Shanti Pereira, Singapore’s own star sprinter, presented the winner’s award to Max Verstappen after Saturday’s Sprint, Singapore’s first ever sprint race. It was a fitting choice – a winner awarding the winner of a sprint.
She has the credentials too. Just last month in Nagoya, Shanti retained her Asian Games 200m title, becoming the first woman to win that event twice.
She then joined the top three, Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on the stage.
The sprint was due to get underway at 5 pm SGT but persistent rainfall and water pooling at several corners forced officials to delay the start by 30 minutes.
The Red Bull star driver started from pole but did not lead for long. George Russell got a better launch and moved ahead, only to crash shortly after, giving Verstappen his lead back.
Hamilton had also made the most of the start. He jumped from sixth to third, and Russell’s exit promoted him to second.
After a safety car period, racing resumed at the end of lap six and Verstappen maintained his lead as the track dried up while steering clear of the Ferraris and McLarens.
The gap to Hamilton, who consistently maintained his second position, stayed tight for a while, but by lap 16, it had grown to five seconds before shrinking to about 2.6 seconds at the flag.
The last lap brought drama from the McLaren cars, which collided and promoted championship leader Kimi Antonelli to fourth. Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg took the next three places, and Lando Norris still picked up a point in eighth.
The win keeps Verstappen’s momentum going, fresh off the back of his win in Malaysia.
