CARLOS SAINZ has won what turned out to be a thrilling Singapore Grand Prix.
It is Sainz’s second ever Grand Prix win but it will mean a lot claiming his first driving for Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton finished third after his Mercedes teammate George Russell crashed out late on.
And league leader Verstappen’s run comes to an end with the Dutchman finishing 5th.
- RESULT: Sainz (P1) Norris (P2) Hamilton (P3)
- Grand Prix start time: 1pm BST
- TV channel UK: Sky Sports F1
- Live stream: NOW TV
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Ferrari enjoy successful day
With Charles Leclerc holding off Max Verstappen to keep fourth place, it was a good day for Ferrari.
They started first and third on the grid but it was always going to be difficult to hold that for the entire race.
Leclerc was struggling with his tyres towards the end and did well to finish fourth although all eyes will be on today’s winner.
Credit: Reuters Spaniard gets his just desserts
Carlos Sainz is awarded with the Driver of the Day award.
On reflection it was completely deserved as he used Lando Norris as a tool to ensure that Norris kept both of the Mercedes cars away from challenging him.
They used to drive together and today they worked as a team to keep their podium places.
Credit: @F1 Sainz secures first Grand Prix for Ferrari
He started the race in pole position and managed to hold on for the win despite some tough challenges.
It is Sainz’s second ever Grand Prix win but it will mean a lot claiming his first driving for Ferrari.
He aided Lando Norris getting second, knowing that it would help his cause in holding onto first place.
Credit: AFP
Climatic end to Singapore Grand Prix
That was one of the closest finishes we have seen for some time in F1.
Only 1.4 seconds separated the four cars at one stage.
You have to feel for George Russell who crashed off on the final lap.
Credit: @F1 Singapore Grand Prix results
Here is how we finished in Singapore with Russell going into the barriers on one of the final turns:
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Lando Norris (Alpine)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
It was a great drive by Lando Norris to hold off both of the Mercedes’ cars and he is in with a shout for driver of the day surely, although the eventual winner will be in with a good shout.
Carlos Sainz wins the Singapore Grand Prix
Lap 61/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
This is an amazing finish with 1.4 seconds between the front four cars.
Sainz reports his front tyres are completely gone.
Norris manages to hold off Russell, just.
Credit: Reuters Lap 59/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
Both Mercedes have race leader Sainz in their sights.
They have to try and deal with Lando Norris firstly though.
Verstappen has managed to move up to sixth place.
Lap 57/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
Norris is closing the gap on leader Sainz.
The Ferrari driver has work cut out with three cars all vying for his position.
This should be an exciting finish to the race.
Verstappen is over 30 seconds behind the race leaders.
Lap 55/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
Russell is on the tail of Leclerc now.
He can actually do his teammate some favours as makes life more difficult for him.
Not for long as Russell takes the Ferrari at turn fourteen.
Hamilton uses DRS well to take Leclerc also.
Lap 53/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
As it stands, Liam Lawson is still in the points in 9th place.
What an achievement that would be in his third race.
Meanwhile, Russell keeps on closing the gap on the front three.
Credit: Getty Lap 51/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
George Russell is only 11.5 seconds off the leader now.
The two Mercedes drivers will be going at it from now until the end of the race on those new tyres.
Sainz, Norris and Leclerc will need to have some defence to keep them at bay.
Lap 49/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
Alonso is having a terrible day at the office.
He served his five second penalty when he pitted, it was a terrible pit stop as they struggled to get the back end of the car up.
He overshoots a corner but fortunately gets restarted before a safety car was needed.
Alonso finds himself back in 17th place however.
Lap 47/62 – Sainz leads, Norris second
Both Mercedes cars decide to use the safety car to pit.
They are both out there now on a new set of medium tyres.
The three cars in front of them are on older hard compound tyres.
It could be a fantastic finish to this race.
Lap 45/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Ocon is out of the race it seems, more importantly, his car is still out on the track.
A virtual safety car has been issued.
The Alpine driver screams on the team radio, he is devastated, he was having a great drive there.
Lap 43/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
After they both pit, Verstappen is now in 15th place, Perez in 18th place.
That is not something you expect to see with these Red Bull cars.
Someone take a picture of that leaderboard is unique to say the least from what we have seen this season.
The pair need a safety car to come back into contention now.
Credit: Getty Lap 41/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Sainz is driving well and frustrating Russell in second.
He is not giving him the chance to take him, while conserving his tyres.
Perez heads to the pits, not surprising seeing that car snake out on corners.
Lap 39/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Ocon goes past Alonso on a corner where they seemed no space for two Formula 1 cars, wild.
Sainz is on the team radio asking them to tell him when they think he should start pushing it.
Confirmation that is trying to manage his tyres for this race.
Lap 37/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
It will be interesting to see when both of the Red Bull’s decide to come into the pit lane.
As we see Perez taking a corner, the car snakes out at the back.
It is evident that they have no grip whatsoever.
Lap 35/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
The front five drivers are only separated by around 5.5 seconds.
There is then a similar gap from fifth place to Verstappen in sixth.
Alonso is starting to put some pressure on Perez in seventh.
Credit: Splash Lap 33/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Verstappen is on his team radio telling them the tyre is dead and it is like ‘driving on ice’.
That is not good news for the rest of the field as the Dutchman has done 30 laps on the hard compound.
Their plan was not to pit again but that would mean 40 laps on their hard tyres.
Lap 31/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Russell is on the team radio stating how slow Sainz is going.
He thinks he is either trying to manage his tyres or looking to get cars to back up behind him.
If it is the latter it is working with both Norris and Hamilton less than a second behind him.
Lap 29/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Verstappen is down to sixth place now with Perez in seventh.
It does not look like it is going to be Red Bull’s day today.
Mercedes seem to be in a strong position to dominate this race currently.
Lap 27/62 – Sainz leads, Russell second
Lando Norris is the latest driver to take Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull cars are struggling at the moment.
Sergio Perez is complaining that Lewis Hamilton needs to give his place back after gaining an advantage by going off-track.
Lap 25/62 – Sainz leads, Verstappen second
It is all change now with the Red Bull’s in the top five.
George Russell takes advantage and makes a move on Max Verstappen to move into second.
Lewis Hamilton manages to get ahead of Sergio Perez although he went off the track to do so.
Red Bull seem to be struggling for grip on their hard compound tyres.
Credit: AP
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
