F1 Grand Prix race results: Sergio Perez wins Singapore GP

Perez beat pole-sitter Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the first corner and dominated the race until the intermediate-shod field switched to slick tyres.

Perez then encountered engine issues that helped Leclerc to attack in the closing laps, but an error from Leclerc dropped him 2s behind after Perez had sorted out his engine settings.

However, Perez faces a post-race stewards’ investigation for a safety car infringement.

UPDATE: Perez was given a 5s penalty but keeps his race win albeit by a reduced margin.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen suffered a poor start, which forced him to charge through until he made an error trying to pass McLaren’s Lando Norris and dropped to last place. He recovered to finish seventh.

2022 Singapore Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Gap	Interval	km/h	Points
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	59			146.437	25
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	59	2.595	2.595	146.386	18
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	59	10.305	7.710	146.232	15
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	59	21.133	10.828	146.017	12
5	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	59	53.282	32.149	145.382	10
6	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	59	56.330	3.048	145.322	8
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	59	58.825	2.495	145.273	6
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	59	1'00.032	1.207	145.249	4
9	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	59	1'01.515	1.483	145.220	2
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	59	1'09.576	8.061	145.062	1
11	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	59	1'28.844	19.268	144.686
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	59	1'32.610	3.766	144.613
13	Mick Schumacher	Haas	58	1 Lap	1 Lap	142.449
14	George Russell	Mercedes	57	2 Laps	1 Lap	141.539
	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	34	25 Laps	23 Laps	139.686
	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	26	33 Laps	8 Laps	140.186
	Alex Albon	Williams	25	34 Laps	1 Lap	138.144
	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	20	39 Laps	5 Laps	142.562
	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	7	52 Laps	13 Laps	130.541
	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	6	53 Laps	1 Lap	139.645
View full results

 

How the Singapore Grand Prix unfolded

After a delayed start due to torrential rain, the field all started on intermediate tyres.

Perez made a great start and passed poleman Leclerc on the run to Turn 1, while Sainz took third from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the first corner after a brush of wheels before the apex of Turn 2. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, making his 350^th F1 start, ran sixth behind Norris.

Further back, Verstappen made a dreadful start and cut the inside of Turn 1, dropping back to 12^th on the opening lap from eighth on the grid, but he quickly charged his way back into the top 10 by Lap 2.

Nicholas Latifi (Williams) clobbered Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) into the wall approaching Turn 5 on Lap 7 which brought out the first safety car to retrieve the stricken Alfa. Zhou’s teammate Valtteri Bottas was also in the wars as he was clattered into by George Russell’s Mercedes, who started from the pitlane after an engine change.

Perez maintained his lead at the rolling restart on Lap 11, as Verstappen passed the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri to run seventh. Verstappen then got stuck behind Alonso until the Spaniard’s engine failed on Lap 21, which caused a virtual safety car for a couple of laps to deal with his car.

Russell gambled on pitting for medium-compound slicks at this point but was woefully slow as he struggled to keep temperature in them.

The returning Alex Albon, who spun his Williams into the wall on the opening lap, found the wall again at Turn 8 on Lap 26 and lost his front wing against the barriers, causing a second virtual safety car. A third quickly followed as Esteban Ocon’s Alpine expired on Lap 28.

Verstappen almost hit Norris at Turn 7 before the restart, and then attacked him hard for fifth place. Hamilton went off into the tyres at Turn 7 on lap 33, rejoining between Norris and Verstappen, but sustained front wing and endplate damage.

Leclerc pitted for medium slicks on 35 as soon as Russell set a fastest lap, as did Hamilton for a new nose section – dropping him to ninth. Perez responded in kind a lap later, as did Sainz and Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda then crashed his slick-shod AlphaTauri at Turn 10, causing the second full safety car, and Norris took advantage to make his stop for slicks.

The race went green again with 35 minutes remaining in what was now a timed race, with Perez leading Leclerc, Sainz, Norris and Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo had jumped up to sixth in his McLaren, but opted for soft-compound slicks.

Verstappen attacked Norris into Turn 7 but locked up and blew the corner, rejoining ahead of Hamilton in eighth but with huge flatspots and was forced to pit for soft slicks. He rejoined in last position, but gained one spot when Russell hit Mick Schumacher’s Haas and suffered a puncture.

On slicks, Leclerc looked far more racy than previously, just as Perez reported engine issues. DRS was enabled, further helping Leclerc as he attacked for the lead in the closing stages.

As he looked poised to pass, Leclerc made a mistake and dropped out of DRS range, as Perez fixed his engine settings and pulled away. But Perez was facing an investigation from stewards for a safety car infringement and pushed flat-out to the finish to ensure his victory margin was over 5s just in case.

Sainz finished a distant third, ahead of Norris and Ricciardo. The Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was next up, while Hamilton gifted a spot to the recovering Verstappen when he overshot Turn 8 trying to pass Vettel. Verstappen passed Vettel on the final lap to grab seventh.

2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	George Russell	Mercedes	54	1'46.458			171.211
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	57	1'48.165	1.707	1.707	168.509
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	59	1'48.414	1.956	0.249	168.122
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	54	1'48.753	2.295	0.339	167.598
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	52	1'49.142	2.684	0.389	167.000
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	56	1'49.212	2.754	0.070	166.893
7	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	58	1'50.283	3.825	1.071	165.272
8	Mick Schumacher	Haas	58	1'50.290	3.832	0.007	165.262
9	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	56	1'50.569	4.111	0.279	164.845
10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	1'50.622	4.164	0.053	164.766
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	58	1'50.669	4.211	0.047	164.696
12	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	57	1'51.006	4.548	0.337	164.196
13	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	52	1'51.864	5.406	0.858	162.937
14	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	59	1'52.067	5.609	0.203	162.641
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	32	1'58.716	12.258	6.649	153.532
16	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	19	2'00.463	14.005	1.747	151.306
17	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	24	2'01.105	14.647	0.642	150.504
18	Alex Albon	Williams	24	2'02.121	15.663	1.016	149.251
19	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	5	2'05.556	19.098	3.435	145.168
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	5	2'05.585	19.127	0.029	145.135
View full results

2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix pitstops

Cla	Driver	Chassis	1		2		3		4		5
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	I	35	M	24
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	I	34	M	25
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	I	35	M	24
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	I	36	M	23
5	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	I	36	S	23
6	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	I	35	M	24
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	I	35	M	5	S	19
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	I	34	M	25
9	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	I	34	M	25
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	I	36	M	26
11	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	I	33	S	26
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	I	7	I	29	M	26
13	Mick Schumacher	Haas	I	34	M	7	S	17
14	George Russell	Mercedes	I	21	M	14	M	6	S	10	S	6
	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	I	39	M	1
	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	I	26
	Alex Albon	Williams	I	25
	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	I	20
	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	I	7
	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	I	6
View full results