Verstappen made to wait for F1 crown as team-mate Sergio Perez wins Singapore

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen was made to wait for his second world championship crown after finishing seventh in the Singapore Grand Prix, which was won by his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

The result is subject to a post-race stewards investigation for an alleged safety car infringement by Perez, whose winning margin was 7.5 seconds.

Verstappen went into the rain-delayed race needing to victory on the night to have any chance of completing his serene progress to his successful title defence with five rounds of this one-sided season remaining.

But the Dutchman started only eighth after he was sent out with too little fuel in qualifying and had to abort his lap, which was super-hot and would have delivered pole had it not been abandoned.

Anyway, he made a poor start and fell back to 12th. He clawed his way back to fifth before overdoing it on lap 40, taking too much speed into Turn 7. He wrecked his tyres in the endeavour and had to be reshod. It put him to the back of the field and out of the points at that stage.

He moved from ninth to eighth in the final throes, when Lewis Hamilton ran off track, and then seventh when he passed Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

Now Verstappen needs to leave Suzuka, Japan, next Sunday 112 points clear of the rest. He is now 104 in front of his nearest pursuer Charles Leclerc, who finished second, ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez hailed the best performance of his F1 career to date as he controlled an “intense” Singapore Grand Prix to beat Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc to victory under the Marina Bay lights.

Perez started Sunday night’s race from second position but got the jump on Leclerc as the action began and never looked back – leading the way as initially wet conditions transitioned to dry.

Crossing the line some seven seconds clear of Leclerc for his second victory of the season (after triumphing in Monaco) and the fourth win of his 12-year F1 career, Perez admitted he had driven better than ever.

“It was certainly my best performance. I controlled the race, although the [tyre] warm-up was pretty difficult. The last few laps were so intense. I really didn’t feel it so much in the car, but when I got out of it, I felt it. I pushed [and] I gave everything for the win today,” said Perez.