Red Bull Domination Ended As Spain’s Carlos Sainz Wins Thrilling Singapore Grand Prix For Ferrari

SPAIN’S Carlos Sainz finally ended Red Bull’s domination of this season’s F1 calendar by winning the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Spaniard led from start to finish as the cars sped around the Marina Bay Street Circuit this Sunday, September 17. He clinched his second pole of the season in yesterday’s qualifying session and looked in no mood to relinquish that position.

Party time 🥳#SingaporeGP @Carlossainz55 pic.twitter.com/Iy5rPk4EP6

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 17, 2023

Speaking with bbc.com after his victory, Sainz said: ‘We nailed the weekend, we nailed the race and we did everything we had to do, and we did it perfectly. We brought home P1 and I’m sure the whole of Italy and the whole of Ferrari are going to be proud and happy today’.

‘I felt under control, I always felt like I had the head-space and the pace in hand to do whatever I wanted to do. I’m over the moon right now’, he added.

This was Sainz’s second win as a Ferrari driver and the second of his career. After also starting from the front in Monza last time out in the Italian Grand Prix, he soon lost the lead to Verstappen. No such thing was going to happen this time around though with the Spanish star driving a careful and steady race.

Max Verstappen had to settle for fifth

Max Verstappen had won 10 consecutive races prior to this one, setting a new record in the process. After an awful experience in qualifying, the current world champion started from 11th place on the grid.

If the Dutchman’s previous results were anything to go by, his low position would not have made a lot of difference to him achieving a place on the podium. However, on this occasion, he had to settle for fifth in the end.

Lando Norris produced an excellent drive in the McLaren to follow Sainz over the finishing line just 0.812 seconds adrift, with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes hot on his tail.

George Russell crashed out on the last lap

Disaster struck George Russell as he crashed the Mercedes out on the final lap while occupying third position and looking to be headed for a podium finish.

The other Ferrari of Frenchman Charles LeClerc secured fourth place, with the two iconic red cars leading the pack in the early stages.

Team orders though saw him being instructed to let his teammate speed ahead by slowing down to hold the rest of the field up.

He initially appeared to ignore the order for the next 10 laps before finally backing off from Sainz to eventually give the Spaniard a three-second lead.

A safety car was deployed on Lap 20

The safety car made an appearance after Logan Sargeant hit the wall on lap 20, leaving bits of his car across the track when his front wing came free. By the time the safety car was removed, LeClerc had allowed Sainz to build a nine-second lead.

Pierre Gasly put in another good day’s work by clinching sixth place for Alpine with Oscar Piastri making an incredible recovery to go from 17th to seventh by the finish.

Red Bull’s second car could only manage eighth, with Sergio Perez also enduring an awful qualifying session on Saturday. The Top 10 was rounded out by AlphaTauri newbie Liam Lawson – who claimed his first points in F1 – and Kevin Magnussen for Haas.