Sainz’ Singapore Masterclass

Carlos Sainz celebrates his second Grand Prix victory // Ferrari Media

The Singapore Grand Prix gave us everything! We had record runs ending, safety cars, crashes, overtakes, pit stop drama, tactical decisions and even the threat of rain.

Here are the driver ratings of the ten drivers that scored championship points this weekend:

Carlos Sainz: 10/10

The secret is to win a race going as slow as possible. Niki Lauda said this at a press conference in 1984. But the quote is credited to both him and Juan Manuel Fangio, Sir Jackie Stewart and Alain Prost. Four world champions that all agree to the truth behind the words: Aesop was right, slow and steady can win you the race.

And Carlos Sainz showed this in Singapore. To win a race without going as fast as you can is a rare thing, but Sainz not only did that, he used the speed of others around him to his advantage. When he slowed down to give Lando Norris the advantage of DRS towards the end, his tactical masterclass was complete. A superb race from Carlos Sainz!

Lando Norris: 7/10

A good and steady race from Lando Norris, but nothing more either. Qualified fourth, and moved up to third after Leclerc’s slow pit stop. Got second position when Mercedes decided to go for mediums towards the end, and did a very good job defending it in the last laps. The negative was that he never was a threat to the cars ahead of him on track.

Lewis Hamilton: 5/10

Out-paced by his teammate George Russell all weekend. Put his own interest in front of the team several times. He gave the Ferraris a gap at the start when he was slow to give the position back to Russell. After he blamed Russell on the radio for something that was 100% his own fault. Lucky to avoid a penalty for not letting Lando Norris back past sooner. Put a lot of pressure on Russell at the closing of the race instead of letting his teammate focus on getting past Norris and Sainz.

Charles Leclerc: 6/10

Was sent out on used soft tyres from the start, and did what he was supposed to do: Get past Russell. But instead of using the softs to build a gap he was ordered to slow down and build the gap for Sainz. Was held back too long for the double stack, and lost four places. After that he never got back in the fight. Beaten by his teammate both on Saturday and Sunday.

Max Verstappen: 7/10

After getting knocked out of Q2 on Saturday, ending the race in P5 is a decent job. Especially after both the safety cars came at the worst possible moments for Red Bull. Worked his way up from 15th after his pitstop to 5th over the finish line. Would have gotten Lecerlc too with a lap or two more.

Max Verstappen in the streets of Singapore // Red Bull Content Pool

Pierre Gasly: 6/10

An anonymous race for a P6 finish. Gasly was out-qualified and out-raced by Esteban Ocon.

Oscar Piastri: 8/10

Very unlucky to end his Saturay in Q1 after Stroll’s crash. Did a very good job on Sunday to get through the field on his first race in Singapore. With a better starting position this could have been a top weekend for Piastri, who also did not have all the upgrades Lando Norris had this weekend.

Sergio Perez: 3/10

The second driver in the Red Bull team has one job: pick up the ball if Verstappen drops it. Perez was nowhere near all weekend. Did not manage to gain a single position in his first stint in the race, and despite securing a few points on his last stint this was another poor weekend for Perez. Struggled to get past reserve driver Liam Lawson.

Liam Lawson: 9/10

How to better put yourself on the team bosses radar than to knock Max Verstappen out of Q2 on Saturday and hold Sergio Perez behind for several laps on Sunday! His first race in Singapore and only his third race in F1. Impressive stuff from the young Kiwi!

Kevin Magnussen: 7/10

Delivered a very strong qualifying and showed good racecraft in an overall good weekend for the danish driver. But in the end he needed luck to score the single point that he did.