The greatest drive of his career: Perez's Singapore GP masterclass analysed

Given Sainz’s renowned prowess in mixed conditions, a strength all the way through his career, it was something of a surprise when Perez / Leclerc were able to drop him fairly comfortably, Lewis Hamilton frustrated at being stuck behind the second Ferrari.

In the cooldown room post-race, both Perez and Leclerc were smiling at just how hard they’d been pushing early in the race on the intermediate tyre, at the same time as trying to ensure they didn’t destroy it, given how slow Singapore is to dry out at night.

It was no different at the end on the medium compound slick Pirellis as a single dry line started to emerge, except in the tricky final sector. Off it, the surface was treacherous, as both Hamilton and Verstappen discovered. Lewis went straight on and had to extract himself from the tyre barrier, and Max had a spectacular lock-up when, with low pressures at a safety car restart, he bottomed out over a bump and lost time down an escape road trying to pass Lando Norris.

Two safety car restarts had left Perez open to sanction when he dropped more than the regulation 10 car lengths behind the safety car. It brought unwanted pressure at the end, with the team advising him to “disappear” because he could be liable to a post-race penalty. Disappear up the road from the pole position Ferrari that was… Amazingly, he managed to do it.

In the conditions, the race was always going to run to the two-hour maximum and you couldn’t help but recall Sainz’s comments about how draining it is to get those last two or three tenths. With about 20 minutes remaining, Leclerc was right on the Red Bull’s rear wing. Twice, Sergio locked up but rescued himself and, in those moments, you’d have placed your money on the Ferrari.

“I couldn’t really go into the braking zone and brake later because I didn’t really know how the track was on the inside. I didn’t want to take that risk. I had one lap where I was really close and I actually thought about it, but it wasn’t worth it. I was just waiting for the right opportunity. Unfortunately, it didn’t arrive.”

That it didn’t was down to the greatest drive of Sergio Perez’s career, something both he and his team boss agreed on.

“Without a doubt it was,” Christian Horner said. “The way he looked after the intermediates, the safety car restarts, the crossover onto slicks and his pace at the end. Charles threw everything at him and he was world class. It even surpasses Monaco. Under massive pressure. I’m really proud of him. A super job.”

Verstappen showed searing pace on the rare occasions he found himself in free air, but Perez and Leclerc traded fastest laps with him, even in the closing laps when Max was on softs and Sergio on mediums.

There was then a tense hour or two as Perez was summoned to the stewards to explain why he’d dropped more than 10 car lengths behind Bernd Maylander’s safety car. Twice. He was potentially looking at a 5sec penalty for each offence….

In mitigation, Perez explained that in those conditions he did not want to re-start with cold tyres and brakes and that while there were places where the safety car was much slower than the race cars, that didn’t apply to the final sector, which hadn’t dried.

It was great to see some common sense applied. While the stewards weren’t fully satisfied with the explanation, they did cut him some slack. Perez got a reprimand for the first offence and a 5sec penalty plus two penalty points for the second. His winning margin ended up at 2.5sec. His closing lap efforts, right on the limit, had been decisive.

“In the car I didn’t feel it, but when I got out I certainly did…” said the exhausted-looking Mexican. If ever a driver deserved a slice of good fortune it was Sergio in Singapore. A truly great drive.