Max Verstappen’s streak is over. Red Bull’s win streak is over. Another team has won a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2023.
Carlos Sainz put on a masterclass in tire management to win the Singapore Grand Prix from the pole. Sainz had tires that were 24 laps older than the Mercedes cars of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton but Lando Norris in second held up the Mercedes cars over the final five laps after they caught the top two.
That defense allowed Sainz to continue to manage his tires at the front of the field and become the first driver in a car other than a Red Bull to win this season. Sainz’s win snapped Max Verstappen’s F1-record win streak at 10 races and ended Red Bull’s streak of consecutive wins at 15.
Norris finished second while Hamilton was third after Russell crashed on the final lap.
Sainz’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc finished fourth just ahead of Verstappen in fifth.
Verstappen started Sunday’s race in 11th after he was eliminated in the second round of qualifying and Red Bull simply didn’t have the pace that it’s had all season on the Singapore street course. Both Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez started on the hard compound tires but a caution flag 20 laps into the 62-lap race for debris from Logan Sargeant’s car ruined their tire strategies.
Verstappen had won 12 of the first 14 races of the season and had won every Grand Prix dating back to the Miami Grand Prix on May 7 entering Singapore. Red Bull had won every F1 race dating back to the 2022 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The win is the first for Ferrari since Leclerc won in Austria in July of 2022. That victory came a week after Sainz got the first win of his career in the British Grand Prix.
Sainz started the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago on pole and finished third behind both Verstappen and Perez. The win keeps him fifth in points ahead of Leclerc and behind Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.