Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has won the 2023 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Grand Prix.

Completing the podium are Mclaren driver Lando Norris in second and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in third.

Ferrari's win comes as a refreshing breather to Red Bull's domination.

The team have not won a race since Austria in 2022.

This race was one to forget for reigning champions Red Bull.

The team dominated the season in two ways – Red Bull has won every single race this season, and their driver Max Verstappen has won the last 10 races in a row.

With 10 consecutive wins, Verstappen has broken the record previously held by Sebastian Vettel for the most consecutive wins in a season, with Vettel achieving nine wins in a row in 2013.

Their winning streaks, however, have come to an end.

Yesterday, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz clinched pole position in a scintillating qualifying, which saw Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll suffer a heavy crash.

As a result, he did not participate in the race.

Singapore is far by the most challenging race in the F1 calendar, with its extreme heat and humidity, winding corners and unforgiving concrete barriers making it a hard circuit to overtake at.

Time loss during pit stops this race average around 28 seconds, as Singapore's pit lane is one of the longest on the calendar.

Lap 1 to 20

Polesitter Carlos Sainz managed to get away from Mercedes driver George Russell with a great start.

His teammate Charles Leclerc also succeeded to jump Russell at the start.

There was a small tussle between the two Mercedes drivers, with Lewis Hamilton gaining two position off track, emerging ahead of his teammate Russell and Mclaren driver Lando Norris.

He was required to give the two positions back.

Meanwhile, Verstappen gained two positions in the first two laps.

Scuderia AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda suffered a puncture early on, and retired on lap 5.

Drama unfolded as William driver and rookie Logan Sargeant collected the wall at turn 8 on lap 19, wiping off his front wing and bringing out the safety car.

There has been a safety car at every single F1 race held in Singapore.

Making a pitstop under the safety car saves a couple of seconds. As such, many teams who started on medium compound tires dived into the pits under the safety car.

However, the two Red Bull drivers did not as they were on hard compound tires.

This proved costly soon.

Lap 21 to 40

On lap 23, the safety car ended and Sainz got a good restart, pulling away from Verstappen who was in second place.

Verstappen, on old hard compound tires, was no match for the rest of the field, who were running new medium compound tires.

The softer the compound, the faster the tires warm up, gaining grip which allows the cars to go faster. Softer compounds, however, degrade faster.

Meanwhile, Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso was issued a five second time penalty for failing to follow race instructions as he crossed the white line at pit entry when he came in for the pit stop.

Finally, both Red Bulls pit on lap 40, with their hopes of a second safety car unfounded.

Lap 41 to 62

On lap 43, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon stopped on track as smoke poured out from his car from a suspected gearbox issue.

Ocon also failed to finish at the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

This brought out a virtual safety car.

Mercedes then pitted both their cars, which put Sainz, Leclerc and Norris under pressure.

Russell and Hamilton slowly ate away at Leclerc's lead on fresher tires, before overtaking him on lap 54.

The two Mercedes bore down menacingly on Norris and Sainz, but alas, were unable to catch them as the former teammates clung onto first and second with dear life.

In a scintillating finish, Russell, in his pursuit of Norris, crashed into the wall, losing a comfortable third position to his teammate Hamilton.

Alas, the Spaniard emerged victorious.

Verstappen, despite the less than stellar result, still managed to score ten points in fifth place having started from 11th, and is still well on his way to achieving his third F1 World Championship.

A driver who had also achieved commendable results was Scuderia AlphaTauri reserve driver Liam Lawson, who scored two points at his third ever full F1 race and first Singapore Grand Prix.

"This is my first smooth operation in Ferrari," Sainz said cheekily, before he crooned to the tune of his theme song, Smooth Operator.

Top photos via Singapore GP Ptd Ltd and Formula 1/X