Perez wins rain-soaked Singapore Grand Prix as title fight rolls onto Japan

Sergio Perez claimed his second win of 2022 at a rain-soaked Marina Bay Circuit, leading Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

The start of the race was delayed by just over an hour as rain pelted the streets of Singapore, Leclerc starting on pole while title rival Max Verstappen’s chances at claiming the title in Marina Bay were dashed by a poor qualifying as the Dutchman only started eighth.

But once the race got underway, Perez made a lightning start to storm past the polesitter, with the two running off in the distance as the rest of the pack squabbled for position.

On lap seven, Nicholas Latifi made contact with Guanyu Zhou, sending both of them out of the race with a safety car closing up the pack. The race would restart on lap 11.

The race conditions soon became the main talking point, with discussions about a switch to dry tyres within teams soon shut down by drivers, telling their engineers the surface was far too greasy.

Another safety car would quickly follow as Fernando Alonso, making his 350th race start, would retire with engine issues, a fate that would befall his teammate Esteban Ocon later in the race. A virtual safety car would follow to allow the marshals to collect the Spaniard’s car.

This left George Russell to move onto medium tyres, slipping and sliding around the circuit with rivals watching to see when the Briton’s tyres would fire up.

Following more incidents as well as a second VSC, the drivers would flock to the pits to switch to medium and soft tyres, before Yuki Tsunoda would bury his car in the wall, with a safety car following.

When the race went green again Verstappen, who had been making his way through the field slowly, would lock-up and go down the escape road, narrowly avoiding disaster before switching tyres.

Although Leclerc would be valiant in his chase to overtake Perez, the Mexican would eventually begin to pull away, winning the Singapore Grand Prix despite a penalty that would be handed post-race for a safety car infringement.

Speaking after the race, Perez would say:

“It was certainly my best performance. I controlled the race although the warm-up was pretty difficult.

“The last few laps were so intense. I really didn’t feel it so much in the car but when I got out of it, I felt it.

“I pushed, I gave everything for the win today.”

While Perez will be celebrating his fourth career victory, teammate Verstappen will hope to forget this day after missing a shot to claim a second title and a first Singapore victory.

However, the Dutchman still holds a sizeable gap to his rivals heading to the next round at Japan, where Formula 1 returns to the Suzuka Circuit for the first time since 2019.

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