SINGAPORE – Max Verstappen’s Formula One title celebrations have been halted after Red Bull driver ranked seventh in a chaotic Singapore grand openingwon by his teammate Sergio Perez on Sunday.
Perez’s second win of the season saw him finish 7.6 seconds ahead Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Leclerc teammate Carlos Sainz Jr in third place.
Perez is being investigated for possible car safety violations. It could mean a time penalty of five seconds, in which case the Mexican driver passing Leclerc covered him.
Verstappen’s equal lowest place this year coincided with his seventh at the British GP in July. He also had two retirements in the first three races.
Verstappen has won the previous five races but needs to win here and finish 22 points ahead of Leclerc to be crowned champion for a second straight season. That could happen next weekend at the Japanese GP.
Verstappen made a mistake after his second safety car restart, following the crash of AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda in Round 36 when Verstappen tried to overtake Lando Norris’ McLarenhe has locked his tires and needs to pit again.
Leclerc starts at pole with Verstappen going from eighth a team made a mistake in qualifying.
Race start was delayed from 8pm (1200 GMT) to 9:05pm (1305 GMT) local time to clear water from the Marina Bay Circuit after heavy rain. Riders must complete the 61 lap race within two hours.
The difficult conditions saw the virtual safety car deployed three times and DRS allowed with about 30 minutes remaining.
Perez started well and overtook Leclerc while Verstappen fell a few places. The first safety car was on August 8 when Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo was cut by Nicholas Latifi’s Williams.
Perez exited cleanly on restart, while Verstappen climbed the following Saturday Fernando Alonso – Whose 350th? F1 The race ended disappointingly when his engine failed in lap 21, bringing home the first VSC.
With the track still wet, the driver decided not to change the tire faster – other than Mercedes‘George Russell, who struggled to capture.
Hamilton made a rare mistake in Round 33 and plunged into the collision barrier. Soon, the top racers change tires in a series of stops. They did so shortly before the safety vehicle was deployed again following Tsunoda’s fault.
Verstappen overtakes Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin right last for seventh place.
Related videos:
