Max Verstappen cruised to victory on the streets of Singapore for the first time as he celebrates his 250th race in Formula 1.
Charles Leclerc had a very strong getaway off the grid, allowing himself to pull alongside Verstappen into the short run down to turn 1, but the Red Bull driver was able to defend his position and maintain the lead.
While this was happening, Hamilton had a worse launch off the line, making it so that he would be under threat from the likes of Antonelli and both McLarens, though like Verstappen ahead he was able to keep hold of his starting position, crucial for a race on a track where overtaking is likely to be difficult.
Leclerc was able to keep within touching distance with Verstappen for the opening few laps of the race, but would lose the one second gap needed to have overtake mode by the end of lap 6. Hamilton, in 3rd place, was maintaining a good pace as well, despite being on the medium tyres while everyone around him started on softs.
A Virtual Safety Car came out on lap 8 as Gabriel Bortoleto’s engine gave out on him, but he parked his car on the pit exit, not allowing anyone to try and make use of the cheaper pit stop that can be gained.
The pit entry would actually remain closed for a short while after racing resumed, as Bortoleto’s Audi would catch fire and needed to be extinguished.
Hamilton’s pace would really begin to fall off on the medium tyre, and he would become the first to pit on lap 19, going onto a new set of soft tyres. With how early he came into the pits, particularly with him going onto a softer tyre compound, the question now would be whether he was committing to a two-stop strategy or would try and nurse the tyres to the end.
Hamilton would come out behind a little bit of traffic in the form of Liam Lawson, but he would make quick work of the Racing Bulls driver and find himself 19 seconds behind Piastri in 5th, no one else responding to his early stop.
There wouldn’t be another pit stop from any of the front runners until lap 24, where Antonelli would come in for new mediums. Highlighting the effectiveness of the undercut, despite the two stops being basically identical in time, Hamilton would be 3 seconds ahead by the time he came back out on track, having been within one second at the time that Hamilton pit.
Hamilton was also right on the back of Leclerc once the latter had made their pitstop, and Hamilton quickly became frustrated with the loss of pace he was having being stuck behind his teammate, who had gone onto the medium tyre. Despite calling for the team to swap them around, Hamilton was actually told to manage his own tyres more.
George Russell was trying to limit the damage of starting at the back of the grid, and was doing a fine job of it despite the lack of overtaking opportunities at this track, managing to get into the points paying positions by the half way point in the race, albeit without having pitted by that point.
Franco Colapinto had some technical issues which forced him to retire from the race on lap 31. The way the car was parked looked as though it could potentially bring out a safety car of some kind, but he was able to get the car moving for long enough that he could drive it behind the barriers and stop the race being interrupted.
A second VSC would come out on lap 39 after Lance Stroll’s clutch broke, which provided some with an opportunity to pit again. Ferrari bizarrely decided to pit Leclerc but not Hamilton, while Mercedes would bring in Antonelli for a second stop.
Russell would come in to try and gain a free pit stop, but the moment he entered the pit lane, the VSC would end, and he would lose out to Lawson, Hulkenberg and Gasly, dropping down to 10th place.
Piastri would have to make an extra pit stop during green flag racing as he had a slow tyre puncture, all the while Antonelli and Hamilton would each be complaining about issues with the car. The conditions appeared to start taking their toll on the cars.
The age of Hamilton’s tyres were really starting to show after the VSC ended, with Leclerc managing to catch up to his teammate very quickly and regained 2nd position with very little trouble. Now, Norris was starting to seriously gain on the 7 time world champion, and it started to look like Ferrari through away a chance for a double podium.
Lando Norris was able to finally get to the back of Hamilton by lap 53, but was finding it a bit more difficult to overtake the Ferrari driver than Leclerc had.
An opportunity presented itself into turn 1, and though Hamilton defended aggressively, Norris still opted to try and dive down the inside. Hamilton went off track and went around the slip road to rejoin the track in 3rd, but Norris’ incredibly tight line into turn 1 gave Antonelli the opportunity to make an overtake just a couple of corners later to climb up to 4th.
Antonelli would be able to breeze past Hamilton to claim himself a spot on the podium, all the while Norris would continue to struggle making an overtake of his own. He would eventually manage to pass Hamilton on lap 55, doing so at an unconventional spot in turn 10.
Hamilton’s nightmare end to the race did not end there though, as Oscar Piastri was able to catch and overtake him by the penultimate lap of the race, dropping Hamilton to 6th place.
While all of this was going on Verstappen was able to cruise to victory to complete a perfect weekend of racing for himself, having led every lap on route to his first victory at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The result means that Antonelli, with his 3rd place finish, could theoretically win the World Drivers’ Championship next time out at the United States Grand Prix, which will take place in two weeks time on October 25.
