SINGAPORE. – Mexican Sergio Perez put in the drive of his life to take victory ahead of Charles Leclerc in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, but his victory margin was later slashed as he collected a five-second time penalty for a safety car infringement.
The Red Bull driver took the chequered flag 7.5 seconds ahead of his Monegasque rival after a slow burner, rain-delayed race interrupted by two safety car and five virtual safety car periods and called at its two-hour time limit after 59 of 61 laps.
The penalty meant Perez was still classified ahead of Leclerc in the final results, albeit by only 2.5 seconds.
Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari was third.
Perez, whose win forced Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who finished seventh, to put his championship celebrations on ice, was found to have fallen more than 10 car lengths behind the safety car on three occasions over the course of two safety car periods.
He also collected a reprimand and two penalty points.
“I controlled the race,” said the 32-year-old, who started alongside pole-sitter Leclerc on the front row and snatched the lead from him off the line on a wet track.
“The last three laps were so intense.
“I gave everything for the win today,” added Perez who pushed hard in the closing stages to open up enough of a gap to Leclerc to cover a penalty.
The drive, which Perez hailed as his best performance yet, earned him his fourth career win and second this season, with the Mexican also victorious at Monaco in May.
But it also forced teammate Verstappen to delay his title celebrations.
The Dutchman, who had started a furious eighth after being forced to abort his fastest qualifying lap due to a lack of fuel, needed to leave Singapore with a 138-point margin to his closest challenger.
Instead, he now holds a 104-point lead over Leclerc and a 106 point advantage against Perez in the overall standings, with next week’s race in Japan allowing him another shot at clinching a second title.
His seventh place, only his second finish outside the top-three this season, snapped a five-race winning streak for the 25-year-old.
It came after an uncharacteristically scrappy race that saw him drop positions off the line and make an extra pitstop after locking up and running wide while challenging McLaren’s Lando Norris for fourth at the second safety car restart.
“It’s just a very frustrating weekend,” said Verstappen.
“We have five races left and we have a big lead, but I want to have a good weekend every single time.” — Reuters
