The eventual standing start saw Russell on the front row alongside pole-sitter Verstappen, and it was the Englishman who got away far better.
SINGAPORE: Max Verstappen won a wet and wild Singapore sprint race for Red Bull on Saturday after George Russell crashed his Mercedes when leading at the end of the opening lap.
Verstappen held off Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to win by 2.591sec with Charles Leclerc third as the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri touched and spun on the final lap when fourth and fifth.
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A heavy shower 10 minutes before the scheduled start meant a delay of 30 minutes.
All cars began on intermediate tyres with some sectors of the Marina Bay Street Circuit much dryer than others as the field embarked on two formation laps behind the safety car.
The eventual standing start saw Russell on the front row alongside pole-sitter Verstappen, and it was the Englishman who got away far better.
“The start was horrendous again, so that’s definitely something that we need to improve on because if you have something like that tomorrow, that’s your race over,” said Verstappen.
“Not ideal, but we got a bit lucky with what happened with George out of the last corner.”
Russell’s lead was short-lived as he lost control after touching a treacherous white line on the final bend of the opening lap.
He slid sideways into the pit lane wall, bringing out a safety car.
It was another setback in a season of bad luck for Russell, who will start from the back of the grid in Sunday’s grand prix because of engine penalties.
‘Silly mistake’
“It was a miscalculation,” Russell admitted to Sky Sports.
“Came through the corner, had more battery deployment than I thought, pushed me a little bit wider than I hoped and went on to the white line. Silly mistake. Big consequences.”
It left Hamilton, who had a brilliant start from sixth on the grid, in second place having leapfrogged Ferrari teammate Leclerc and the two McLarens.
“I had a mega start, which was awesome,” said Hamilton.
“I love driving this track in the rain in those conditions so as soon as the heavens opened I was like ‘this is a great day’.
“I was trying to get close to him without killing my tyres so I wasn’t really pushing that much but I was reining him in,” said Hamilton who had halved his gap to Verstappen by the chequered flag.
The big beneficiary of Norris and Piastri’s “papaya spat” on the last lap was championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who inherited fourth place in his Mercedes having started seventh on the grid.
“Obviously I didn’t want that to happen but I thought I was fully alongside,” pleaded Norris on team radio.
“I just ran out of space at the apex but I was there.”
Piastri said: “It’s for fourth and fifth for a sprint race so I’m not that bothered either way.
“Just obviously it’s a lot of work now for the team to get both cars fixed (before qualifying).”
Fifth was RB’s Liam Lawson, sixth was the Haas of Oliver Bearman, seventh was Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Norris got going again to limp home in eighth and round out the points scorers.
The teams will regroup for qualifying for the grand prix under lights later on Saturday.
