Verstappen crushes and leader Kimi steals Norris’s wallet to look at the title; Alonso and Sainz, without options
It is the other side of Singapore. It can be chaos if it rains, as happened in the sprint race, or a real procession. That last thing is what it was this Sunday, where there was a lack of emotion in the fight for victory, which went to a Max Verstappen who was in another league, without giving options to the Ferraris who added some spice to the matter by battling among themselves with different strategies and with a very bad plan that drowned Hamilton in the face of a Kimi who ended up taking the podium from him and Norris in the last laps. Antonelli can be champion in the next race in Austin, with 5 races left. Incredible.
Max Verstappen thus achieved something he had never been able to do: win in Singapore. It is his first victory in the Marina Bay street race, his 73rd victory in F1, this time with a car that has taken the definitive step forward to aspire to win the six Grand Prix that remain until the end of the year.
Max only had to do one thing well this Sunday: maintain first place at the start. Leclerc seemed to be able to attack him in Turn 1, but Max cornered him well and Charles lifted his foot first. Verstappen fulfilled his objective and, from there, with Leclerc and Hamilton behind on a track where it is very difficult to overtake, Max only had to manage tires and decide when to attack. And when he pulled, there was nothing to do.
He won handily, as in his best moments. The most dominant Verstappen has returned. And now a question remains: can he win the six remaining races? It will depend on whether Mercedes finally manages to unlock the performance they believe their new aerodynamic package has, with which Kimi improved compared to Sepang, but not to challenge Max.
Kimi nails it and could be champion in Austin
That forged steel sword came too late for Max to win any battle with his prodigious hands, as he did on this occasion against a Leclerc who finished 2nd, more than 7 seconds behind. Max has a winning car, but it’s too late, with a Kimi Antonelli who faces this World Cup final with a huge advantageeven more so after being 3rd this Sunday with a very good comeback and very cleverly taking advantage of a naive maneuver by Lando Norris at the end to get on the podium (3rd).
Lando Norris attacked his compatriot Hamilton in the final laps, aware that Lewis He was suffering with his tires due to a disastrous Ferrari strategy that had left him sold. And when he attacked himKimi took advantage and passed Lando, later easily overcoming a Lewis who couldn’t do anything.
Norris ended up passing Lewis to be 4th and relegate the seven-time champion to 5th placebut Kimi had already taken the box from the current champion.
Yes, again, Kimi benefited from fate, from Hamilton and Ferrari’s blunder in strategy. They should never have lost that podium. And also for being right in front of that battle between Norris and Lewis. But you have to know how to take advantage of those moments. And the Italian did it with great intelligence. The same one he used, with a lot of cold blood, by using the three limit opportunities to go off the track before receiving a penalty in order to gain time. He did it. He exceeded the limits three times and, with half a race left, he did not do it again. He didn’t miss and ended up finishing. Masterly.
When I had a dominating car, for most of the course, it swept. Now, when it seems that he no longer has it, silently, without making noise and without getting into trouble, he advances with a firm step, calculator in hand, towards the crownwithout errors that complicate things. And that’s what he did in Singapore. He nailed it. He started 4th and was 3rd. One less race to be F1 world champion.
With this result, the 20-year-old driver, in his second year in F1, has his first chance to become champion in the next race, in Austin, in two weeks. After being third, his margin in the World Championship leadership over his teammate Russell is 102 points. He has Hamilton at 111 and Verstappen at 119. There are 150 points left at stake. If he wins in Austin and Russell does not go higher than 9th place and Hamilton is 5th or worse, he will be champion. And if not, it will be in another race. The title is yours.
Max looks at the runner-up
Since the evolution of Red Bull in Baku, Verstappen was second in Azerbaijan, recovering from 8th to 2nd after a problem in qualifying without which he could have won and added two more wins and a sprint victory. He is in steamroller mode and has managed to climb positions in the World Cup to be close to Russell in the fight for runner-upbenefited in this case by the many setbacks that are affecting George, or for the Englishman’s mistake in the sprint on Saturday.
On this occasion, Russell had to change engines and had to start from the back, with no options. He was able to come back by extending his first stop to 9th place, to add two points, already aware that Max can snatch second place in the World Championship sooner rather than later. Verstappen is only 17 points behind Russell and 8 behind Hamilton. It’s coming.
Ferrari and strategies: Hamilton is wrong
It is often said that, when there is a lack of rhythm, the strategies are never good. But in Hamilton’s case, things were even worse. TOAt the start of the race, Ferrari had two cars to diversify its plans with the aim of going after Verstappen. But what they did was not fully understood.
Verstappen, leading, covered himself from any possibility of the ‘Safety Car’ coming out by stopping later. Meanwhile, Hamilton stopped too soon. It seemed like I had to go to two stops and to do so I had to pull with everything leaving in traffic. Lewis did very well, but when Leclerc stopped, the Monegasque left just in front of the Briton.
There was trouble, again, as it already happened in Zandvoort, when Lewis went with a different strategy and at Ferrari they did not ask Leclerc to let him pass. It wouldn’t happen here either. Charles was slowing down Lewis because his tires were cold. And after several laps in which Hamilton lost time, Leclerc began to pull.
To make matters worse, when he came out a virtual safety car due to Stroll’s abandonmentFerrari only stopped Leclerc to the pits but not a Hamilton with older tires. It was not understood. Although at the end of the race, it was Lewis Elk who apologized to the team for that strategy, something that makes it clear that it was a bet of his that did not work out. But that does not exempt Ferrari from responsibility. A second run of 43 laps on soft rubber made no sense and they had to put it out of their minds. But they didn’t.
Charles gave up 2nd place to Lewis with that stop, but he was going to catch up with him again on the track. And when he reached it, he warned the team: “Let’s not waste time…”. And Hamilton let him pass.
That bad strategy left Lewis with very damaged tires at the end of the race and he paid for it. From thinking about the podium, to being 6th, even surpassed by Oscar Piastri (5th) in the last lap. This time, Hamilton pointed towards himself, he blamed himself for the poor choice of the plan, which left him 6th before Lawson (7th), Húlkenberg (8th), Russell (9th) and Hadjar (10th), who completed the Top-10, the points zone.
Sainz and Alonso, impossible
Carlos Sainz finished 14th and Fernando Alonso was 16th in a race in which they had no options. Carlos only had them at the beginning when he placed 10th with a very aggressive start in which he gained three places, but his car suffered battery problems on lap 6 and there he lost several places. He fought with everything and managed to put a lot of brakes on superior cars like Hadjar’s for quite some time. But there was nothing to do.
Fernando Alonso had many fewer options, none at all, who tried to extend his first stop a lot to benefit from a safety car. But fate did not give him that option. In fact, two laps after stopping a ‘virtual’ came out. Starting from the pit lane, with an engine clearly lacking power, he could have been 16th. There was no car for more.
