(On Sainz) "He's managing a lot, he's very slow. I guess he's trying to back us up."

George Russell is relaying his thoughts on Carlos Sainz's race strategy to his engineer, saying the Spaniard is "managing a lot" and "very slow".

Fastest lap time is still in possession of Sainz as he leads this Singapore Grand Prix.

Image source, Getty Images

Only half a second separates Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, so a decent margin for the Ferrari to try and attack.

And he does! Leclerc is up into fifth, Verstappen drops down to sixth. Sergio Perez is no behind his team-mate in seventh.

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

That Mercedes (of Russell) looks so much more in control, it looks a better race car at the moment compared to Carlos Sainz Ferrari, he's scrabbling for grip on the exit and he's having to use a bit more curb more there just to get the car rotated.

With tyres losing grip by the lap, Lewis Hamilton is able to take a swipe at his old foe Max Verstappen. The seven-time world champion is now up into P4, Verstappen has to settle for fifth spot, with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc stalking his every move.

Carlos Sainz is sixth tenths ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell as the two drivers cruise around on those fresh C3 tyres.

There was almost a collision between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris as the McLaren spied his chance to jump Sergio Perez.

Sergio Perez is demanding Lewis Hamilton give back the place as he feels the Mercedes man gained an advantage by leaving the track.

Problem, Sergio. Charles Leclerc is now in front of you instead in sixth place.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

He's (Verstappen) still got to stop again, it's not really that ideal for him, it looks great now in second but the others don't have to stop and he does so that is going to cost him 30 seconds if there's not another safety car, so it doesn't really help him a huge amount. What he's going to really do is get past Carlos Sainz but his tyres are 22 laps old and Sainz are brand new.

The grip has waved goodbye to the Red Bull's old, hard rubber and a few seconds later, Sergio Perez has to make way for Lewis Hamilton to take fifth.

Podium place for Norris! He shimmies through on Verstappen to claim third spot.

Fernando Alonso is given a five-second time penalty for crossing the pit entry as Max Verstappen finds himself under pressure on those worn hard tyres.

Sergio Perez is also feeling the heat from the McLaren of Lando Norris. Russell is passed Verstappen, Norris has cleared Perez!

Safety car is in and we're racing again!

Carlos Sainz is leading the pack, Max Verstappen is second but didn't stop and George Russell is in third place.

Fernando Alonso could be looking at a slam-dunk penalty here. The Aston Martin driver locked up and bounced over the kerb, crossing the pit entry line on his way in to making a stop.

Max Verstappen has moved up into second place but the Dutchman started on the hard tyre and he didn't pit under the safety car.

Charles Leclerc is not happy as he was held for traffic by his Ferrari crew. The Monegasque man is down to sixth behind the McLaren of Lando Norris, who also stopped and bolted on hard rubber.

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter

At the moment it is looking dry just still very hot and humid as you would expect.

I've just been listening in to Max Verstappen's radio and his race engineer is telling him that there is 'no merit staying this close to Esteban Ocon' and so that's why Max Verstappen has dropped back to around 1.7 (seconds) behind Esteban Ocon, trying to preserve those hard tyres, trying to go as long as possible.

Right, who is going to come in and dump their tyres?

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are in for a double stack! George Russell is in too.

Hard tyres on.

Sparks are flying underneath the Williams as Logan Sargeant makes his way back to the pits in his stricken car.

The American is back but safety car! Safety car!

So, the advice for George is a simple 'keep the pressure on the Ferraris'. Simple.

Logan Sargeant has brought out a yellow flag. That Williams front wing looks slightly damaged as he bumped the barriers down at Turn Eight.

Russell: "Let me know what our best shot at winning this race is, what I need to do."

Engineer: "We need to keep this pressure on the Ferraris."

Rain? On the way? Maybe....

The nerves are starting to jangle as the pit windows approach. George Russell wants to know from his engineer what the best plan of action is for him to win this race?