F1 News
Ratings | Sainz the best in Singapore, embarrassment for Russell and Stroll
The Singapore Grand Prix was won by an outstanding Carlos Sainz. For a change, Max Verstappen was not on the podium. There were also handsome performances by Liam Lawson and Lando Norris. On the other hand, George Russell and Lance Stroll were disappointing.
Sainz: 10
Carlos Sainz is in the form of his life. The Spaniard was already impressive at Monza but was possibly even stronger at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The Ferrari driver was again the fastest in qualifying and proved to be Ferrari's best strategist.
Norris: 9
Lando Norris could never really attack Sainz with his McLaren but with Sainz's help, he managed to hold off the Mercedes drivers for a nice second place.
Hamilton: 6
Lewis Hamilton had a mediocre qualifying session and didn't get the best start to the race by overshooting the chicane. After that, Hamilton did have the right pace, climbed steadily to the front and could not be faulted otherwise. In the closing stages, he also looked faster than his teammate on fresh mediums.
Leclerc: 6
Charles Leclerc seemed to be the clear number one at Ferrari but has now had two weekends in a row where his teammate stole the show. Leclerc was unlucky at the pit stops but had manoeuvred himself into the position of second driver by qualifying behind Sainz. The pace in the race was not strong from Leclerc either, who even seemed to give up a bit during the race due to all the setbacks.
Verstappen: 7
Max Verstappen had a messy Saturday in a weekend where the RB19 just did not do what it wanted. The Dutchman had a good catch-up race on Sunday but was very unlucky with the timing of the (virtual) safety cars to make any real claim for a podium finish.
Gasly: 7
Pierre Gasly scored eight points for Alpine in a strong race. He was somewhat helped by his teammate, who retired.
Piastri: 6
Oscar Piastri had to watch his teammate take advantage of the latest updates on the McLaren. The Australian had some bad luck in qualifying, with Stroll crashing right before him, but he still scored points in the race on a circuit he was unfamiliar with.
Perez: 5
Sergio Perez was not far off Verstappen all weekend, but the Mexican was very messy on Sunday. On the first lap, he ended Yuki Tsunoda's race with an overambitious move on the inside, and at the end of the race, Perez made the same mistake in duelling with Alexander Albon. Perez got away with it and still gained points for Red Bull, but it was not a flawless performance.
Lawson: 9
In only his third race weekend in Formula 1 and his first time at the Singapore circuit, Liam Lawson impressed highly. Not only did he make Q3, but he also scored his first points in F1.
Magnussen: 8
Kevin Magnussen scored another point for Haas. Slightly helped by George Russell dropping out, but you have to be there to take advantage of it.
Albon: 7
Alexander Albon drove a solid weekend for Williams and came even close to scoring the points. That chance was killed off by a clumsy move from Perez.
Zhou: 6
Guanyu Zhou was close to the points but just failed to pick up those points as well.
Hulkenberg: 6
Nico Hulkenberg was the weaker of the two Haas drivers this weekend but still got through to Q3 on Saturday handsomely.
Sargeant: 5
Logan Sargeant was in reasonable shape this weekend but still found himself in the wall again in the Grand Prix. A mistake-free weekend still remains to be difficult.
Alonso: 5
Fernando Alonso had a good qualifying session and started the race nicely, but everything went wrong. Alonso came off the required line entering the pits and saw his pit stop go completely awry. On soft tyres, Alonso still hoped to go on the attack, but in doing so, he was too frustrated and spun.
Russell: 4
George Russell had a very strong weekend for Mercedes until the last lap of the race. In qualifying, Russell was strong. In the race, he did well by keeping Sainz under pressure and came very close to a win in the closing stages. You can blame him for not passing Norris, but his biggest mistake was on the last lap.
Bottas: 6
Valtteri Bottas had an invisible weekend for Alfa Romeo, dropping out before the end of the race.
Ocon: 8
Esteban Ocon drove a rock-solid weekend for Alpine but was not rewarded with points due to a problem with the car.
Tsunoda: 6
Yuki Tsunoda had a lot of trouble with the Red Bulls this weekend. On Saturday, his qualifying was ruined by Max Verstappen, and on Sunday, his race was ended on the first lap by Sergio Perez.
Stroll: 3
He took all the risks in Q1 because he was in last place at the time. Lance Stroll is still backed by many people, but this weekend was obviously an extremely poor performance. Losing control like that in that corner, at that stage of qualifying with a car like that at your disposal: that shouldn't happen to you, especially as a driver with seven years of F1 experience.