• Lewis Hamilton also had a difficult evening under the lights of Marina Bay and finished only ninth after two errors.
• Verstappen would need to gain eight points on Leclerc — the difference between a win with fastest lap and second place — and nine on Perez to clinch the title at Suzuka on Sunday.
Image: FILE
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez held off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to win an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix run in treacherous wet-dry conditions.
Title leader Max Verstappen finished seventh after a frustrating race that included a major error from the Red Bull driver. Verstappen can win the title in Japan on Sunday, but would need the results of Perez and Leclerc to go his way.
However, Perez is under investigation for a safety car infringement. Race stewards are due to rule on any penalty after the race. If given a time penalty, he could forfeit the win.
Lewis Hamilton also had a difficult evening under the lights of Marina Bay and finished only ninth after two errors.
The seven-time champion had been stuck behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who took the final place on the podium, after losing a place to the Spaniard at the start. He made a mistake as he sought to get close enough to pass, running wide at Turn Seven and damaging his front wing.
A second error, running wide at Turn 14, allowed Verstappen passed him for seventh. Verstappen’s error was similar. He was trying to pass McLaren’s Lando Norris after a restart from one of five safety car periods, two real and three virtual, but locked up and slid straight on, also at Turn Seven.
Verstappen would need to gain eight points on Leclerc — the difference between a win with fastest lap and second place — and nine on Perez to clinch the title at Suzuka on Sunday.
It was a slow-burn race at the front, despite the number of incidents, after a torrential downpour about an hour before the scheduled start led to a delay of about the same time and a start on a wet track.
The drivers found that the track was very slow to dry and it was not until after half distance that it was suitable for slick tyres. This coincided with the final safety-car period, and all the drivers came in for slick, dry-weather tyres, signalling the moment for the race to come alive.
Perez and Leclerc drove away into the distance from the start as Sainz struggled in the wet conditions, with Hamilton close behind him, and Verstappen behind. Verstappen was able to quickly regain the four positions he lost with a slow start but then became stuck in seventh place behind Fernando Alonso’s Alpine, until its retirement from an engine failure on lap 22, and then Norris.
Perez had begun to edge away from Leclerc as the intermediate tyres wore down, but Leclerc was clearly quicker immediately after the final restart and started to pile on the pressure.
The Ferrari got close a couple of times on the straight down to Turn Seven but was not quite able to make a passing attempt on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.