Formula One lit up the Singapore streets on Sunday, and fans were treated to the race of the season. Neither Red Bull car had a chance of winning, and that outcome made headline news as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz grabbed the victory.
Red Bull has dominated the previous 14 races of the 2023 season, with Max Verstappen on a record run of 10 consecutive victories.
However, due to the unique nature of the Marina Bay street circuit and some car set-up errors by the Red Bull team, Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez started 11th and 13th on the grid. That made for a wide-open race with five different drivers having a genuine chance of victory. With Red Bull out of contention, the race delivered one of the most exciting and intriguing battles in recent memory. Four drivers from three teams had a chance to claim the win, and all were in contention right down to the last lap of the race.
In the end, pole-sitter Carlos Sainz won, and the Spaniard led every race lap. A lights-to-flag victory may sound straightforward; however, it was anything but. Sainz had to deal with both full and virtual safety car periods, plus race-long battles with his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and later Mercedes’ George Russell.
In the race’s closing stages, Sainz had his former teammate Lando Norris immediately behind him, with Russell and his teammate Lewis Hamilton in close pursuit. Both Mercedes’ drives took advantage of the virtual safety car period to pit for fresh medium tires. On fresher tires, Russell and Hamilton closed the top two by over two seconds a lap, which resulted in the close four-way fight to the finish.
The drama went all the way to the chequered flag. George Russell made a mistake on the final lap when pushing to overtake Norris and crashed his Mercedes into the barriers, taking him out of the race. That left Sainz for the win as McLaren’s Norris claimed second and Hamilton finished third.
While nothing should be taken away from Red Bull’s excellence (there is uniform respect for Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s achievements), for once this season, Formula One delivered a truly exciting race from the start to finish. It was a difference, a refreshing one too, from Red Bull and Verstappen domination, where victory has often been claimed by a wide margin over the rest of the grid.
And that pattern may be changing. Singapore was the second consecutive race in which neither Red Bull car claimed a pole position (Carlos Sainz also qualified quickest at Monza). In addition, Verstappen’s margin of victory has been significantly reduced over recent races. For example, in Monza, Verstappen finished only six seconds ahead of teammate Perez and only 11 seconds ahead of the closest non-Red Bull car. The gap was even closer at the Dutch Grand Prix before Monza: Verstappen beat Fernando Alonso by less than 4 seconds.
That means there’s evidence of a more competitive Formula One field. If correct, the real winners are the sport and the millions of fans who follow it worldwide.
