The Spaniard led all 62 laps below the lights on the Marina Bay observe, producing an inch-perfect tactical drive to transform pole place into his second F1 win by 0.812s.
On aged laborious tyres, Sainz saved fellow one-stopper Norris at bay within the closing laps as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton closed them down with more energizing medium tyres on their Mercedes to type a four-car practice.
However regardless of the extreme strain, Sainz mentioned he was assured he had sufficient in hand to attain Ferrari’s first win since Austria in July 2022.
After hailing a “excellent” execution from his Ferrari crew, Sainz remarked: “I felt below management, to be sincere. I at all times felt like I had the headspace and the tempo in hand to do no matter I needed to do.
“I am not gonna lie, you are below strain and also you clearly are very shut to creating any type of mistake, however I felt below management.
“I felt like I might handle effectively, and we introduced it residence. That was the very best feeling you understand. I’m over the moon proper now.”
Sainz defined that the security automotive referred to as after Logan Sargeant understeered into the Flip 8 wall on lap 19 had made life tougher for him as he needed to prolong his second stint.
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, 1st place, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
After initially backing up Russell, Sainz needed to decide up the tempo after each Russell and Hamilton pitted below a digital security automotive when Esteban Ocon’s Alpine expired.
The Mercedes pair loved a transparent tempo benefit within the closing levels, however Russell was unable to maneuver forward of Norris earlier than crashing on the ultimate tour to raise Hamilton into third.
“I knew it was going to be an extended stint on laborious,” Sainz mentioned.
“I needed to hold George, I needed to hold him slowing right down to not give him a security automotive or a medium tyre alternative, and it labored to perfection.
“It was simply fairly tight on the finish, however we gave Lando a little bit of DRS to assist him after which ultimately, we made it to P1.”