Singapore: post-race analysis 2022

The last two races had good bets that both failed due to blatant misfortune, which was quite galling. This race saw an awful lot of incident but the bet (probably) come good. However, a slightly odd safety car infringement investigation is occurring post-race so we shall see if the racing gods once again chew up a decent tip.

The start was delayed by an hour due to rain, and even then it was inters for everyone. Russell started from the pit lane to take a new engine. Perez started well and nabbed the lead from Leclerc, retaining it for the entire race.

Sainz bumped Hamilton off the track to retain the third he’d gained off the line, whereas Verstappen left the handbrake and went tumbling down the order.

This began a long race (it went to the 2 hour mark rather than laps) with the Dutchman carving his way at first rapidly then more gradually through the field. There was no DRS for about 60% of the race, with drivers hanging on to worn inters until the track was (eventually) ok for dry tyres.

An awful lot happened so I will likely forget parts.

At the front, Perez edged slightly away from Leclerc but the two of them dropped Sainz like a hot potato. Hamilton was able to stick pretty close to the Spaniard, though. Norris and Alonso were also in good positions.

Verstappen, meanwhile, had a minor collision with Magnussen, buggering the Dane’s front wing and forcing him to pit, but doing little for the Dutchman’s efforts to climb through the field.

He was able to haul himself further forward when Zhou Guanyu got squeezed by Latifi into the wall, forcing the Canadian to box and retire and bringing out the safety car so that the Chinese driver’s car could be removed. 

This was great for Verstappen, who was circa 8^th or so at this point, behind Alonso and Norris (I think), but eliminated the mighty gap the leading duo of Perez and Leclerc had built up.

Come racing the top two started building a new lead, Perez again retaining his advantage over Leclerc.

Then many and dramatic things occurred. 

Hamilton attempted to pass Sainz heroically but forgot corners are for turning. He was able to reverse and continue but this enabled Norris to get past him but not Verstappen.

It was either shortly before or shortly after this that Alonso stopped due to his car breaking, bringing out the virtual safety car (which made a few appearances). 

The full safety car also came out again. It was when drivers other than the brave/foolhardy Russell came in for slicks, and Tsunoda decided to have a crash. Come the restart, Perez managed to hold onto his lead and Verstappen managed to have a massive lockup trying to pass Norris and ended up dead last.

At the sharp end, the top two again pulled away from Sainz but Leclerc was looking much faster and it seemed the Mexican was not having much fun on the dry tyre (almost all were on medium except Bottas and Verstappen, on the soft). It turned out he had an engine drivability problem. To make matters worse, he was under investigation for some sort of safety car infringement.

 

Help was at hand. Leclerc got a few corners wrong and slipped out of the DRS window, and then Perez was told to push, building up a gap of 7.5s by the flag. The two chaps were in a class of their own, repeatedly creating a huge gap to everyone else and always very close together until the final dozen laps or so. 

Sainz was a bit by himself and deserves the podium, fending off Hamilton for a long time and Norris for a little towards the end. Lovely day for McLaren, 4^th and 5^th with Norris leading and Ricciardo getting his best result of the year. And with Ocon also retiring (engine exploded) this is great for the team overall. 

Also very good for Aston Martin who kept buggering on and ended up 6^th for Stroll and 8^th for Vettel. Punching well above expectations. Verstappen recovered to 7^th and Hamilton to 9^th, but both could have been podium contenders but for their errors. Gasly nabbed the final point.

 

So, at the moment the bet looks lovely but I’ll be more than a little annoyed if yet another sound tip gets screwed by misfortune. We shall see what the investigation yields and what Ladbrokes does if it puts Perez out of the win.

Next up is Japan, in a week.

 

Morris Dancer