A very dynamic, very unpredictable race, much discussed today in Singapore. A track that has become accustomed to generating controversy since the R28 of Piquet jr. in 2008 he hit a wall to deliberately help his teammate Alonso: an event that, as everyone will remember, cost Flavio Briatore’s career. A heavy disqualification also for the team.
A ‘bad’ race therefore also in the 2022 edition. An uncertain podium long after the award ceremony. Burst of accidents. Delay due to bad weather. Yet the Singaporean public experienced an international incoming from all over Asia and beyond, given that the weekend marked the all-time record, which even surpassed the already considerable number of over 300,000 admissions of the inaugural edition of 2008. , the ‘cursed’ one that made it famous for its French sauce pie.
The confirmation of Sergio Perez’s victory marks the fourth career success for the 32-year-old Mexican who, despite a stay in Formula 1 dating back to 2011, only started to get some satisfaction from 2020 onwards: two years ago Sakhir’s victory weighed heavily on his fourth place in the world championship, which led him to upgrade his seat to Red Bull and be reborn from there thanks to many positive results. Before 2020, in fact, Perez had never finished a year better than seventh place or with scores higher than two figures, while in 2020 he finished the season with 125 points, which became 190 in 2021 and are already 235 in 2022 when there are still 5 points left. races at the end. And he sits in third place in the drivers’ ranking with over 30 points over Russell and Sainz and a whisker behind Leclerc.
Behind another Red Bull success and the disappointment of Leclerc who sees the second place in the standings threatened, however, there are two other Ferraris on the podium: positions never seriously questioned during the race, even if the regret of not having been able to grab a win, especially in a negative weekend for the 2022 title favorite. Apart from the bad days of Friday and Saturday, Verstappen and his team are not very happy because, together with Aston Martin, they are in waiting for a definitive decision of an investigation by the international federation on the overrun of the budget cap in 2021. If the dispute is confirmed, in short, after the storm of victory in the last race last year, there could be a ‘reversal’ in favor of Ferrari but not very positive for the image of this sport. The Milton Keynes team categorically denied having overspent, and team manager Christian said he was ready to take further action against Mercedes and Ferrari if the latter do not withdraw what he called “defamatory” statements.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff dismissed the warning as “a rumor” among many, saying the F1 paddock simply awaits a final decision on Wednesday. However, Verstappen, who is about to win his second world title in Singapore, was not impressed with the attitude of the other teams. In fact, he tells the other teams that they would do well to “keep their mouths shut” on accusations that his team has broken the rules on the cost ceiling. Perhaps some good ones will be seen within a few days.