Sainz wins Singapore GP as Verstappen and Red Bull’s streaks end

SINGAPORE (AP) — The dominant Red Bulls were out of the image and Formula One had its most thrilling fight for a win this season.

Runaway standings leader Max Verstappen’s winning run ended at 10 races and Red Bull’s at 15 — each F1 records — as Carlos Sainz Jr. won the Singapore Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday.

Red Bull dreamed of winning every race this 12 months but had Verstappen fifth and Perez eighth after struggling all weekend in Singapore.

Sainz began on pole position and held on with badly worn tires over several tense final laps for his second profession win in F1 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. It was a four-car fight for the win before George Russell crashed the opposite Mercedes on the ultimate lap from third position to advertise Hamilton to the rostrum.

“I felt under control. I felt like I could manage well and we brought it home. That was the most effective feeling,” Sainz said after celebrating together with his team as fireworks lit up the Singapore circuit.

Sainz admitted after the race he had slowed all the way down to ensure Norris stay inside the one-second window that allowed the McLaren driver access to the DRS straight-line speed boost — a worthwhile aid in holding off the 2 Mercedes.

“Carlos was very generous attempting to help me get DRS. It helped my race and also helped his,” said Norris, who has placed second in three of the last six races but has yet to win in F1. “We held (Mercedes) off, we did the whole lot we would have liked to do and more.” Norris said he clipped the wall in the identical spot where Russell later went off.

Mercedes had Russell heading in the right direction for second before taking a risk with a second stop for each cars within the hope of taking the win on more energizing, faster tires. Russell dropped back to fourth, ahead of Hamilton, and they each passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but couldn’t get past Norris to reclaim second.

“We rolled the dice this weekend,” Hamilton said after a Mercedes strategy call saw each cars stop for fresh tires late on, meaning Russell dropped back from second in pursuit of the win.

Leclerc was fourth after failing to carry off the Mercedes cars on older tires, ahead of Verstappen in fifth. The champion had an eventful race after starting eleventh and was briefly second on target behind Sainz, though only because just about all other cars stopped for fresh tires. After Verstappen’s own pit stop, he fought his way back through the sphere from fifteenth.

Despite his worst result since Nov. 2022, Verstappen increased his championship result in 151 points over Perez with seven races to go. “Every thing must be perfect to win every race in a season, I knew this present day would come and it’s absolutely high-quality,” he said.

Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine, Oscar Piastri seventh for McLaren after qualifying 18th and Perez eighth. Rookie Liam Lawson scored his first points in ninth for AlphaTauri. It was the Latest Zealander’s third profession race in F1 since replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo mid-season and it was the team’s best placing of the season. Kevin Magnussen was tenth for Haas.

Besides Red Bull, it was a dismal weekend too for Aston Martin as Fernando Alonso placed fifteenth after a protracted pit stop and a spin. His teammate Lance Stroll didn’t participate. The team said Stroll felt sore after a heavy crash in qualifying.