Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore: An extraordinary final quarter of the race saw Max Verstappen stage a stunning fight back to haul himself from 15th to 5th place at the flag, with team mate Sergio Perez battling through to eighth.
As the lights went out for the start, both Red Bull cars made good getaways, with Max rising to P10 and Checo battling Liam Lawson for P12.
Max was soon on the move again, on lap two he passed Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg to take P9 and then went on to pass Haas team-mate, Kevin Magnussen for eighth place. The race then became a tactical battle ahead of the first pit stop window, with the leading Ferrari drivers, Sainz and Charles Leclerc, lapping slowly to protect their tyres and bunching the field behind.
Lap 20 then changed things as Williams’ Logan Sargent outbraved himself into Turn 8 and nosed into the barriers. The American limped back to the pit late and the Safety Car was deployed.
The top seven cars all immediately dived into the pits, but Max and Checo stayed out and when Sainz emerged in the lead, Max jumped to P2, with Checo in P4.
The Safety Car left the track at the end of Lap 22 and Sainz controlled the restart well to keep a hard-charging Max at bay. For both Max and Checo, it was a brief stint at the top, with ageing hard tyres starting to become a serious disadvantage as they dropped back into the lower half of the top 10 ahead of their pit stops.
Checo made his sole pit stop at the end of lap 39, taking on a fresh set of medium tyres. Max then made his stop at the end of the following lap and rejoined in P15, with Checo two places further back.
Both drivers quickly began to rattle off fastest laps and then on lap 43, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon lost power, triggering a Virtual Safety Car.
This was the cue for Max to go on a march. He was soon back in the points and sitting P8. Checo was lodged behind Albon, who was also on a fresh set of tyres and finding it hard to make headway from P13, although pit stops around him would elevate him to P11.
That wasn’t the end though, in the final handful of laps Max reeled in McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to seal fifth place and take 10 points.
Checo, too, took no prisoners in the final laps, barging past Albon, Magnussen and thundering past Lawson to take a brave, battling P8.
At the front, a close finish saw Sainz take victory for Ferrari ahead of Norris. But there was disaster for one side of the Mercedes garage when Russell crashed out of third after clipping the wall on the final lap. The last podium place was inherited by Lewis Hamilton on the second Mercedes.
Speaking after the race, Max Verstappen said, “I think we did the best we could today. We had good pace and were just unfortunate with the timing of the safety car. Everything needs to be perfect to win every race in a season, I knew this day would come and it’s absolutely fine.”
Sergio Pérez said, “It was not a great day for us, it was tough as expected. I think we have plenty of things to work on after the weekend. I think many of the issues were circuit related and we should be stronger next weekend.”
Following the race, Christian Horner said, “We were unfortunate with the safety car, it could not have come at a worse time for us. It was a shame, but there are also a lot of positives to takeaway.
“Max’s pace at the end and then with Checo coming back through also made for a very strong performance. We knew that the run would come to an end at some point and we reflect on the job well done by the Team. 15 wins in a row is an incredible feat. 10 wins for Max is something equally remarkable. We carry a lot of momentum heading into Japan and look forward to getting out and going again.”