Verstappen takes the sprint ahead of the Ferraris and Alonso finishes eleventh

The Dutch quadruple world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won this Saturday the sprint event of the Singapore Grand Prix, the seventeenth of the Formula One World Championship, which was held this Saturday at the Marina Bay street circuit, while the Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), overall leader, finished fourth.

Verstappen, 29, who had started from pole, won ahead of the two Ferraris, that of the seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton and that of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, who finished third in a test that started more than half an hour late, due to the heavy rain that fell on the Singapore track. Initially scheduled for 21 laps, it was finally run with one less - a turn was taken behind the safety car - to cover a distance of just under one hundred kilometres.

Antonelli (Mercedes) finished fourth in the short race, while his teammate, Englishman George Russell, abandoned after losing control of his car in the last corner of the first lap; and the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), double world champion, and Carlos Sainz (Williams) finished eleventh and twelfth, respectively.

Antonelli, who took advantage of the contact between the two McLarens of the Englishman Lando Norris and the Australian Oscar Piastri, who were riding in front of him, on the last lap, added another five points; and now leads the competition with 325 units, 89 more than Russell.

Norris finished eighth, capturing the last point in the race; but his oceanic companion did not finish a race in which the first eight scored.

The Argentine Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) abandoned at the first opportunity in a race that they all faced, with wet asphalt, with intermediate tires, with which thirteen of the 22 drivers finished the same.

The New Zealander Liam Lawson (RB) finished fifth and crossed the finish line ahead of the Englishman Oliver Bearman (Haas) and the German Nico Hülkenberg, seventh in the Marina Bay short race.

Qualifying for the Sunday race, which was going to start at nine in the evening (three in the afternoon in Spanish peninsular time: 1:00 p.m. GMT) will begin half an hour later, due to the delay of the short test.