Street Specialist Sergio - Singapore 2022
Source: FIA
Back to the fly-away races and Formula 1 kicked off the Asia leg with a return to Singapore’s Marina Bay for the first time since 2019 thanks to disruptions resulting from COVID-19. The talk of the town was centred on whether Max Verstappen would be able to convert another driver’s championship this weekend. But the narrative was quickly upended thanks to his teammate, Sergio Perez, who executed a near-flawless drive to take a commanding victory under the floodlights. So what was it that made this performance perhaps his best? Let’s jump straight into it.
Engineer Says Jump, Perez Says How High
Chart 1: Cumulative Delta Plot
Charles Leclerc lined up in pole position for another time this season, accompanied by the Redbull of Sergio Perez. And while both got off the line well, Perez was ahead going into the turn 1 chicane. It would be easy enough to say that the rest was history, as Perez would go on to lead every lap until the chequered flag. But such a statement would be an injustice to the quality of drive delivered by the Mexican. As shown in Chart 1 above, Perez had to endure multiple safety cars - with each one eroding any advantage that had been built up just prior. All the while defending against the imminent threat of a hot-blooded Leclerc in a reasonably competitive Ferrari. And let’s not forget that Perez still had to navigate the perilous wet/dry conditions as well.
Perez had impressive pace, with Leclerc being the only driver that could stay on his heels. The Perez-Leclerc duo had built a sizeable gap to the field before the first full course safety car at lap 8, and then again for the next full course safety car at lap 36. This was partially down to a struggling Carlos Sainz - who was slow enough to not trouble the front pack but fast enough to stay ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. This grew a frustration within Hamilton that culminated in a rare mistake that put the Briton into the wall on lap 33 and out of contention for the podium. But the lack of threat competition did little to improve Sainz’s pace as he continued to languish behind the front pack after the second full course safety car following lap 40 and instead needed to keep an eye out for a plucky Lando Norris in an over-achieving McLaren. As such, the Singapore Grand Prix victory came down to a straight fight between Perez and Leclerc.
Chart 2: Trend Race Pace Compared
The Red Bull of Perez and the Ferrari of Leclerc were very closely matched for the majority of the Grand Prix and irrespective of wet or dry conditions. This is contrasted against the Ferrari of Sainz who was consistently slower in the wet stage of the race - lapping almost a second slower. This deficit improved in the dry stage of the race, but not by enough to mount a serious challenge to anybody. Leclerc had a better time in the initial phase of the switch to slick tyres though suffered from more degradation and troubles toward the latter part of the stint. Perez stayed consistent throughout and continued to improve while Leclerc’s pace started to fall away. This was crucial in securing the win, especially following the issuance of a 5-second post-race time penalty for a safety car infringement for leaving too large a gap to the safety car ahead.
Chart 3: Pit Stop Gain and Loss
But why was Leclerc not able to make more of a challenge for the lead of the Grand Prix? Leclerc had two key opportunities to upend Perez’s time in the metaphoric sun. The first was at the pitstop phase - where Leclerc had the opportunity to undercut Perez during the transition from intermediate to slick tyres. Normally, being the first driver to switch to slicks on a drying track should yield a commanding advantage. But the norm didn’t apply in this scenario as the Marina Bay circuit was drying extremely slowly. As a result, it took time for the tyres to come to life and deliver optimal grip. In these conditions, an older but optimally tempered intermediate tyre was the better tyre when compared to a new set of medium tyres. This advantage may have only lasted a couple of laps but that is all that was needed in order to protect from the threat of the undercut. Furthermore, Leclerc had a slower stationary pitstop when compared to Perez due to the Monegasque missing his pit box markers due to the slippery conditions. The impact of these factors can be seen in Chart 3 above noting that part of the out-lap delta is down to the incidence of the safety car on lap 36.
Chart 4: Leclerc vs Perez Dry Stint Lap by Lap
Leclerc’s next opportunity was following the enablement of DRS in the later parts of the race - following the transition to slick tyres. Leclerc was very competitive from laps 40 to 47 as shown in Chart 4 above. The Monegasque was within the DRS window and lapping faster than Perez on many occasions - helped but the opening of the DRS. But on Leclerc had a clumsy final sector on Lap 48 cost him one second of race time - enough to put him outside of the DRS window. Once this happened, Leclerc wasn’t able to claw back enough time to make use of DRS again. Leclerc continued to bleed time (after having a few more wobbly moments) until he was eventually outside the 5-second window he needed to be in contention for the win after accounting for Perez’s incoming penalty.
Coming back to Chart 1 affirms that it wasn’t a case of Leclerc being slow - as he was still comfortably clear of the rest of the field including his teammate - but rather a case of Perez being too good on this occasion. Regardless of the tyre nuances in this year’s Singapore Grand Prix, Perez did what he needed to do to overcome the DRS threat. Unlike many others who made mistakes in the same conditions, Perez made hardly any. Perhaps more crucially, when Perez’s engineer asked for more pace from the car - Perez was able to deliver it and survive Leclerc’s late assault. Not to mention the skill Perez showed in surviving the perilous conditions and navigating every safety car well (penalty excluded). A properly commanding drive from Perez that took him out of the shadow of Verstappen - at least for this weekend.
Watchpoints for the Next Grand Prix
Next up is Japan - another fan-favourite race that has seen a Formula 1 hiatus thanks to the consequences of the global pandemic. The race in Suzuka is another opportunity for Verstappen to close out the championship, and a chance to do it at the home of Honda. While Red Bull’s power units may not be officially badged as Hondas, the company’s influence still reigns strongly and the opportunity to close out another championship would still be a special moment. The battle between McLaren and Alpine continues to rage after a big points swing helped McLaren edge out their rivals. Who will come out on top this time around? There’s still plenty to watch out for in the remaining races of the season. I’ll see you very shortly at the next one.
P.S. Thanks for your patience on the release of this article. The delay was down to a 3-week holiday through Italy. Great to have a break but it’s also great to be back on deck.
