Carlos Sainz wins in Singapore

Fernando Alonso reaches 100,000 kilometers but finishes fifteenth

MADRID, 17 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) won this Sunday the victory in the Singapore Grand Prix race, the sixteenth round of the Formula 1 World Championship, after dominating the event from start to finish and withstanding the pressure from the Mercedes, while Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) finished fifteenth after an error in one of his stops.

The Madrid native, who debuted his record of victories in the 'Great Circus' in Silverstone in 2022, signed his second victory in F1 at the Marina Bay street circuit after enduring pressure from the British Lando Norris (McLaren) and the two Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton taking the podium after George Russell hit the wall on the final lap.

For his part, Alonso, who this Sunday became the first driver in the history of Formula 1 to complete 100,000 kilometers in racing conditions, saw his performance ruined by a horrible stop of 25.8 seconds that dropped him to fifteenth. final place.

Once the traffic lights were turned off, Sainz, Saturday's poleman, defended his privileged position while Leclerc got behind him after overtaking the British George Russell (Mercedes), who fell several positions and was also overtaken by his teammate Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), which happened to him after skipping turn 1.

Alonso, for his part, managed to move up one place, to sixth, after overtaking the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas). Behind, after a yellow flag caused by a breakdown of the car of the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Verstappen - who started eleventh after being eliminated in Q2 - came back to place seventh on lap 7.

Tension in the Ferrari garage increased as Leclerc pushed forward to try to catch his teammate, who was showing off his pace. The Monegasque was definitively out of the fight for victory in the 'pit stop' carried out with the yellow flag by Logan Sargeant, with a very bad stop of 5.7 seconds that made him lose the position to Russell and the also British Lando Norris ( McLaren).

The 'pitlane' also penalized Alonso, who was penalized five seconds for crossing the entry line by blocking tires, and the Red Bulls, who suffered to defend their places; In fact, Russell gave an account of the current champion, to begin his pursuit of Sainz, and Norris did the same with 'Checo' Pérez, also surpassed by Hamilton. At the halfway point of the event, Sainz, Russell and Norris momentarily held the podium positions.

On lap 37, the Asturian's attempt to overtake Pérez ended with Esteban Ocon (Alpine) arriving from behind and gaining position, but on lap 44 the Frenchman was out of the race due to mechanical problems at the exit of the pitlane. However, the worst was yet to come: on lap 46, a 25.8-second pit stop ended Alonso's hope, and just two laps later he hit the wall at Turn 14, although he was able to continue.

Already with the medium new tire, Russell flew towards the two in front, Sainz and Norris, cutting almost a second per lap and placing himself five seconds behind the Spaniard with six laps remaining and just one second with only three remaining.

With two to go and with Hamilton already close, the Briton tried to overtake Norris, who closed the door on him while Sainz took advantage of it to distance himself. No one managed to surpass him, and 308 days later a car other than Red Bull managed to get to the top of the podium.

With Norris and Hamilton climbing into second and third place, Leclerc finished fourth, ahead of Verstappen, the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was sixth, the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) seventh, Pérez eighth, the New Zealander Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri) ninth and the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas) tenth. The next Grand Prix, in Japan next week.