Sergio Perez holds off Charles Leclerc to win a wet and eventful 2022 Singapore GP

The return of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix proved to be a highly eventful affair. 

With heavy showers through the evening, race start was pushed back an hour as staff scrambled to dry the track to allow the race to commence. Drivers and fans alike perservered through the delay to finally get the race started at 9:05pm, with all the cars starting on intermediate tyres. 

As the lights went out, Red Bull's Sergio Perez got off to a fantastic start, with exceptional acceleration in the second phase to leapfrog pole-sitter Charles Leclerc. Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, however, struggled off the line, falling from P8 to P12 by the time the cars reached Turn 1. 

As the drivers continued to negotiate the slippery conditions, it was no surprise that numerous safety cars (both actual and virtual) would be deployed, continuing the trend in Singapore. The first was on Lap 8, after an incident between Latifi and Zhou. A virtual safety car was also deployed on Lap 20 when an engine failure unfortunately brought Fernando Alonso's race to an end. This also marked the point when drivers began venturing onto slick tyres, with Mercedes' George Russell being the first to do so. 

With track conditions getting drier, more drivers switched to slicks, and lap times tumbled. More incidents were to be had - attempts to overtake off the dry racing line often resulted in cars going off track, and dropping places. A total of six drivers retired from the race. 

With DRS only activated on lap 43, Leclerc made a mighty push to catch the leading Perez. The lap counter had also switched over to a countdown timer, as the race would conclude by the two hour time limit rather than the full race distance.

However, Perez managed to fend off the mighty challenge to take the chequered flag, scoring a decisive victory at the 2022 Singapore GP. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line to round out the podium positions. Championship leader Verstappen pushed throughout, but could only finish seventh. 

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	2:02:15.238
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+7.595s
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+15.305s
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+26.133s
5	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	+58.282s
6	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+61.330s
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+63.825s
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+65.032s
9	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+66.515s
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpha Tauri	+74.576s
11	Valtteri Bottas	Alpha Romeo	+93.844s
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+97.610s
13	Mick Schumacher	Haas	+1 lap
14	George Russell	Mercedes	+2 laps
NC	Yuki Tsunoda	Alpha Tauri	DNF
NC	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	DNF
NC	Alexander Albon	Williams	DNF
NC	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	DNF
NC	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	DNF
NC	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	DNF