The "street fighter" is Pérez!

The Mexican won between Singaporean buildings his second Grand Prix on the street circuit this season after Monaco, in addition to his victory on the streets of Baku in Azerbaijan, in 2021.

The night also brings good luck to Pérez, who had won his first F1 GP at night in Sakhir (Bahrain), at the end of 2020. He therefore brings his total of victories to four at Marina Bay.

"I think it was my very best performance, I controlled the whole race, even if it was quite complicated", reacted "Checo" Pérez.

Almost three hours after the end, Pérez was penalized five seconds for driving too far from the safety car.

A penalty that does not deprive him of victory because he had enough lead over Leclerc at the checkered flag.

Verstappen titled in Japan?

Sunday, it is however the other Red Bull that we expected.

But the Dutchman Max Verstappen, still largely in the lead after 17 out of 22 rounds, only finished 7th and did not convert his first chance to be titled a second time in a row.

Verstappen, who now leads Leclerc by 104 points and Pérez by 106, will have another chance at the Japanese Grand Prix: next week, he will have to win and take the fastest lap point to be crowned.

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Singapore ends its series of five consecutive victories, since the GP of France at the end of July.

Verstappen is therefore eleven successes out of 17 races this year.

On Sunday, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo followed in 4th and 5th places, allowing McLaren to move up to 4th in the constructors' championship, ahead of Alpine, which suffered the retirements of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon (engines).

Singapore was hosting Formula 1 again after two seasons away due to the pandemic and 302,000 spectators attended the whole weekend.

A record after the 268,000 spectators in 2019.

Six dropouts

The start was given 1h05 late, due to the heavy rains that fell on the city-state.

The weather was then more lenient, even if the conditions on the wet track remained very difficult.

Too much for some, with six retirements in total: the two Alpines, the two Williams (Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri).

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) also hit a wall, but he was able to restart and finish 9th, a disappointment when he started in 3rd place on the grid.

For the 13th time in 13 editions in Singapore, the race was punctuated by the outings of the safety car.

This, however, did not redistribute the cards in the lead.

Starting 2nd behind Leclerc, Pérez immediately overtook the Monegasque.

Very little threatened then, he knew how to manage his rhythm and his tyres.

"I really tried everything, but I died, I think it was the most difficult race of my career," noted Leclerc.

Verstappen had to win and hope for a poor result from Leclerc and Pérez to be titled.

But his qualification in 8th position had mortgaged his chances.

On Saturday, the Dutchman was unable to complete qualifying, his team asking him to pit as he ran out of fuel and risked disqualification.

In the race, he too made a mistake: when he wanted to overtake Norris for 4th place, he shot straight at the end of the straight.

Returning to the pits to change his tires burnt out by this uncontrolled braking, he briefly left the Top 10, before moving up in the points.

Alonso, who did not finish, still broke the F1 start record held by Finn Kimi Räikkönen.

The 41-year-old Spaniard has competed in a total of 351 Grands Prix since 2001.

Note that a debate exists on the exact total.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) establishes it at 350, not counting the 2001 Belgian GP where he had started the race, before giving up and not lining up at the second start given after an accident. .

© 2022 AFP