Carlos Sainz’s second career victory followed an impressive strategy call by the Ferrari driver in one of his best races to date.
The Spaniard led Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton across the line after a thrilling grand prix, which saw Red Bull miss out on a perfect 2023 season.
Red Bull had won the previous 14 races and would go on to win the remaining seven, making Sainz’s victory the only race to be won by someone other than Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez.
Sainz and Norris worked together, despite being on separate teams, to stay ahead of the Mercedes drivers and secure an emotional 1-2 finish.
How Carlos Sainz worked with Lando Norris to take second career victory
The 2023 Singapore race was difficult for drivers with extreme hot and humid conditions, causing concerns of dehydration during the race.
Sainz had placed his Ferrari on pole position during a strong qualifying and fought to keep George Russell behind for most of the grand prix.
With hotter conditions degrading the tyres faster, the Ferrari driver was forced to manage their condition in the early stages of the race so that he could time his pit stop perfectly.
During a Virtual Safety Car, Sainz, his teammate Charles Leclerc and Norris all chose to remain out, whilst Mercedes double-stacked George Russell and Hamilton for fresh medium tyres.
With 18 laps remaining, pressure was on the front-runners to keep the arguably quicker Mercedes behind them with their new tyres over the remaining 18 laps.
Russell came out of the pits 18 seconds behind the leading Sainz, but had the win in his sights as he made quick work of Leclerc in third.
With Russell closing in on Sainz and Norris, the Spaniard knew he had to work together with his former McLaren teammate if he wanted to win the grand prix.
With four laps remaining Russell made several attempts to overtake the McLaren, including pulling alongside Norris heading into Turn 4.
Sainz then slowed to allow Norris to dip into the DRS range of the Ferrari, to ensure the pair could fight off the gaining Mercedes’, who were both catching.
The Spaniard later revealed it was his own idea to allow Norris into his DRS range, and when told how close the Brit was by his team, Sainz told Ferrari: “Yeah, it’s on purpose.”
Sainz later told the F1 news site: “I knew my pace more or less to Lando [Norris], I knew how difficult it is to overtake here. I knew he was on a hard, I knew if George [Russell] and Lewis [Hamilton] were passing him I was probably going to be dead meat also, so I needed him to hold on as long as possible.
“I slowed down just a bit to give him DRS into Turn 7 to hold them off and keep my race under control. Not easy as you are putting yourself under risk and you cannot do any mistakes, but it was my strategy and it worked and I’m glad it did.”
The race came to a dramatic end after Russell crashed at Turn 10 on the final lap, with Sainz and Norris crossing the line in first and second respectively.
The Brit said Sainz had ‘played it smart’, whilst telling Sky Sports: “Both Mercedes boxed and I thought it was a guarantee that they would get back past me, but I managed to hold them off. Carlos helped me achieve that. We worked together pretty well to help one another. If I got overtaken, he would have done.
“I had to play it tactical. If I attacked Carlos, I probably wouldn’t have finished on the podium. I had to play it smart, and Carlos played it smart. He was clever with it all, so congrats to him.”