F1 Singapore: 4-Way battle for victory sees Sainz use strategy to take the win

A strategic race played beautifully by Carlos Sainz, taking control from start to finish and taking his second victory of his career. Singapore has been one of the best races this season so far. This track always delivers, and this year certainly did not disappoint.

Carlos Sainz stands ontop of his car after winning the 2023 Singapore GP - Photo by Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

After a steady start from the Scuderia, they led the opening stages 1-2 with Sainz smartly controlling the pace of the front runners to keep the field bunched together. Sainz opted to purposely drive slower so that the cars behind him could not build a gap on one another, deterring his rivals from any possible pit stops and undercutting his race lead. This went on for a while, as Carlos was able to continue to balance his own pace, and Leclerc helped to back up the field behind them.

It wasn't until lap 20, where Logan Sargeant hit the wall bringing out the safety car. The safety car, however, was quite unusual; Sargeant had hit the wall and his front wing came loose, but it was still attached to his car and there was no obvious debris on track, yet the full safety car was deployed. Nonetheless, it was the catalyst for what soon became a strategy ball-game for all the teams.

Logan Sargeant after hitting the wall on Lap 20 - Photo by Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Every team pit both their cars, except for the Red Bulls, who opted to stay out on their hard compound tyres. In hindsight, if they pitted right then and there, they might have been in the mix, but they opted to stay out and continue their stint on hards which meant both drivers struggling with pace and lacking grip. By staying out, they bunched the midfield back and created a big 10s gap between themselves and the front runners, meaning when they eventually pit they were set to the back of the grid and had an even bigger challenge to face to catch back up to the top 5.

A difficult run for Charles Leclerc, having to hold in the pits on Lap 21 to avoid an unsafe release, meaning he lost two positions to Norris and Hamilton. Things got worse for the Monegasque driver later into the race, after a second incident caused a virtual safety car where Leclerc had the opportunity for a free pitstop, and even asked the team to box, but they chose to keep him out. This later meant he was a sitting duck for the two Mercedes on fresh tyres in the closing stages of the race, and he had no defence to offer for himself or his teammate who was leading the race.

Max Verstappen leaving the pit lane - Photo by Red Bull Racing

It wasn't the best race weekend for Aston Martin, after the massive crash during qualifying, Lance Stroll was unable to start the race due to still feeling the side effects of the incident. There was no chance for a replacement driver, as anyone in the race must have participated in at least 1 practice session (this includes qualifying), so it meant only Alonso could line up for the British based team on Sunday evening.

Lap chart showing Alonso's track position during the race - Courtesy of MultiViewer F1

The race was going well for Alonso, after some decent battles on track he was able to hold on, or around his starting position of P7, but it was an unfortunate slow pitstop from Aston Martin that saw him drop from P6 down to P15. The cause of the slow stop, appears to be an issue with the rear jack as the mechanics had to take extra care getting the jack past a new carbon fibre winglet the team were using this weekend. That extra bit of time taken to place the rear jack seems to have caused a delay in lifting the car, which put the mechanics out of sync and led to a hefty delay. Unfortunate for Alonso, but he brought the car home in P15.

Aston Martin new rear winglet, highlighted in red - Photo by Miguel Portillo

Lap 44 saw a double stack from Mercedes after the latter VSC was deployed, they looked to undercut the three cars ahead of them; Sainz, Norris and Leclerc. The pitstop went well for the two silver arrows, both swapping to fresh medium compound tyres, and beginning their hunt on the top 3. Lap after lap, the gap was closing and it wasn't long until Leclerc on old hard tyres was the first victim to the Mercedes', being passed by both Russell and Hamilton within two laps and unable to put up much of a defence.

For the last 20 laps of the race, the intensity only increased. It was box office drama between the top 4 drivers as any of them had a chance of taking home victory on Sunday. Sainz led from Norris with a consistent gap of 1s - 1.5s between them, whilst the two Mercedes were closing in on them by about a second a lap every lap. With 5 laps remaining of the Grand Prix, the top 4 were seperated by just under 2 seconds, nose to tail through the streets of Singapore, honing in on the chequered flag. Sainz kept his composure and actually allowed his rival, Lando Norris in the McLaren, to stay close behind him to remain within DRS and use him as a buffer between himself and the ever faster Mercedes drivers.

The pressure was on for all four drivers as they all could sense a shot at victory, and maximising the points available to take home for themselves and their teams. But pushing on the limit for so long can lead to mistakes, and unfortunately for George Russell, he pushed a little too far past the limit, and on the final lap he clipped the wall sending him hurtling out of the race and out of the points.

The top 4 drivers, Sainz, Norris, Russell & Hamilton, on the final stages of the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix - Photo by F1

A perfect drive from Carlos Sainz saw him use everything available to him to bring home a victory. His talent, speed, using his old teammate, and calm composure ensured a masterclass from the Spaniard. Lando Norris equalled his career best finish, coming home in second, with the 7-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, finishing in third.