From the disappointment of learning of his forced exit from Ferrari, to the blow of having to retire from the second stop of the year, in Saudi Arabia, as a result of an emergency operation for appendicitis, to the joy of the victory immediately after, in Australia, still half doubled over from the pain; Carlos Sainz has experienced a first part of the World Championship that would drive even the most sane person crazy. paddock Formula 1, which is surely him. The Spaniard reacted in a big way to the news of Lewis Hamilton’s signing by the Scuderiawhich will dispense with him next season and offer its car to the British super champion. With a win and three podiums in the first four stops of the calendar, Sainz put himself in the spotlight in the best way imaginable, even though he could not specify any of the future alternatives that were among his preferences; that is, Red Bull and Mercedes. The conditions of both teams when choosing their candidates played against the Madrid native, who finally opted for the Williams project, an option that seems increasingly correct if we take into account the progress of the Grove (Great Britain) structure, which last Sunday, in the labyrinth of Baku, placed its two cars among the top ten when crossing the finish line. The effervescence of the Ferrari driver’s start experienced a subsequent deceleration that had an impact on his numbers: one podium in the last nine races.
With no room to let down their guard, the championship caravan is already set up in Singapore, where this Sunday (2:00 p.m., Dazn), Sainz will start tenth with the intention of rediscovering his best version in the most propitious setting and after a bitter Saturday: the Ferrari driver crashed into the wall with eight minutes to go until the end of the third qualifying round (Q3). pole position Lando Norris took the win, the fourth in six Grands Prix for McLaren. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, will start seventh.
It was here, on the streets that meander through Marina Bay, where Sainz achieved the only victory a year ago that was not taken by the Red Bull drivers. Particularly striking was the series of ten consecutive victories by Max Verstappen, who scored 19 out of 22 in total, and who, like his former teammate at Toro Rosso, is also hoping that Singapore will give him back the punch he lost when passing the halfway point of this year: after scoring seven victories out of a possible ten, the current champion has not climbed to the top step of the podium since June (Montmeló). Even more alarming is the fact that he has only climbed onto the podium in one of the last five Grands Prix (Netherlands). Mad Max He will start second a week after being eclipsed by Checo Pérez, his neighbour in the Red Buffalo workshop, who for the first time in a long time was superior to the boy from Hasselt. If Pérez did not finish ahead of him it was precisely because of the accident he suffered with Sainz on the penultimate lap of the race, when both were fighting with Charles Leclerc for the last two places on the podium. In Azerbaijan, Verstappen had a terrible time throughout the weekend and that same inertia was what he started with in Singapore. However, the Dutchman straightened things out in qualifying, where he performed above his car.
