Metronoom Max is terug: ongekend constante tijden onder druk van Leclerc

In dit artikel:

Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix for the second consecutive time, delivering a dominant performance for Red Bull Racing. He retained the lead at the start and controlled the race from the opening lap, apart from his pit stops and two Virtual Safety Car periods. Even after his own stop, he remained ahead of the competition.

The Red Bull RB22 felt increasingly predictable and well balanced, allowing Verstappen to manage his tyres without immediately driving at full speed. On the soft tyres he quickly created a gap of more than ten seconds to Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli. Before his pit stop, Verstappen repeatedly improved the fastest lap despite an early problem releasing electrical energy from the car. Between laps 10 and 30, he consistently recorded 1:37-minute laps while preserving his tyres for a longer stint.

A second Virtual Safety Car, caused by Lance Stroll’s stranded Aston Martin, created a strategic dilemma. Red Bull decided not to pit Verstappen, fearing he would rejoin behind the Ferraris. Leclerc did stop for fresh soft tyres and therefore put Verstappen under pressure. Verstappen responded by raising his pace between laps 42 and 48: he drove two laps in 1:36.3 and then five consecutive laps in 1:36.2. His slowest lap in that sequence was only 0.142 seconds slower than his fastest, leaving Leclerc no opportunity to attack.

Verstappen said the race was perfect and that he only had to push briefly to keep the gap sufficiently large. His lap-time comparison suggests he still had roughly half a second per lap in reserve. Without the second Virtual Safety Car, his winning margin might have reached 15 to 20 seconds, highlighting the extent of Red Bull’s advantage in Singapore.