Max Verstappen capped a perfect weekend with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, the first of his career on the Marina Bay street circuit. The Red Bull driver had already secured pole position for the Grand Prix, Sprint pole and victory in the Sprint race.
Today, he completed the clean sweep by adding success in Sunday’s race. Behind the Dutchman, Charles Leclerc finished second, while Kimi Antonelli claimed third place.
The Italian further extended his advantage in the World Championship standings, thanks in part to the ninth-place finish of his closest title rival and teammate, George Russell.
The strategies adopted by the top three finishers differed slightly. Verstappen opted for a one-stop race, while Leclerc and Antonelli took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car period to make a second pit stop.
All three drivers on the podium started on the Soft before switching to the Medium. After the first tyre change, Leclerc and Antonelli pitted again on lap 39 to fit a fresh set of Soft tyres during the neutralisation. Verstappen did not take advantage of the VSC and, after completing 32 laps on his starting Soft compound, switched to the Medium and took it all the way to the chequered flag.
Only the Soft and Medium compounds were used during the race. Russell completed the longest stint on a single set of Medium tyres, covering 39 laps. Lewis Hamilton, who finished sixth, completed the highest number of laps on a set of Soft tyres, managing 44.
Antonelli therefore strengthened his lead in the World Championship, moving on to 340 points. Russell remains second on 238, while Hamilton is third with 229.
Max Verstappen – P1
“It’s an amazing feeling to finally win here in Singapore. We’ve raced here many times and there have been a few missed opportunities, so to finally stand on the top step is really special. The car has been working well all weekend and I’ve felt really comfortable. We had strong pace throughout the race and although I had to push at times to maintain the gap, once I was in clean air I could really get into a rhythm. We had a few issues to manage, including the radio not working, but GP did a great job and seemed to know what I wanted to ask him most of the time! It’s been an incredible weekend and really nice to share another win with him and the Team. Now, we’re just taking it race by race and trying to maximise every opportunity. The most important thing is that we keep having fun, and hopefully we can carry this momentum as a Team into the next few races. Austin is a very different circuit, and a very bumpy one, so we’ll see how we get on when we arrive there.”
Charles Leclerc – P2
“We gave it our all today and extracted the maximum, so I’m happy with our result. Red Bull and Max (Verstappen) were very strong all weekend, and even though I pushed throughout it wasn’t quite enough to catch him in the end. We had a good pace and made the right calls today, with a different strategy that worked out well for us today. Next up we head to Austin. We will see what we can do there, and what all our competitors will bring in terms of upgrades which might reshuffle things again for the final set of races this season.”
Kimi Antonelli – P3
“That was a tough race out there today and I am very happy to have ended it by finishing on the podium. We knew overtaking was going to be difficult, so we were trying to do some things a little bit differently on strategy. Whilst we gave up track position to the McLaren of Lando Norris, we knew we were going to be on the better Soft tyre and trying to chase both him and Lewis (Hamilton) down. I managed to capitalise on the battle between the two of them, passed them both, and take P3. It is a fantastic result for the team after a difficult couple of weekends.
“We have made some really good progress with our update package this weekend. It has proved to be a very useful experiment and one that has provided us with a really good direction to get the best out of it. Obviously, this was a Sprint weekend and after a tough Friday, there was only so much we could do so it wasn’t like we had the car in the perfect window today. That gives us confidence that we can make more improvements in Austin and start to see what it can truly deliver.”
Dario Marrafuschi – Pirelli Motorsport Director
“As widely expected, regardless of the neutralisations, the one-stop strategy proved to be the most competitive, with the Soft-Medium combination emerging as the most effective option.
The C5 was the star of the race, as it delivered very long stints while maintaining a strong level of performance and offering the advantage of greater grip than the other compounds available. Drivers who used it for around half the race only experienced a performance drop-off in the closing stages.
The Hard tyre was not a strategically attractive option for the teams, as it offered less grip than the C4 which, despite being the softer compound, exhibited virtually no degradation, without providing any tangible advantages in a race already firmly geared towards a one-stop strategy. As a result, although the C3 has proven effective at other circuits, it was not selected by any driver in Singapore.
Tyre degradation was in line with what we had already observed during free practice, and the visual condition of the tyres at the end of the stints was also very encouraging, even over the longest runs. Wear was manageable, although it required a degree of attention, particularly on the rear-right.”
