Max Verstappen takes advantage of George Russell crash as F1 sets new sprint record

Max Verstappen took full advantage of an opening-lap crash from George Russell to clinch victory in the Singapre Grand Prix sprint.

The 20-lap race was delayed for 30 minutes after a torrential downpour struck the Marina Bay Street Circuit 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Following two formation laps behind the safety car, and with no technical glitches on this occasion, unlike ahead of the Bahrain GP in Malaysia last weekend when chaos struck, racing finally got underway.

From second position on the grid, Russell made a superb start to get ahead of Verstappen on the short run-down to Turn 1, whilst Lewis Hamilton rose three places from sixth to third in his Ferrari.

But at the end of the opening lap, Russell made an error coming out of the final corner, catching a wet kerb that sent him into a spin into a wall along the start-finish straight, handing the lead to Verstappen and sparking an obvious safety car.

Once that disappeared at the end of lap six, the race turned into a procession, with Verstappen going on to clinch his 14th win from the 30 sprints there have been overall in F1, followed by Hamilton and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

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Record set for an F1 sprint

Behind the safety car on the formation laps, it was clear that whilst the majority of the circuit was wet, there were other sections "completely dry", such as Turn 13, as reported by Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson, and it became a question of when the drivers would pit for slicks, if at all.

Russell's crash quickly became the major talking point once racing got underway. With his W17 stranded on the straight, it led to the remaining drivers filing through the pit lane, with Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin and the Cadillac of Sergio Perez also retiring soon after following a collision between the duo.

They were remarkably joined by the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, who pulled off into an escape road at Turn 5 due to a lack of engine braking.

Soon after, as the safety car continued, Franco Colapinto joined the list of retirees due to his Alpine shutting down. It left 17 cars in the race once the safety car departed at the end of lap six.

But that number was swiftly reduced to 15 as Williams' Alex Albon went into the back of Gabriel Bortoleto in his Audi, whilst the second Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas joined the concertina by running into Albon.

Although Albon returned to the pits for a new front wing and rejoined the race, Audi and Cadillac opted to retire Bortoleto and Bottas, taking the number to seven, a record for a sprint. That later became eight when Albon was asked by Williams to pit and retire the car. 

The stewards later confirmed they would be investigating the Perez-Stroll and Albon-Bortoleto incidents after the race.

On the final lap, there was drama as Lando Norris tried to overtake McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri for fourth place, only for them to collide. Whilst Norris was able to continue and finish eighth, Piastri became the ninth retiree.

Behind the podium trio, the points-paying positions were completed by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, Lawson, Oliver Bearman in his Haas, Audi's Nico Hulkenberg, and then Norris.

With Antonelli collecting an additional five points, he has now opened up a gap of 89 points over Russell, who will start the GP at the back of the grid due to taking on a completely new power unit.