Pole: Carlos Sainz
Winner: Carlos Sainz
Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton 1:35.867
1-10
Sainz and Leclerc make a great start and are running 1-2 with Russell losing a bit of pace at the beginning of the lap with Hamilton overtaking off the track and is yet to let him by. In lap 2, Tsunoda has got out of the car behind the barriers so no need for a safety car Russell gets past Hamilton as Norris makes a charge for Hamilton. Lap 3, Zhou has a pit for new tyres as Verstappen gets close to Magnussen for P8. Hamilton has been noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Hamilton is no longer under investigation as he lets Norris through. In lap 7, Perez makes a move on the inside of turn 1 on Piastri as we have seen Verstappen move up to P8.
10-20
In lap 12, Ferrari has the fastest lap with Sainz and Leclerc reports seeing a drop of pace from Sainz. Norris and Hamilton are closing the gap to Russell as Norris keeps the pace on the Mercedes. Ferrari wanted Leclerc to back the field up but had to be careful as Russell was only just 1 second behind. In lap 16, Verstappen is told multiple times to look after his tyres but seems to be ignoring the team orders with his race engineer telling him twice. Sargeant has had an incident with his front wing running below his car. Down at turn 8 the car would not turn into the corner and sent him into the barriers but Sargeant is looking like he should make it to the pits.
20-30
As Sargeant gets into the pits a safety car is released as almost all teams come out into the pit lane Sainz and Russell pit followed by Leclerc along with Norris. Hamilton also pits but Leclerc was held up in the pits. Red Bull have stayed out on the hard tyres, Bottas, and Verstappen are the only ones not to pit. Alonso was going into the pits but locks up in doing so and goes over the white line at entry as it is shown he is under investigation. Lap 23, safety car is in and Sainz has a brilliant restart. Alonso has a 5-second penalty as Norris tries to go for a move on the outside of Perez but cannot get past and almost collects Leclerc behind. Norris and Russell both put enormous pressure on the Red Bulls as Russell gets past Verstappen and Norris past Perez as we now see Hamilton closing in on Perez. In lap 24, Hamilton gets past Perez as the Red Bulls seem to be struggling on the restart. Lap 25, Norris now gets past Verstappen up to P3. In lap 26, Russell is flying as he is under a second to Sainz and has built a 3-second gap to Norris as Sainz is trying to back up the pack to bring Leclerc back into play. Lap 27, Hamilton breezes past and makes a solid move on the inside of Verstappen to take P4 and start the charge to Norris. Magnussen has been shown the black and white flags but is going well for HAAS running in P10. Lap 28, Leclerc has got past Verstappen in a similar fashion to Hamilton and is now up to P5. Quite a large DRS train is starting with Perez, ALONSO, Ocon, Magnussen, Gasly, Piastri and Lawson from P7 to P13.
30-40
In lap 33, Russell is pushing for the race win as Sainz is managing his tyres. Both Red Bull drivers are struggling with their tyres as they feel like they are “driving on ice”. Lap 36, Magnussen goes off the track and allows the Alpine of Gasly back past. Lap 37, Alonso tries to go for a move on Perez but Ocon capitalises and gets past Alonso and is now the one trying to get past Perez in the battle for 7th. Lap 39, both Red Bulls are running P6 and P7 as there is slight movement in the garage for Red Bull. Ocon makes a lovely move on Perez as Perez is overtaken a couple of corners later by Alonso and Alpine.
40-50
Lap 40, Perez pits for new tyres. Lap 41, Verstappen pits for medium tyres as Russell is now edging closer to Sainz as Bottas is the final driver to pit. Lap 43, Norris is now closing to Russell as he is within DRS range. In lap 43, Ocon has stopped on track at turn 2 as a VSC is released Albon is in the pits the only car at the moment closely followed by Magnussen. Mercedes double stack and are now on medium tyres. Alonso makes a pit stop and serves his 5-second penalty but there is a problem and is a longer pit stop than they would’ve wanted. Sainz is still in the lead followed by Norris and Leclerc is being hunted down by the Mercedes running 4th and 5th. In lap 47, Alonso goes off the track at turn 14 but is able to get it running and has re-joined in p17. In lap 48, Verstappen moves back into the points and is chasing Hulkenberg for P9.
50-62
Russell has now closed the gap to Leclerc down to 5 seconds and now it is eyes on Mercedes to see if they can close the gap before the end of the race. An incident between Perez and Albon is going to be investigated after the race. In lap 53, Russell crucially gets past Leclerc for P3 and Hamilton follows suit. Mercedes are encouraging their drivers to go for it as Norris is putting in some pace. In lap 57, Sainz has been asking for the gap to Norris but Mercedes drivers are the ones to be watching. Lap 58, they are all extremely close to each other as the top 4 are all within seconds of each other. Tensions rise as the top 4 are all within a second of each other as the Mercedes put pressure on the top 2. It is heartbreak for Russell as he clips the wall and goes off and ends his push for the lead. Hamilton tries his best but is unable to overtake Norris and get ahead as one of the most entertaining races of the season comes to a close in Singapore with Sainz taking P1, Norris in P2 and Hamilton in P3.
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