Singapore, October 12: Max Verstappen overcame his start problems when it mattered to win the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix for the first time on Sunday, while Kimi Antonelli is on the brink of clinching the world title.
Starting from his 50th career pole position, Red Bull's Verstappen robustly held off Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc at the start and never looked back en route to capping his 250th race with a second straight win and 73rd overall.
Leclerc came second and championship leader Antonelli got past reigning champion Lando Norris of McLaren and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in the later stages to complete the podium in third.
Four-time world champion Verstappen kept up his strong form of late despite radio problems, having also won last week in Malaysia and in Saturday's sprint in Singapore - although he lost the start on both occasions.
Verstappen's Singapore jinx ends "It has taken a while but I think this race was very good," Verstappen said after ending his Singapore victory drought on his 10th attempt.
"Very happy to win here," he said. "The last few races have been really positive for us. It's just great to see and we gave a lot of motivation in the team to deliver even more results."
Antonelli on the brink of history Antonelli meanwhile further extended his championship lead to 102 points over team-mate George Russell who placed ninth, from 19th at the start owing to a grid penalty.
This means that Antonelli could clinch the title at the next race in Austin, Texas with five scheduled races to spare. Antonelli needs to be 125 points ahead after that October 25 race to be assured of the title as the youngest driver in F1 history at age 20.
"Can I? Really?! Well, let's not worry about that. Let's try to do the best weekend as possible and finish the job," a surprised Antonelli said when asked about the title possibility. How the race unfolded Verstappen barely won the start into turn one against a charging Leclerc, squeezing the Ferrari a little bit to just stay ahead from pole.
Leclerc kept up the pressure but found no way to mount another attack on the Marina Bay Street Circuit where overtaking is very difficult.
"I gave it all and I don't regret anything. I don't think there was much more to do today apart from maybe a bit more aggressive at the start, but that's the way it is," Leclerc said.
Further back Russell started his comeback mission from 19th on the grid due to a penalty for exceeding power unit component levels and was up to 13th by lap 10. Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, one of three drivers to start from the pit lane, was 17th at this stage and eventually came 10th.
Verstappen eventually opened a gap on Leclerc, with Hamilton still third but Antonelli looming large in his rear mirror and Norris and Piastri also close behind.
Hamilton started the pit stops in lap 19 but there was no change in the order once all the top drivers had fresh rubbers mounted by lap 34.
Leclerc and Antonelli made their second stop under a virtual safety car in lap 40 when Lance Stroll had to retire his Aston Martin, failing to finish for a 12th time this season. Russell just missed out when the safety car phase ended as he entered the pit lane for his stop.
Leclerc, back on the fast soft tyres, soon swept past Hamilton back into second but then needed to make up another 15 seconds on Verstappen, which turned out to be impossible as he did not get within striking distance at all and finished more than seven seconds back.
Hamilton soon also came under pressure from Norris and Antonelli who had dropped to fifth.
Hamilton rode wide while Antonelli got past Norris, and both of them then also passed Hamilton for third and fourth. Piastri also got past a struggling Hamilton in the final lap to come fifth as Hamilton paid the price for not pitting a second time, which he admitted was his own call.
Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls in seventh and Audi's Nico Hulkenberg in eighth were the other drivers in the points.
Source: Qatar Tribune
