The Red Bull domination is over as Carlos Sainz won an exciting Singapore Grand Prix. But to go deeper than just the race result our summary covers the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix Result for the big event and so much more.
This 2023 Singapore Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
READ MORE:
2023 Latest Grand Prix Driver Ratings
2023 Singapore Grand Prix Preview
Our 2023 F1 Calendar & Results
Five Ways To Save Formula 1
Five Great F1 Comebacks
2023 Singapore Grand Prix Result Main Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – So Red Bull are human after all….Many thought Red Bull were playing when their pace was a little off on Friday but they bomb out in Q2 on genuine car troubles and a little spin for Sergio Perez, where hopefully Dr Marko can keep his “South American” to himself”. Ferraris looked quick and indeed Carlos Sainz continued to look the better of the two and took pole. George Russell split the red cars as he continues his upward curve. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton are 4th and 5th and the whole top five are genuine winning chances.
A huge crash from Lance Stroll ended Q1 early, and cost Oscar Piastri the chance to shine. The southern hemisphere surprise were represented by Liam Lawson who made it all the way through to Q3 in the Alpha Tauri in just his third Grand Prix. What an unfortunate injury this might turn out for Daniel Ricciardo.
But Sunday is another day, and we await Red Bull’s performance. Perhaps this is the biggest sand-bagging effort of all time….
GRID (Starting Order) – SAI RUS LEC NOR HAM MAG ALO OCO HUL LAW
Lap 1 – Carlos Sainz gets away well and Charles Leclerc follow through into second. Further back the Mercedes squabble over third. Hamilton gets in front of George Russell by running off the track at turns 1/2. Alonso gets past Magnussen and Max Verstappen gains one place from Liam Lawson who dropped two spots. Oscar Piastri looked to have made contact in the midfield on the first lap. Sergio Perez remains 13th and Yuki Tsunoda continues his rotten reliability with a retirement before the first lap is completed after not even making the start of the recent Italian Grand Prix.
ORDER – SAI LEC HAM RUS NOR ALO OCO MAG HUL VER
Lap 2 – Hamilton let Russell by into third, to play it safe from getting any penalties. But it may not be all done and dusted as Lando Norris is on the radio complaining about Hamilton getting an advantage too. So Lewis may drop another place. In the meantime George Russell goes on to set fastest lap. An Alfa Romeo pits as well.
Lap 3 – If you needed an example of Red Bull’s struggles, Max Verstappen has got past just one Haas of Nico Hulkenberg for 9th and struggles for a little while to overtake the second of Kevin Magnussen. Max finally gets by on lap 6.
Lap 5 – Lewis Hamilton lets Lando Norris by into 4th, completing his punishment for running wide at the first corner on the first lap.
Lap 7 – Decent battle between Sergio Perez, who is struggling in the invincible Red Bull, Oscar Piastri and Alex Albon. At the front Ferrari are in control with Sainz comfortably staying around a second up on Charles Leclerc – who is on the soft tyres unlike the medium tyres of Sainz.
Lap 11 – Carlos Sainz slowly and surely extending his lead over Charles Leclerc to 1.6 seconds. All of the top five are similarly spaced at this stage of the race. It is hot, maybe some are saving energy. Upcoming pitstops and strategy going to be crucial.
ORDER – SAI LEC RUS NOR HAM ALO OCO VER MAG HUL
Lap 15 – Charles Leclerc starting to slip back to the Mercedes drivers and Lando Norris. Carlos Sainz is over two seconds ahead now. An undercut would be available, if any car wanted to pit at this stage. Max Verstappen still lies 8th and behind Esteban Ocon. Could be worse, Sergio Perez is still 13th. It’s all a bit static right now.
Lap 19 – Hold your surprise face, Logan Sargeant has run into the wall. Not much damage except for his front wing being under the car. Will this bring out a boredom busting Safety Car?
Yes.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 20 – Sainz pits. Leclerc pits but is doing the go-slow that pisses off the stewards. The rest of the top ten pit except for the wily Max Verstappen. Neither does Sergio Perez. Leclerc is held up at pit stop waiting for traffic, which lets Lando Norris past. Could be worse, penalty coming for Fernando Alonso for running wide out of pitlane then rejoining it to pit. Lots of action. And as a punter who put a sneaky bet on a Verstappen-Perez 1-2 @ $251 we are rubbing hands and licking lips.
ORDER – SAI VER RUS PER NOR LEC HAM ALO OCO BOT
Lap 23 – RACE RESUMES
Lap 23 / 24 – Red Bull’s do not have wings post Safety Car restart. George Russell gets by Verstappen for 2nd and Lando Norris overtakes Sergio Perez for fourth. Lewis Hamilton makes that another place half a lap later. Better still, Lando Norris gets by Max Verstappen for third. That Safety Car certainly livened things up. God bless the mild incompetence of Logan Sargeant.
ORDER – SAI RUS NOR VER HAM LEC PER ALO OCO MAG
Lap 27 – Lewis Hamilton breezes past Max Verstappen. Haven’t written that for a few seasons. At the front his team mate George Russell is hurrying up Carlos Sainz. A lap later Charles Leclerc get by Max Verstappen for sixth.
Lap 34 – After a quick unplanned nap, time to check in on the race. Sainz still leading from George Russell. Red Bulls still yet to pit and they continue to fall behind. Sixth and seventh their positions for the moment but Sergio Perez is being hounded by Fernando Alonso, and the Mexican nearly throws it into the wall.
Lap 37 – Nice sequence of passes between Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. Alonso the loser, Perez remains 7th. Ocon gains 7th a few laps later with a nice move. Alonso and Gasly join the party as well a few corners later. Perez pits at the end of lap 39. The Red Bull rejoins dead last.
Lap 41 – Max Verstappen finally pits for tyres. He rejoins in 15th place.
Lap 42 – The top five are all pretty close at this stage with track position being king. But there is still time for a Safety Car or pitstop strategy to ruin someone’s race. The second cars listed below most at risk for the sausage.
ORDER – SAI RUS NOR HAM LEC OCO ALO GAS PIA LAW
Lap 43 – Esteban Ocon pulls over with a broken car near turn two. Will this bring out a safety car? Sort of. It’s a Virtual Safety Car. The leaders missed the opportunity to pit
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED.
Alex Albon is the first driver to pit. One wonders why the second cars in that top five train didn’t pit. As now they are at risk of the dreaded double stack.
Ferrari don’t pit, Mercedes pit both as they double stack and nail both pitstops. Will this prove genius? They rejoin 4th and 5th in clear air on new tyres. Fernando Alonso takes a piece of the pitstop pie as well. Aston Martin stuff up the pitstop which wastes that then.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR ENDS
Lap 45 – Virtual Safety Car ends, and the end result is that the Mercedes cars have dropped a few positions, but now have the fresh tyres, and the current top three need to nurse old tyres or risk falling behind with a pit stop. Fascinating.
ORDER – SAI NOR LEC RUS HAM GAS PIA LAW HUL ZHO
Lap 47 – George Russell sets fastest lap, just to prove that the end of the race is going to be interesting indeed.
Lap 48 – Max Verstappen overtakes Guanyu Zhou for 10th place. A lap later the Red Bull driver flies past Nico Hulkenberg. Talking of Red Bull drivers, a quick word for Liam Lawson, who is currently 8th. Doing a great job, and every successful lap throws another nail in the coffin of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull chances. Verstappen drops Lawson a place on lap 51 for that 8th place.
Lap 53 – Strategy working out for Mercedes now. George Russell hunts down Charles Leclerc and gets past after trailing for two-thirds of a lap. Lewis Hamilton also passes half a lap later. Lando Norris is six seconds up the road with nine laps to go. Leader Carlos Sainz is 1.3 second further up the road.
Lap 56 – Lando Norris pressures Carlos Sainz for first and gets within a second. Norris may be worried he’ll lose second, so why not go for victory? George Russell is within 2.4 seconds.
Lap 58 – Lando Norris is within DRS now which helps with attacking and defending. The two Mercedes are within a second too. Four laps to go and it is all to play for. Top four cars covered by less than two seconds.
Lap 60 – Carlos Sainz skips ahead slightly as George Russell tries and fails to get by Lando Norris who is holding on magnificently. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile is looking the better of the two Mercedes.
Lap 61 – The top four still all within DRS of each other with two laps to go. The Mercedes don’t look as quick as they did a few laps ago. Can’t see an order change from here. Perhaps an intra team crash at Mercedes.
Final Lap – The top four remain as they cross the line. But part way around the lap George Russell crashes!!!! This leaves Carlos Sainz in front as the Ferrari driver breaks the Red Bull streak. Lando Norris drove brilliantly to keep second and Lewis Hamilton looked feisty again in third. Further behind Max Verstappen almost stole fourth from Charles Leclerc on the line. Great recovery drive from Oscar Piastri and first ever points for Liam Lawson.
FINAL ORDER – SAI NOR HAM LEC VER GAS PIA PER LAW MAG
| Pos | Driver | Time |
| 1 | Carlos SAINZ | 62 Laps |
| 2 | Lando NORRIS | +0.812 behind |
| 3 | Lewis HAMILTON | +1.269 behind |
| 4 | Charles LECLERC | +21.177 behind |
| 5 | Max VERSTAPPEN | +21.441 behind |
| 6 | Pierre GASLY | +38.441 behind |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | +41.479 behind |
| 8 | Sergio PEREZ | +54.534 behind |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | +1:05.918 behind |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | +1:12.116 behind |
| 11 | Alexander Albon | +1:13.417 behind |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | +1:23.649 behind |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | +1:26.201 behind |
| 14 | Logan Sargeant | +1:26.889 behind |
| 15 | Fernando ALONSO | +1:27.603 behind |
| R | George RUSSELL | DNF 61 Laps |
| R | Valtteri BOTTAS | DNF 51 Laps |
| R | Esteban OCON | DNF 42 Laps |
| R | Yuki TSUNODA | DNF 0 Laps |
| R | Lance STROLL | DNF 0 Laps |
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – CARLOS SAINZ
A sensational win from pole position for the Ferrari driver who just about dominated the entire weekend. Held on at the end of the race under huge pressure.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Another outstanding weekend, qualifying in the top five, then driving a brilliant defensive race at the end to hold on to second place.
LIAM LAWSON – Made Q3 for the first time in his career, progressing for Q1 in his first race and Q2 in the second. Bumped Max Verstappen out of Q3 no less. He drove a really solid race, sitting in the top ten for much of the second half of the race. All this in his third Grand Prix and on one of the season’s toughest tracks.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Great return to form for Lewis Hamilton, who may have won this race if not stuck behind his team mate at the end.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Stuffed up by Lance Stroll’s crash in qualifying and nearly hit him as well, and was caught out by the timing with his first run in Q1 proving under the target. But a great Sunday saw the Australian end up in 7th place and a good bag of points. One wonders what could have happened if Lance Strll did not crash.
THE GRAPE-EST – LANCE STROLL
Had to fight off rumours he was going to quit F1 for professional tennis, and turned an underwhelming weekend into a forgettable one with a huge shunt at the last corner in qualifying. The crash caused enough damage to Stroll that he sat our the race day. If his father didn’t own the team he’d be in trouble.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
YUKI TSUNODA – Broke down on the Formation Lap in Italy, and didn’t complete a full race lap in Singapore. Meanwhile, he has been out-qualified by a team mate in just his third race and less than ten sessions in an F1 car at the time of qualifying.
GEORGE RUSSELL – Was in the Honourable Mentions until he crashed out on the last lap.
CHARLES LECLERC – Beaten to pole position by his team mate. Beaten in the race by his team mate.
SERGIO PEREZ – Missed out on Q3 with a spin in qualifying. Circled around in 13th for a long time in the race. Was genuinely off the pace and terrible.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – His winning runs ends, as he becomes a bit player of a Grand Prix for the first time in a while. Never a factor in the race, and the car looked a handful in most sessions. In Singapore he was racing Alpines, not lapping them. But eventually finished fifth position and passed an Alpine.
ESTEBAN OCON – A decent race with a good overtake on Fernando Alonso all for nothing as his car packs it in.
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 7 / 10
Red Bull are beatable after all, so maybe this Championship isn’t quite over yet. Ferrari and Carlos Sainz in particular look fast right now.
ON TRACK ACTION – 8/10
Whilst overtaking was at a bi of a premium, there were plenty of battles and scuffles to keep one interested. A quick power nap by us means it wasn’t a 10/10.
ENDING 10 / 10
A four way battle for the lead, and one crashing out at the end to add some unexpected action. That’s worth a ten.
OVERALL RATING 25 / 30
A great race, and maybe it was the earlier time slot that helps for a good rating. But there was racing, tactics, luck and a fantastic ending.
2023 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – 15/30
R2 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – 10/30
R3 – Australian Grand Prix – 23/30
R4 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 8/30
R5 – Miami Grand Prix – 20/30
R6 – Monaco Grand Prix – 23/30
R7 – Spanish Grand Prix – 15/30
R8 – Canadian Grand Prix – 12/30
R9 – Austrian Grand Prix – 18/30
R10 – British Grand Prix – 15/30
R11 – Hungarian Grand Prix – 15/30
R12 – Belgian Grand Prix – 14/30
R13 – Dutch Grand Prix – 19/30
R14 – Italian Grand Prix – 21/30
2023 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Who not check out last season: Our 2022 F1 Season Driver Ratings
