Sergio Perez rightfully won the 2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix based on the performance seen at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, despite the fact the FIA once again infuriated most of the fans, after the mess in Monza, evaluating the same infringement committed by the Mexican on lap 10 and lap 36 in a different way and above all by giving their own evaluation on what happened three hours after the end of the Singapore Grand Prix, when the European public was already having dinner.
The Mexican has in fact infringed Article 55.10 of the Sporting Regulations on two occasions. Under the Safety Car regime, the race leader must stay within, and not beyond, ten lengths of the car leading the group. Scuderia Ferrari expected a penalty of at least ten seconds for the two infractions as confirmed by Mattina Binotto immediately after the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
However, in the first case, mitigating circumstances were granted, given the very slippery conditions of the track which involved difficulties in staying at that distance. Hence only a reprimand was decided. At the second identical infringement, given the Mexican driver’s recidivism even though the track was not too different in terms of conditions, the stewards decided to impose a five-second penalty for the driver, a penalty that did not actually affect the outcome of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Checo won the race at the start, not doing anything amazing but taking advantage of the bad luck of Charles Leclerc. “Charles had a good reaction time and the procedures on the car worked well. But later his rear wheels lost traction due to an area with a lot of wetter.” – Mattia Binotto explained after the race. Charles Leclerc’s start was in fact better than Sergio Perez’s but that wetter area cost him his position to the Mexican. Lewis Hamilton, who started just behind the Monegasque driver, had the exact same problem.
Subsequently, Sergio Perez was able to lead the race thanks to an RB18 which also proved to be a more complete car than the F1-75 in Singapore. Without the error in the calculation of the fuel, Max Verstappen would have in fact set the Pole Position and would have been favorite to win the race, given the fact that Red Bull once again was much better in terms of tyre management. But certainly, the position gained at the start made life easier for Sergio Perez, considering the difficulty in overtaking off the line and the possibility of using a powerful overcut to defend himself from the more aggressive strategy attempted by the Maranello team.
Not to be underestimated is the fact that this weekend also his RB18 was able to use the latest floor version brought to the track in recent events only by Max Verstappen, further updated at the entrance to the Venturi channels in Singapore. The Anglo-Austrian team produced this latest version of the floor for Checo, saving budget by producing a second ‘intermediate’ floor.
Charles Leclerc had a mixed set-up, Carlos Sainz completely dry
As explained by F1 expert Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno, Charles Leclerc had opted for a rather different set-up from his teammate. A more neutral setup in terms of ride high and mechanics in general, not totally dry, which allowed him to be more aggressive on the tires. However, Red Bull has kept them better, gaining ground in the second parts of the stints similar to what we have already seen since the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. It was mainly a question of temperature.
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Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari generated a lot right away on the front, not paying excessively in terms of a technical feature usually very much in favor of the RB18. The problem is that the Italian car then failed to keep them under control, so much so as to generate an overheating issue, even more pronounced due to the fact that Charles had to push in order to attempt an overtake on Checo.
Unlike Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz was never in the race in terms of pace. The choice of opting for a completely dry set-up, however very different from a mechanical point of view as compared to his teammate, put him in a lot of difficulty and only in the last ten minutes of the race did he set more interesting lap times. In short, when the track was really starting to dry and become ideal for the slicks, given the difficulty of the asphalt drying due to the heavy rain that fell in the pre-race and the nocturnal environmental conditions with a lot of humidity and little wind.
The result was an overall pace that was 6 tenths per lap slower than his Maranello teammate. An eternity. “I just didn’t have the pace today,” Carlos Sainz admitted. “Especially in the wet, I had some problems with the rear of the car. The good thing is that I didn’t make any mistakes and that’s why I think I deserved the podium ”, the Spaniard concluded.
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