The 2023 season will not be full of triumphs for Red Bull thanks, at least, to Carlos Sainz. The man from Madrid transformed his pole position in Singapore into the second victory of his Formula 1 career and the first for a driver who is not from the champion team. In a complicated grand prix until the final moments, Ferrari, and especially Sainz, hit the table of those who can mark a before and after. It was not an easy victory, far from it, since he ended up asking for time before the final attack of Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton himself.
The one who had a Sunday to forget was Fernando Alonso. The fact is devastating: the weekend in which he aspired to his last opportunity to achieve 33, he finished last. He literally closed the drivers’ classification, in an event in which he had no rhythm, was penalized and, in addition, his team failed miserably in a pit stop. Aston Martin, which raced with only one driver because Lance Stroll did not recover from Saturday’s blow, closes its worst weekend, in which they aspired to everything.
When many Spaniards were waiting for ’33’, ‘2’ arrived, which is ’34’ in Spanish Formula 1 history. And it all started at the start.
Sainz holds Leclerc
The start was one of the key moments of the race, and Sainz did not speculate. The Madrid native made a great start, in which he not only managed to maintain the first position, but was also able to hold on to his teammate, Charles Leclerc, whose strategy was for later. The Monegasque was able to beat George Russell, who saw Lewis Hamilton shorten a chicane to pass him. The seven-time champion had to return position immediately.
These incidents benefited Fernando Alonso, who had two totally unexpected initial bodyguards. The first was the ‘bone’ Kevin Magnussen, who held Max Verstappen for a few laps, and the next was his former teammate Esteban Ocon, the next enemy of the leader and current champion, but also of the Spanish driver himself. The fight for sixth place was one of the critical moments of the first third of the race, together with Sainz’s coverage of Leclerc who opted to start with soft tires to attempt an attack. Meanwhile, at a safe distance, Russell awaited events for Ferrari’s eventual strategic blunder with one or both drivers.
The one who could not attack was Sergio Pérez, who in his rush to try to reach the top collided with Yuki Tsunoda, who became the first abandonment of the race. The Mexican could not advance much either, since his car was affected.
Alonso’s Nightmare
It was not until lap 20 of the 62 planned that the first warning came. Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams at the exit of Turn 8 and, although everyone was initially allowed to continue with a green flag, the pieces of wing they were losing forced the start of a safety car.
The best possible moment: everyone who had to stop in the pits did so, except for the Red Bulls who were on hard tires. One of the stops was by Fernando Alonso, who left the entrance lane and was investigated and penalized for it with five seconds. The Asturian then found himself fighting to pass Sergio Pérez, who became a blocker that prevented him from progressing and, therefore, ended up mortgaging his final result, given the equality that existed behind him. In fact, when he was finally able to fight to beat Pérez for seventh place, he met an unexpected Ocon (this Sunday he was celebrating his birthday) who ended up passing his former teammate.
This time the pits were not against Sainz, but quite the opposite: the traffic harmed Leclerc, who lost several seconds and gave up too many positions with, among others, Verstappen. The Monegasque found himself fifth after being second at times, which in turn was great for Russell, who began to manage tires at the same time as Sainz. The Madrid native’s lesson in control and absolute strategic dominance was key to his final result.
Tire management was also critical at Red Bull, and this time they failed. Pérez did not enter the pits until not only Ocon, but also Alonso and Gasly passed him. The Mexican was left last, and his teammate Verstappen, a little further ahead. The champion team was not up to par this weekend.
Sainz’s control was such that, with just over 20 laps to go, he warned the pits to warn him when they considered he could attack. “I still have a second to spare,” he boasted, just before Ocon arrived to give another dash to the race.
The Frenchman was left stranded due to a breakdown in his Alpine, screaming, which led to the deployment of a virtual safety car. Many pilots stopped; Not so Sainz, who comfortably maintained the advantage over Norris since the Mercedes did take a chance in this final stretch with medium tires. Alonso also stopped to put on softs, but everything was fleas for the skinny dog.
Added to the five-second penalty he had was a failure to stop that made Alonso lose more than 20 seconds. The Asturian, desperate, even made a mistake that caused him to leave the track and confirm that this was definitely not going to be his Sunday.
‘In extremis’
The last laps were heart-stopping for Sainz. With clearly destroyed wheels, the Spaniard had to defend himself not only from Norris, whom he ended up helping with the DRS in his defense against the Mercedes challenge, but especially from Russell, who in just five laps shaved off the more than twelve seconds he had lost. had with second place. In the end, the fight between the English ended up benefiting Sainz, who withstood the pressure. Not like Russell himself, who crashed with just a few corners remaining to give Hamilton third place.
#colossal #Carlos #Sainz #breaks #reign #Red #Bull