Singapore: His future in Formula 1 may be uncertain, but Daniel Ricciardo has enjoyed his best finish of the season at the Singapore Grand Prix as runaway championship leader Max Verstappen endured an evening to forget.
As a wet track caused havoc under lights on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez held off Ferrari pole setter Charles Leclerc to secure his second victory of the year and fourth of his career.
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez leads the field on the first lap in Singapore.Credit:AP
Ricciardo was fifth, vaulting from 16th on the start to improve on his sixth-placed finish in Melbourne in April, which until Sunday night was his best result of the season.
It capped an impressive night for McLaren, with the Australian’s teammate Lando Norris ending up fourth, behind Perez, Leclerc and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
There was less to smile about for Verstappen, who had won the previous five races of the championship and 11 of the 16 this season, but could only manage seventh spot despite overtaking five-time Singapore GP winner Sebastian Vettel on the final lap.
The reigning champion had an opportunity to clinch a second title with victory and if other results went his way. He qualified only eighth due to a mistake by his team and was never really in the hunt during an incident-filled race in which he bombed the start and later had his brakes lock up on him as the field came out of a safety car period.
The McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo in Singapore on Sunday night.Credit:Getty Images
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who waged such a close battle with Verstappen last season, was among those to strike a barrier and had to settle for ninth after being overtaken by the Red Bull No.1.
Heavy rain delayed the start of the race by more than an hour and the slippery conditions made the task for drivers even more challenging than usual on the testing street circuit.
Perez, who began the night third in the championship behind Verstappen and Leclerc, led from the first corner to the chequered flag, which was raised when the two-hour time limit was reached, two laps before the full complement of 61 laps had been completed.
There wasn’t complete certainly about the result in the immediate aftermath with stewards having said in the closing stages of the race that they would investigate the Mexican driver for a safety car infringement.
Perez, however, had been urged by his team in the final laps to increase his lead over Leclerc and provide a buffer for any time penalty, and he ended up 7.5 seconds ahead.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, benefited from the timing of a safety car deployment to jump up the standings with a mid-race pit stop.
The 33-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and without a seat so far for 2023 after having his contract cut short by McLaren, which has replaced him with 21-year-old Australian rookie Oscar Piastri.
But there was positivity in Singapore for Ricciardo as he rose from 14th to 11th in the championship standings.
Verstappen remains way out in front, 104 points clear of Leclerc, with five more races on the calendar, the first of them in Japan next Sunday.
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