How Ferrari's Carlos Sainz used his brain — and Lando Norris — to win his first Grand Prix of 2023
Formula One isn't just about the cars.
Sure, the best, fastest vehicles do win the most races — just look at Red Bull's impervious 2023 machine or Mercedes's largely unchallenged championship run from 2014-21. But the technology itself isn't the only variable. Weaker cars can prevail in F1, provided their drivers are skillful, committed, intelligent and a little bit lucky.
This weekend, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix, becoming the first non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023. While his car was no slouch around Singapore's Marina Bay circuit, his victory largely came down to good old-fashioned tactical intelligence.
Sainz pulled a clever gambit that freed him from racing his closest competitors and allowed him to manage his tires around Singapore's notoriously hot and bumpy track. But how did he pull it off? And what does it mean for the last races of the 2023 F1 season?
Sainz began the race in first place, but crucially, he didn't drive too far away from the pack. He knew that if the field of drivers spread out too far, competitors like Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and George Russell would leverage the breaks between cars for quick pit stops.
F1 drivers lose between 20-30 seconds for each pit stop, and must stop at least once in the race. By driving slowly and keeping the field bunched behind him, Sainz ensured that his close competitors would drop down to the bottom of the field with an early stop. That prevented Verstappen, Norris and Russell from undercutting him and challenging his position with fresher, faster tires.
Of course, this strategy also meant that Sainz himself couldn't stop for new tires either — he needed a little bit of luck. And he got it in the form of a safety car after Williams's Logan Sargeant hit the wall and spread debris over the track.
Safety cars slow the race and allow stewards to clean up crash-related messes. But because the cars are moving slowly, they're a perfect opportunity for quick pit stops. Nearly everyone in the race, including Sainz, pitted for fresh tires under the safety car — meaning Sainz kept his lead on the pack even after stopping.
As the race ticked down, Sainz knew he couldn't keep driving slowly. His competitors were inching closer and hungry to attack for first place. So instead of defending against them himself, he leveraged the car in second — McLaren's Lando Norris — as a buffer.
Sainz did indeed speed up, but not too much. He allowed Norris to stay within one second of him, granting Norris use of his Drag Reduction System (DRS). DRS gives F1 cars a few additional miles per hour down the straights, but it can only be used when a car is within one second of its upfield competitor.
Sainz wanted to go fast enough to stay ahead of Norris, but slow enough that Norris could use his DRS — and therefore drop the third, fourth and fifth-placed drivers far behind him with the extra boost.
Sainz was essentially using Norris as a bottleneck for the final half of the race. The tactic benefited both drivers immensely; it guaranteed Norris a podium finish and protected Sainz from attacks.
As the race came to a close, Mercedes's George Russell was able to make up significant time on Norris and fight him for second place.
But in his haste to do so, and on heavily-worn tires, Russell slipped up — and crashed out of the race on his final lap. The mistake guaranteed both Sainz's victory and Norris's podium.
The story of the Singapore Grand Prix shows that F1 teams may need to work together to defeat Red Bull this season. Neither Sainz nor Norris would've guaranteed a podium finish on their own, but by working together — and flummoxing their closest competitors — they secured excellent results for each other and blocked Red Bull from the podium for the first time this season.
Can they do it again? We'll find out next weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.
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