.

When racing resumed on lap 10, Verstappen made quick work of Vettel and Pierre Gasly to climb into seventh place, before next getting held up by Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was shadowing Lando Norris relatively closely, but on lap 21 his power unit failed and Verstappen was promoted to the top six as the virtual safety car was required.

Just before the original safety car, George Russell – who started from the pit lane after a precautionary power unit change – had tried an almighty lunge on Valtteri Bottas at Turn 7 and run off track. Struggling to make progress, Russell then chose to gamble on slicks during the VSC period despite the track taking a long time to dry out as it had on Saturday.

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Hamilton challenge was stymied by crash into barriers

Grand Prix Photo

“That’s brave at the moment,” came Verstappen’s reply when informed.

Five laps later, the VSC was required again as Alex Albon highlighted how tricky conditions still were by sliding into the wall at Turn 8, leaving his front wing stuck under the barrier. No sooner had it ended then Esteban Ocon stopped at Turn 13 with another Alpine power unit issue, and yet again the race was neutralised for a spell.

There were close calls during that third VSC period as Hamilton complained Sainz brake-tested him and then Verstappen nearly ran into the back of Norris on the approach to Turn 7 as the pair tried to anticipate a restart.

Just past the halfway point, Hamilton again came close to the rear of Sainz at the same corner that was causing so many issues, but on this occasions he was carrying far too much speed himself and went head-on into the TECPRO. Though he could reverse out and emerge between Norris and Verstappen, his front wing was heavily damaged and Hamilton had to pit.

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“I knew it was all over from then, but these things happen,” Hamilton said. “I’m not going to punish myself for a mistake. It was very tricky conditions for everyone. The problems that we have with this car are magnified in the rain, when it’s wet, and it’s a very, very hard car to drive in the rain.”

Simultaneous to his team-mate’s error, Russell was finally setting fastest sectors on slicks and the rest of the field responded. Gasly was first and it was one lap too early, with McLaren holding its nerve and waiting a lap longer than everyone else. It resulted in a stroke of luck, as Yuki Tsunoda went straight on at relatively high speed on the greasy surface at Turn 10, calling for a full safety car for the second time.

By now the race was running to its two-hour limit, and both Norris and Daniel Ricciardo could pit with limited time lost, leaving Norris fourth behind Perez, Leclerc and Sainz, and his team-mate sixth with Verstappen in between.

Once again, Perez dropped too far adrift of the safety car, with the stewards having not long noted his previous indiscretion. It would lead to tension post-race, but Red Bull had little time to worry as Verstappen tried to overtake Norris on the restart, locked up heavily into Turn 7 and went off, requiring another pit stop.

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McLaren brought home impressive double points finish

McLaren

“I tried to go for a move on Lando but somehow I completely bottomed out as soon as I hit the brakes so the front wheels went in the air and I must have really locked up because I had massive flat spots,” Verstappen said. “So I had to pit again and put new tyres on. I got back in the points, but it is of course not what we wanted and after yesterday we cannot ask for miracles.”

His climb into the points was impressive, as he chased down and overtook Magnussen, Bottas and Gasly, before taking advantage of a late mistake from Hamilton – who skated wide trying to pass Vettel – to gain another spot. With Vettel now exposed, Verstappen bravely went round the outside into Turn 7 on the final lap to salvage seventh.

Ahead of him, Lance Stroll was a solid sixth behind the impressive McLarens, but Red Bull was now more focused on Perez as it feared a penalty for the Safety Car incidents. Leclerc had been putting the pressure on for a number of laps, but started to fade at a crucial point.

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While Leclerc was told to stay within five seconds, Perez was told to “disappear”, and it was the latter that happened.

“I was just trying to be as close as possible because I basically had to make the overtaking on the straight,” Leclerc said. “I couldn’t really go on the braking zone and brake later because I didn’t really know how the track was on the inside and I didn’t want to take that risk.

“I had one lap where I was really close and I actually thought about going on the inside and braking later but, for me, it was not worth it so I was just waiting for the right opportunity. That unfortunately didn’t arrive at the end.

“You push until the end. I knew that obviously Checo was under investigation, my engineer had told me that so I was pushing and then as soon as he told me: ‘OK, Checo is 5.1sec in front’ then it was just all about bringing the car to the end. The conditions were really, really tricky … so as soon as I knew that the five seconds gap was done, I just brought the car home.”

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Perez had the pace when needed

Grand Prix Photo

Perez eventually pulled 7.5sec clear in an impressive show of his true pace having looked under threat for much of the race, and it would prove crucial.

“I’m pretty confident there’s nothing with it, because there was a bit of miscommunication with Bernd [Maylander, safety car driver],” Perez said. “In the places where I could keep up with him, he was super slow; in the places where I could not keep up with him, he was fast. So it was a bit of miscommunication there.

“But I think these conditions are not normal. So, it’s fully understandable that the conditions that we were in, that we were facing, especially the final sector, were super tricky. So I do expect no further action on that, as the stewards were pleased with my explanation and they understood it.”

As it turned out, “happy” probably wasn’t the right term. The stewards disagreed and issued a reprimand, taking into account the wet conditions even though they felt Perez could have stayed closer to the safety car. When he transgressed again later in the race, he was warned at the time and the next offence led to a five-second time penalty that saw a win by 2.5sec, confirmed nearly three hours after the chequered flag.

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Double podium for Ferrari, btu Scuderia felt it could have had more

Ferrari

“I think it was my best performance,” Perez said. “I controlled the race, although the warm-up was very difficult. The last few laps was so intense. I didn’t feel it that much in the car but when I got out of it, I felt it. I pushed. I gave everything for the win today.”

It’s a win that leaves Verstappen waiting at least another week to be crowned champion, and came after an impressive drive, but the penalty decisions are likely to leave Ferrari and Leclerc feeling a little hard done by.

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