Due to a problem with fuel management in qualifying, current world leader Max Verstappen saw his chances of a spoiler diminished by starting from eighth position, especially since the only two drivers who could still take the title from him of 2022 mathematically, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez, started from the first row.
At the start, which was delayed due to rain, the Mexican driver overtook the Ferrari driver and began to open a gap, with Carlos Sainz placing third after overtaking Lewis Hamilton with a touch included. After many laps like this, the Briton made a mistake that ended his chances of a podium and dropped a few positions.
Finally and after several interruptions, Sergio Pérez withstood the pressure of Charles Leclerc after changing the intermediate tires for the medium ones in the last laps of the race and crossed the finish line in the first position, although he was investigated for an alleged infringement related to the distance that the leader must maintain with the Safety Car.
Behind and despite some problem, Carlos Sainz closed the podium positions, ahead of the two McLarens, Lando Norris’s and Daniel Ricciardo’s, who took advantage of the mistakes of Max Verstappen, who finished 7th after an atypical race for him, and Hamilton, who finished 9th, in addition to the abandonment of the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon due to problems in the French power unit.
The Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel also fished in a rough river and managed to cross the checkered flag in sixth and eighth position. Pierre Gasly, at the wheel of his AlphaTauri, closed the top ten points positions.
Formula 1 Singapore GP 2022 Race Results
Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sergio Perez | 59 | 2:02’15.238 | 25 | ||||
2 | Charles Leclerc | 59 | 2:02’22.833 | 7.595 | 7.595 | 18 | ||
3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 59 | 2:02’30,543 | 15,305 | 7,710 | fifteen | ||
4 | Lando Norris | 59 | 2:02’41.371 | 26.133 | 10.828 | 12 | ||
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | 59 | 2:03’13.520 | 58.282 | 32.149 | 10 | ||
6 | Lance Stroll | 59 | 2:03’16.568 | 1’01.330 | 3.048 | 8 | ||
7 | Max Verstappen | 59 | 2:03’19.063 | 1’03.825 | 2.495 | 6 | ||
8 | Sebastian Vettel | 59 | 2:03’20.270 | 1’05.032 | 1.207 | 4 | ||
9 | Lewis Hamilton | 59 | 2:03’21.753 | 1’06.515 | 1.483 | 2 | ||
10 | Pierre Gasly | 59 | 2:03’29.814 | 1’14,576 | 8,061 | 1 | ||
see results |
Full race summary of the 2022 Singapore GP F1
After an hour of delay due to rain, the race of the Singapore Grand Prix started practically with a wet track and with all the drivers betting on intermediate tires. At the start, Sergio Pérez overtook Leclerc and moved into first position, while Sainz moved into third place, ahead of Hamilton.
Behind, Max Verstappen suffered more than expected at the start and went from eighth to thirteenth place, although tooth and nail he recovered several positions already in that first lap. Meanwhile, Alonso lost a position with Norris and fell to sixth place.
After four laps, Pérez and Leclerc broke away from the leading group, opening a gap of more than five seconds on Sainz, who in turn was also distancing himself from Hamilton. Verstappen, for his part, rose to ninth place.
George Russell, who had started from the pitlane, made it clear how difficult it was to overtake in the early stages of the race, gaining just three positions after five laps, moving up to 17th place, just ahead of Latifi, Zhou and Albon.
Crash at the back of the grid and change of pace
At the end of lap 7, Guanyu Zhou and Nicholas Latifi were involved in the first incident of the session when they were fighting for the last positions, causing the safety car to come out on the track after the abandonment of both drivers.
Due to the track conditions, still wet, and the early appearance of the SC, hardly any drivers took advantage of the moment to enter the pits and simply grouped themselves one after another at the tail of the Safety Car, with Pérez first, Leclerc second. , Sainz third, Hamilton fourth, Norris fifth, Alonso sixth, Gasly seventh, Vettel eighth and Verstappen still ninth.
At the end of the tenth lap, the safety car was removed and the action returned to the track. Although with the exception of Verstappen, who overtook Vettel and Gasly to be seventh, no other driver exchanged positions on the restart.
Just one lap later, Pérez was the first driver to break the 2:00 barrier, leaving clear evidence that the track was still progressing and that a switch to dry tires might not be far off.
Several laps later, the race stabilized again with a situation very similar to that before the Safety Car. Pérez was leading with Leclerc 1.5 seconds behind and Sainz in third place with a gap that was gradually approaching 10s, with Hamilton behind also at a safe distance. Meanwhile, Verstappen’s comeback was slowed down by Alonso. In the last positions of the points zone, the AlphaTauri fought with the Aston Martin.
Abandonment of Alonso and Russell plays it with dry tires
On lap 21, Alonso was suffering from a power unit problem for the second consecutive grand prix and was forced to retire, causing a Virtual Safety Car.
At that moment, George Russell, who was out of position, took the opportunity to pit and fit the medium tyres, becoming the first driver to switch from intermediates to dry compounds on lap 22.
A lap later the race resumed under a green flag after Alonso’s Alpine was retired and all eyes were on Russell’s times on dry tyres, but his times were considerably slower compared to the intermediates.
Ahead, Pérez increased his lead over Leclerc to three seconds, with Sainz third and Hamilton fourth just over a second behind. Verstappen gained a position after the abandonment of Alonso and was placed sixth, glued to Norris.
Alex Albon overbraked at Turn 8 and hit the wall, re-engaging the VSC after leaving his front wing in the crash zone. The Thai driver was able to return to the pits by himself to retire his Williams. Given the very obvious problems of Russell with the dry, no one else wanted to play it.
On lap 29, the virtual safety car returned to the scene after another engine failure in the other Alpine team car, causing Esteban Ocon to retire, but again no driver passed through the pit lane.
On lap 33, Hamilton made a mistake and hit the guards, but luckily for him he was able to get back on track, albeit with some damage and losing several positions, dropping to fifth place ahead of Verstappen.
Change of pace and dry tires arrive
On lap 34, Russell set the fastest lap of the race on the mediums and that opened the door for the other drivers to pit on the next lap to take off the intermediates and put on dry compounds.
The first driver from the front to stop was Leclerc, but his pit stop was not good, in fact he exceeded five seconds and returned to the track with mediums. Hamilton also stopped to fit new media and took the opportunity to change the front wing that had been damaged in his previous accident.
Pérez did the same on the next lap and kept the lead, more than seven seconds ahead of Leclerc. Meanwhile, Sainz and Verstappen were also running new medium tyres. Leaving Norris third and Ricciardo fifth still without making his stop.
Tsunoda, who had just put on mids, over-braked at Turn 10 and went straight into the wall, causing the second safety car and giving the McLarens a great opportunity to make their pitstops. Norris started fourth, behind Sainz, and Ricciardo sixth, on softs, just behind Verstappen, making a big jump up the standings.
Start a new race with dry tires
The session resumed on lap 40 of 61 and a new stage of the race began. All with medium tires, except for Ricciardo (6th) and Bottas (12th) who had mounted the soft.
Trying to overtake Norris, Verstappen overbraked and locked up his medium tyres, dropping to eighth, behind the Aston Martins and ahead of Hamilton. The Dutchman, with some destroyed compounds, was forced to enter the pits again to put soft and dropped to 14th place, the last.
In turn, Russell touched Mick Schumacher and punctured one of his tires, prolonging his chaotic race. The German also had to pit after that incident with the young Brit from Mercedes and retired his Haas.
Ahead, Leclerc began to put pressure on Pérez and race management allowed the use of DRS with the Monegasque less than a second behind the Mexican, who seemed to be struggling a lot to warm up his medium tyres.
Pérez secures victory and Verstappen does not reach the points
After several laps of pressure, the driver from Guadalajara was finally able to get his medium tires up to temperature and managed to escape from Leclerc, first taking him out of the DRS zone and later extending his advantage to over two seconds.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz, who also struggled in the opening laps after the restart, found his rhythm and pulled away from the two McLarens to secure the podium.
Behind, Hamilton, who was eighth, put pressure on the Aston Martins, while Verstappen passed Gasly and Bottas to move up to ninth.
In the final laps, Leclerc received a radio message to stay as close as possible to Pérez, as the Mexican was being investigated for an alleged infraction related to the distance the leader must maintain from the Safety Car. However, the Red Bull driver continued to increase his advantage and exceeded seven seconds by the time he crossed the checkered flag.
In the last moments, Verstappen managed to gain two more positions thanks to another error by Hamilton in an attempt to overtake Vettel and then overtaking the German himself. In this way, the Dutchman finished seventh and the British ninth, ahead of Gasly.