Really? Safe?. Dripping with sweat after 62 laps in the humid hell of Marina Bay, Kimi Antonelli still wanted to play dumb and thus responded to the question if he was aware of being able to become world champion at the next race, the US GP. An attitude that confirms the easy-going character of the twenty-year-old from Bologna, almost opposite to the competitive malice of the innate winner who once again put on the track to overtake Lando Norris in the final and obtain a third place in the Singapore GP which is worth gold behind the winner, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, second. Thanks to 15 points and George Russell's ninth place, Antonelli now has an advantage of 102 points over his teammate and 111 over Lewis Hamilton.
To become champion in two weeks he would have to win in Austin, with Russell finishing ninth at most and Hamilton fifth at most. Antonelli, as we understand, does not make many calculations and has promised that in the USA his only concern will be "having the best possible weekend to complete the work". "Today the race was very tough but I'm really happy with the result - he underlined -. I managed to take advantage of the fight between Norris and Hamilton and I'm very happy to have overtaken them both to get onto the podium".
Equally satisfied, at the time of the awards ceremony, was Verstappen, who managed to add one of the few races that were missing to his palmares. A Red Bull that returned worthy of its top driver allowed him to go full force, obtaining the second consecutive victory of the season in addition to the success in the Sprint and double pole position. When green, the Dutchman very decisively repelled a decisive attack from Leclerc, who started alongside him, and from that moment on he led the race in his own way, crossing the finish line with over seven seconds ahead of the Monegasque's Ferrari.
"It took a while, but I think this race was very good - he commented after crowning the 250th race of his career with victory -. Let's hope we can have more fun". A Verstappen like this will give a nice jolt to the end of an already decided season, posing new challenges also for a recovering Ferrari. Leclerc was able to defend second place by managing the various phases of the race well, while Lewis Hamilton paid dearly for a wrong choice made under the virtual safety car on lap 39: the Scuderia called both back to the pits for a second pit but while Leclerc put on new soft tyres, the Briton who was second decided to continue with the now worn softs and so he was overtaken by Leclerc, Antonelli, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, finishing in sixth place. "Sorry guys, I disappointed you with that strategy - he admitted to the radio team -. It was my decision and it made us lose precious points. I will try to make up for it in the next race".
The Briton felt slightly ill after the race - the team said - and the FIA allowed him not to attend the post-race press conference. The team principal, Fred Vasseur, said that the multiple world champion "made a mistake not to rejoin. He could have taken third place. But I'm not angry - he added - in general this was a good weekend. We will have to talk about it with Lewis so that situations like this don't happen again". Leclerc explained that he "had no regrets about the race, we did the best we could. We were quite strong at the start then we started to decline".
