SINGAPORE (AP) — Max Verstappen raced hard into the first corner then cruised to back-to-back Formula 1 wins at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen had been concerned about his Red Bull car’s “horrendous” starts and was slow off the line again from pole, but managed to squeeze Charles Leclerc to the inside heading into the first corner and held the lead.
Leclerc was second as Verstappen followed up on his first victory of the season in Malaysia
last week and sprint race win Saturday. It was his first career Grand Prix win in Singapore at the 10th attempt.
“It’s taken a while,” Verstappen admitted, adding his start was “just good enough.”
After the start, Verstappen's main concern seemed to be a broken radio that left Red Bull unable to hear him. Behind him, there was action as Kimi Antonelli overtook Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton for third to increase his standings lead. Antonelli's Mercedes teammate George Russell came through the field to ninth after starting at the back.
That means Antonelli could now become F1's youngest-ever champion as soon as the next race, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on Oct. 25.
Once again, Antonelli seemed to have all the luck at Mercedes and Russell none of it.
The Italian was running fifth with Norris and Hamilton ahead when the two British drivers made costly mistakes.
Hamilton ran off track defending from Norris, who seemed startled and also ran wide, allowing Antonelli to line up a pass on Norris before picking off Hamilton a lap later as the seven-time champion struggled with old tires.
Russell, meanwhile, was still suffering from his engine failure last week because the need to change his power unit meant a penalty sent him to the back of the grid for the start of Sunday’s race.
Russell was making good progress as he cut through the field to seventh but had a dose of misfortune when a virtual safety car slowdown ended just as he was pitting for fresh tires, leaving him to fight his way back up from 10th.
Norris was fourth for McLaren and his teammate Oscar Piastri passed a struggling Hamilton for fifth on the final lap. Hamilton apologized to the team, saying it had been his decision on the strategy to stay out on wearing tires.
Liam Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls, Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Audi, Russell ninth and Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar recovered to 10th after starting from the pit lane.
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