© Pirelli & C SpA

Perez dominates a delayed wet Singapore GP

Wesley Branton
October 2, 2022 @ 11:37 am

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After an absence from the calendar, Formula One returned to Singapore for the first time since 2019 for the FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2022. It was a wet evening which resulted in a lot of incidents and action.

The race procedure was delayed by more than an hour, as the Marina Bay Circuit was flooded by torrential rain shortly before the planned start of the grand prix. Despite the best efforts of the circuit staff to dry the track surface, the intermediate tyre was still the compound of choice for the race start.

At the front of the grid, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez both got off the line well, but Leclerc suffered some wheel spin in the second phase of the start, giving Perez the lead before the first corner. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz were side-by-side in the first corner and Hamilton had to cut the corner as he was tapped slightly by the Ferrrari.

Further back, Max Verstappen had a poor start, nearly going into anti-stall as he pulled away from his grid slot. He lost many spots at the start, having to fight his way through the mid-field.

Despite the damp conditions, the race start was relatively orderly. Alex Albon spun in turn 7 on the opening lap, but was able to rejoin the race quickly.

Early in the race, it became a two-horse race between Perez and Leclerc. Verstappen provided the most entertainment in the opening stages as he battled his way through the field. He eventually got stuck behind Sebastian Vettel.

Every Singapore Grand Prix has had a safety car and this one was no different. On lap 7, Nicholas Latifi squeezed Guanyu Zhou into the wall in the braking zone for turn 5. This broke the front suspension of the Alfa Romeo and gave the Williams a rear puncture. Latifi limped back to the pit lane, but the car was retired. The safety car was deployed to allow the track marshals to remove the stricken Alfa Romeo.

Unsurprisingly, since the race was far from the crossover point for the slick tyres, no one took the opportunity to take a cheap pit stop for slick tyres. When the race resumed, the two race leaders again built a gap to the rest of the field, even when they started to struggle with grip on the worn intermediate tyres.

The next drama in the race was the retirement of Fernando Alonso for an engine failure. He parked his car in the turn 10 runoff area, triggering the virtual safety car. The general consensus among the drivers was that it was too early for the slick tyres.

With George Russell running at the rear of the field and struggling to make any progress in the race, Mercedes decided to take a gamble and pitted their driver for a set of medium compound tyres under the virtual safety car. As expected, it was too early and Russell really struggled for grip as he skated around the still damp circuit. However, Russell opted to keep the tyres rather than waste the time with another pit stop.

Another virtual safety car allowed teams to make the switch to slick tyres, but there were no takers. This time the VSC was for Alex Albon, who had crash into the wall on the outside of turn 8. He was able to reverse out of the wall and go back to the pit lane (although he retired), but debris needed to be cleared.

The race restarted, but it was short-lived as Esteban Ocon suffered an engine failure a couple of laps later. This brought out the virtual safety car for the third time in the evening. Again, there were no takers for the slick tyres. The track was not drying as quickly as other races due to the lack of sun in a night race and the high humidity in Singapore.

At the end of the VSC, Max Verstappen attempted to anticipate when the race was going to go green, but he predicted wrong and came up on Lando Norris at massive speed. He had to slam on the brakes to avoid overtaking Norris. Norris criticized the dangerous move.

Under the VSC, Hamilton showed his frustration of being stuck behind Carlos Sainz for most of the race. He would drive nearly alongside the Ferrari before backing off to avoid exceeding the delta time.

That frustration was evident after the race resumed, as Hamilton made a huge mistake into turn 7. He was far too late on the brakes, slamming into the barrier on the outside of the corner. He reversed out of the barrier and rejoined the race between Norris and Verstappen.

Surprisingly, Hamilton’s front wing appeared to be relatively intact. He was able to race a few laps, but before long the left side of the wing collapsed and began scraping against the ground. He pitted for a new wing and some slick tyres.

Charles Leclerc was the first of the leaders to pit for slicks tyres on the same lap. His stop was slow, as he missed his marks in the pit box. The following lap, Perez, Sainz and Verstappen all pitted for tyres. Other drivers in the mid-field also pitted for slick tyres.

Critically, the safety car was deployed during the pit window when Yuki Tsunoda crashed into the barriers at turn 10 with his new slick tyres. This played well into the hands of McLaren, who had yet to pit Norris or Daniel Ricciardo. They did so under the safety car, putting both of their cars in P4 and P5.

With most of the race having been run in slower wet conditions, it was clear that the race would not finish within the 2 hour window allocated. When the race restarted, it became a race against the clock, with 35 minutes remaining in the race.

At the restart, Verstappen looked more confident on the slick tyres, but perhaps too confident. He tried to make an overtake around the outside of turn 5, going onto the wet part of the circuit. He locked up massively into the turn 6 braking zone and had to take the runoff area. He rejoined ahead of Hamilton, but had to pit for new tyres, having flat-spotted his. He rejoined last.

But he wasn’t last for long, as George Russell collided with Mick Schumacher while braking into the first corner. The Mercedes driver suffered a puncture and had to limp around the entire lap back to the pit lane.

While all this was going on, all eyes were at the front of the field. Leclerc was right on the gearbox of Perez, who was reportedly suffering from an engine issue. The Ferrari appeared to be faster than the Red Bull, but Leclerc struggled to turn the car into the corners. Leclerc was helped by the DRS, which was enabled with around 25 minutes remaining in the race. However, after a mistake from Leclerc, Perez began to pull a gap at the lead again.

Focus shifted to the battle for P7 between Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen in the closing stages of the race. With less than two minutes left in the race, Hamilton tried to make a move on the inside of turn 8, but it was too wet and he ran wide. Verstappen inherited the position from Hamilton and managed to overtake Vettel on the final lap of the race.

But it was the other Red Bull that finished at the top of the podium, as Sergio Perez crossed the line ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The fastest lap was set by George Russell, who pitted late in the race for soft tyres. However, he is ineligible for the bonus point, since he finished outside of the top 10.

But the race result may still be decided in the stewards’ room. Sergio Perez will be investigated for a safety car infringement for failing to stay without 10 cars lengths of the safety car. Fortunately, Perez was able to finish the race more than 7 seconds ahead of Leclerc, covering off any potential 5 second time penalty.

Next up on the calendar is the Japanese Grand Prix in a week’s time. The race will be held on the weekend of October 9.

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