Sergio Perez took victory at the Singapore Grand Prix after producing a top class drive, leading from start to finish, with Max Verstappen forced to wait at least another week to seal the title.
Torrential rain meant the race was delayed for just over an hour but once we did get going a gripping, marathon Grand Prix played out.
It was Perez that dealt with the tricky conditions best of all, too, as he got a fine launch off of the grid and converted P2 into P1 by the first corner, moving ahead of Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque would push Perez hard for much of the Grand Prix but ultimately could not get past, as the Mexican soaked up the pressure and eventually won the race by over seven seconds, with him putting the hammer down with the cloud of a potential time penalty hanging over him in relation to a Safety Car infringement - he would be given a 5-second time penalty and keep hold of the race victory thanks to that late push.
Indeed, the Safety Car certainly got the miles in during this race, as it so often does in Singapore, with a number of flashpoints and moments playing out over the course of the Grand Prix, which ran to the two hour limit instead of the scheduled 61 laps.
In behind Perez and Leclerc, who were in a league of their own, Carlos Sainz came third as he saw off Lewis Hamilton, who dropped back following an uncharacteristic slide into the barriers - he would eventually finish in P9 after a later mistake allowed Max Verstappen through into eighth, which the Dutchman would make P7 at the expense of Sebastian Vettel in the final minutes.
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - OCTOBER 02: Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 leads Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 02, 2022 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images,)
Getting from P8 on the grid to P7 at the flag sounds like a mundane race for Max, who will have to wait until Suzuka next weekend now at least to try and win the championship, but it was anything but quiet for Verstappen.
A sluggish start and a couple of mistakes and slides left him needing to scrap through the field on more than one occasion but eventually he'd get some points to show for his efforts.
Onto Suzuka, then, which is just a week away!
Provisional classification:
- Perez, 2. Leclerc, 3. Sainz, 4. Norris, 5. Ricciardo, 6. Stroll, 7. Verstappen, 8. Vettel, 9. Hamilton, 10. Gasly, 11. Bottas, .12 Magnussen, 13. Schumacher, 14. Russell. DNF: Tsunoda, Ocon, Albon, Alonso, Latifi, Zhou.