The rain came down before the Sprintt and I wish I had watched in it full rather than on Channel 4. Verstappen made a "horrendous" getaway from pole and lost the position to a hero start from Russell in second. It was hero to zero for the Mercedes driver though as the was first through the final corner at the end of lap one, was delivered a power spike, misjudged it on the painted white lines, found more rainwater than he expected and spun off and into the wall. He gave his car a thump in frustration. It took seven corners for the Safety Car to be called for which was not good enough for safety-minded David Coulthard.
Russell was not the only retirement though, oh no! Perez and Stroll also came together and took each other out of the race at the end of lap one. Hadjar had a power unit failure and parked up. Colapinto stopped on lap four. Linblad was nearly out when he spun his car, then drover the wrong way around the track to be able to spin himself around and get going again.
At the restart, Verstappen held the lead and did not let it go even if Hamilton was pushing him slightly. Albon, Bottas and Bortoleto were not expecting the backing up if the pack and came together in a motorway-style incident, putting all three drivers out of the Sprint.
Would there only be fourteen finishers? No. The McLarens had been close together with no team orders and, more importantlly, no mention of Papaya Rules. On the last lap, Norris believed there was a gap and, having been pushing for the previous sixteen, went for it. It was not big enough, he tagged Piastri and put him out of the race too. I cannot remember an event recently with such attrition and it shows what this street track can do, Singpore tends to let the top drivers shine and the lesser ones struggle.
If it's a dry race though, Verstappen will dominate and everyone will have to think very carefully about their strategies.
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