Formula One Power Rankings: Singapore Grand Prix

It was Sergio Perez's time to shine at F1's favourite night race surviving the watery conditions, while six others were unable to reach the chequered flag.

It was a wet night in Singapore for one of the most highly anticipated races of the season.

If grid penalties were the main talking point in previous weeks, then this week it was the six cars retiring, while the delays and mistakes from top teams proved it was a tough weekend for all the drivers on the grid.

Last week's rankings are in brackets.

1. Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing (1)

On the weekend were Max Verstappen could potentially win the World Driver's Championship, the cracks started to show for the 25-year-old and Red Bull Racing.

From not fueling the car enough for an entire session in the third round of qualifying to anti-stalling on the start sending him back four places in the first lap of the race.

With controversy surrounding Red Bull due to the team potentially blowing out the budget cap in 2021, Verstappen has been surrounded by distractions, and the result on Sunday means it will be near impossible for the driver to finish off the championship at the Japan Grand Prix.

2. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari(3)

Sitting on pole and having a near-perfect reaction off the start, the only thing that ruined the beginning of Charles Leclerc's race was another car picked up speed faster going into turn one, and from there, Leclerc was stuck behind a master class in defence for the majority of the race.

It'll be a question of what if, could Leclerc have pulled off on overtake on fresh slicks had DRS been enabled earlier? However, by the dying stages of the race was losing pace and denied himself the win after Perez was given a five-second penalty post-race.

3. George Russell - Mercedes (2)

It was not George Russell or Mercedes' weekend in Singapore this week. After getting eliminated in Q2, Russell took a fourth engine for the season and was relegated to start in the pit lane.

It was a long slog for Russell, the guinea pig for the rest of the field, pitting for slick tyres early and caught behind Bottas, and Schumacher, the Mercedes driver, had his first finish lower than fifth for the season.

4. Sergio Perez - Red Bull Racing (6)

Verstappen's streak may have ended, but Sergio Perez kept Red Bull's win streak going with a career-best performance in Singapore. Earning a spot on the front row in qualifying and coming into turn one quicker than Leclerc, Perez put on a master class-leading for every lap of the race.

The only black mark on the 32-year-old's race was the time penalty handed down post-race for falling more than ten car lengths behind the safety car. However, Perez and the team prepared to incur the penalty worked in the final 15 minutes of the race to widen the gap between him and Leclerc, rendering the penalty irrelevant to the results.

5. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari (4)

Struggling to keep pace with his teammate, Carlos Sainz was solidly in third at the Marina Bay circuit, largely stuck by himself whenever there wasn't a safety car.

That wasn't to say Sainz didn't face several pushes from Hamilton and Norris however, the Spaniard managed to maintain a sizable gap between himself and the McLarens by the end of the race but wasn't able to eat into Leclerc's lead.

6. Lando Norris - McLaren(7)

Lando Norris once again put in a solid performance, finishing in the points for a third race in a row with his second-best finish of the season.

Norris managed to avoid all the chaos going on around him and pushed for a spot on the podium but lost time on Sainz following the final safety car.

7. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes (5)

Starting in third on race day, Lewis Hamilton struggled with the intermediate and the slick tyres and couldn't seem to get into gear for the majority of the race.

Hamilton's race was ultimately ruined when he performed a move that ultimately would have landed him on the podium but breaked a fraction too late and wound up in the barrier. Able to finish the race with a broken front wing and tyres, not in the best condition, the seven-time World Champion was lucky to finish in the points.

8. Pierre Gasly - Alpha Tauri (9)

Pierre Gasly's run of form in the second half of the season continued at the Singapore GP with his third points finish in the past four races. Out-qualifying the likes of Verstappen and Russell, Gasly put himself in prime position for the wet race day.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't on Gasly's side; struggling with pace and one of the few not pitting under a safety car, Gasly found himself stuck behind the McLarens and Aston Martins and was hunted down by Verstappen with little to no trouble at all.

9. Daniel Ricciardo - McLaren (12)

If Verstappen went backwards off the start, Ricciardo must have had a rocket attached to it. The Australian nailed his first lap up into 13th by the end of it.

Ricciardo had a clean race from there, prolonging his time on the intermediate compound tyres before swapping to slicks under a well-timed safety car. The 33-year-old resisted the urge to attack the Ferraris and managed the tyres until the end of the race, to have a season's best finish in fifth.

10. Fernando Alonso -Alpine (10)

Despite a great qualifying performance, Fernando Alonso had yet another poor start for the season, dropping back behind Norris. In race 350, hopes were high that the Spaniard could finish in the points but was forced to retire the car on lap 20 due to an engine failure.

11. Esteban Ocon - Alpine (8)

Qualifying in the 18th, Esteban Ocon had a lot of groundwork to make up on race day. Not starting quite as well as Ricciardo Ocon found himself stuck behind Schumacher by lap 10. The Frenchman was unable to make any further gains however experienced an engine failure on lap 28, ruling him out of the race and putting Alpine back behind McLaren in the driver's championships

12. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin (13)

Russell wasn't the only driver to break a consistency streak in Singapore, but for Lance Stroll, it was for the better. After finishing between 10th and 15th in all but two races this season, both of which were when he was forced to retire the car. Stroll put on a mighty performance to cross the finish line in sixth.

Helped on by his teammate's defence on the likes of Verstappen and Hamilton, Stroll put together a very sensible drive showing none of the forms that he is often criticised for in the wet.

13. Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin (15)

At one of his best races on the Formula One calendar, Sebastian Vettel showed he's still got it even if he's retiring at the end of the season. Caught up in a battle with Hamilton and Verstappen, Vettel held his position well, all while defending his teammate.

It wasn't until the dying minutes of the race that Verstappen managed to overtake Vettel, but because of the German's work earlier, he managed to hold Verstappen up enough that it was impossible for the 2021 World Champion to overtake Stroll, bolstering Aston Martin's points haul for the weekend.

14. Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo (14)

Just finishing outside the points, the bulk of the attention was on Valtteri Bottas when he was holding off George Russell early in the race; the 33-year-old defended against the Mercedes driver like a man on a mission tipping the scales when it came to Mercedes's decision to pit early.

15. Alex Albon - Williams (11)

Fresh off an appendectomy that saw him in the ICU, it was admirable in the eyes of many that Alex Albon was ready to race ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. Struggling in qualifying, Albon was only ahead of his teammate Latifi and Russell on the grid.

The 26-year-old never quite looked comfortable before lodging his front wing in the barrier and puncturing a tyre in an accident on lap 25. Albon made it back around to the pits but was ultimately forced to retire the car due to the car suffering too much damage.

16. Mick Schumacher - Haas (16)

F1 fans have seen Mick Schumacher go toe to toe with Hamilton and Verstappen this year, and in Singapore, it was Russell's turn to see the German rise to the occasion. Racing for pride, Schumacher held off Russell and threw down the gauntlet daring Gunther Steiner and the Haas team to replace him, finishing one place back from where he started in 13th despite being near plenty of chaos through out the race.

17. Kevin Magnussen - Haas (18)

Qualifying in ninth, hopes were high for Kevin Magnussen, but the Haas driver didn't have the best of starts, forced off the track briefly and suffering damage to his back wing. Looking to avoid black and orange flags, Haas were quick to pit Magnussen and send him back out.

The rest of the race passed without incident for the Dane, however, the early pitstop was far too costly, keeping him and Haas outside of the points.

18. Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo (17)

Zhou Guanyu's bad luck only seemed to continue in Singapore, with the rookie driver notching his sixth DNF for the season, however, this time it wasn't due to engine reliability issues but instead a collision early in the race with another driver.

Guanyu had a decent qualifying performance reaching Q2 and outqualifying both Ricciardo and Ocon, as well as teammate Bottas.

19. Yuki Tsunoda - Alpha Tauri (19)

Unable to finish two races in a row since coming back from the summer break, Yuki Tsunoda's frustration was evident. However, the weekend wasn't a total loss for the Alpha Tauri driver. Reaching Q3 once again this season, Tsunoda held position well and largely only dropped places due to a poorly timed call to pit him.

Tsunoda's race ultimately came to an end after he buried the front of the car into the barriers on lap 34, causing yet another safety car.

20. Nicholas Latifi - Williams (20)

Almost nothing went right for Latifi in Singapore, qualifying in 20th and going off into the run-off area on the first lap of the race, fans were expecting a Latifi-caused safety car to spice up what could potentially be a boring race in the wet.

And that's exactly what they got with Latifi causing a collision between himself and Zhou, resulting in both cars retiring just six laps into the race.