Highlights:
- Carlos Sainz Jr. ends Red Bull’s historic 15-race winning streak in Formula One with a Singapore Grand Prix victory.
- Norris secures second place as Hamilton takes third following Russell’s crash on the last lap.
- Red Bull’s dreams of a perfect season are crushed by Max Verstappen’s fifth-place finish.
On Sunday, Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s legendary winning streaks in Formula One came to an end as Carlos Sainz Jr. won for Ferrari in the Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished fifth and Perez eighth after suffering all weekend in Singapore, a race Red Bull had hoped to win in every race this year.
Red Bull had a winning streak of 15 races, including one at the end of last year, while Verstappen’s streak was cut short after 10 races. Both set records in Formula One.
Sainz won his second F1 race of his career after holding off Lando Norris of the McLaren and Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes in the tight final laps despite having severely worn tyres. George Russell, who was running in third place, crashed the other Mercedes on the last lap, giving Hamilton the podium spot.
According to Sainz, “I felt under control. I felt like I could manage well and we brought it home. That was the best feeling.”
After the race, Sainz revealed that he had slowed down to keep Norris within the one-second window that gave him access to the DRS straight-line speed increase, which was a crucial aid in holding off the two Mercedes.
“We rolled the dice this weekend,” Hamilton remarked after a late-race Mercedes strategy decision caused both cars to stop for new tyres, dropping Russell from second place and causing him to lose the race.
Charles Leclerc finished in fourth place because his worn-out tyres couldn’t survive the pressure from the Mercedes cars. Verstappen was in sixth position after him. The race was exciting for the defending champion, who started from position 11 and temporarily moved up to second place behind Sainz. However, this was mostly because so many other vehicles made pit stops for new tyres. Verstappen demonstrated an incredible comeback from 15th place in the field after making his own pit stop. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished sixth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished seventh after qualifying 18th, and Perez finished eighth. Liam Lawson, a rookie, got his first points for AlphaTauri in the ninth position, and Kevin Magnussen finished 10th for Haas.