Carlos Sainz wins the Singapore Grand Prix and ends Red Bull’s dominance

Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) broke Red Bull’s dominance this Sunday by winning the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, the 15th race of the season.

The Spanish driver took 1:46.37.418 hours to complete 62 laps, leaving Britain’s Lando Norris (McLaren) second on 0.812 seconds and Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) third on 1.269 seconds.

Since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, Ferrari has not won a race. On the other hand, since last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull has not failed to win a single race and has since won 15 in a row (14 this season).

Carlos Sainz won for the second time in his career – he won the 2022 British Grand Prix – on a weekend in which he started from pole position.

The Spanish driver never lost control of the race, leading from the first to the last lap, including the only stop he made to change tires.

Ferrari took advantage of a safety car situation caused by a touch by American Logan Sargeant (Williams), which left debris on the track. The two Red Bulls, who started very late (11th and 13th places), were the only ones left on the track.

George Russell, who had made a poor start and lost second place on the grid to Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), was fastest on track and spent much of the race putting pressure on Carlos Sainz.

“It was an incredible weekend. Given our limitations and the wear on the tires, I had to hold George back while waiting for insurance and it worked,” said the Spaniard.

However, on lap 45, Mercedes took advantage of the virtual safety car situation due to the retirement of Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and fitted new medium tires to their two cars, while Ferrari and McLaren kept their drivers on the track. This allowed the two Mercedes to make a late attack in the closing laps.

Sainz deliberately delayed Norris to allow Russell and Hamilton to get closer, so that the McLaren driver would spend more time defending and could not attack the leader.

“I was always in control of the situation. I did a good job,” admitted the Madrid native. Russell, who said he wanted to fight for the win, ruined everything on the final lap when he crashed into the wall and lost his chance to make the podium for the second time this year. “It was my fault. Perhaps it was a lack of concentration,” he admitted.

Hamilton took advantage of this to move up to third place in the race and championship, overtaking Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who was 15th.

It was truly a weekend to remember for Aston Martin as fellow driver, Canadian Lance Stroll, did not even compete after crashing his car in qualifying on Saturday.

Red Bull took advantage of George Russell’s retirement to minimize losses, with Max Verstappen finishing fifth after 10 consecutive wins (a new record in the sport).

Thanks to these results, Verstappen even increased his lead in the championship, now having 374 points against 223 for the Mexican Sergio Perez (Red Bull), who is in eighth.

Lewis Hamilton is third with 180 points, 10 more than Alonso, fourth with 170, while Sainz’s victory on Sunday has reached 142, maintaining fifth position.

The next tour will take place next weekend in Japan.