Singapore Grand Prix: Russell wins unchallenged, McLaren Champions, drama for Verstappen
F1 NewsSunday, 05 October 2025 at 15:44
George Russell won the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix fending off a brief challenge from Max Verstappen who was second as Lando Norris was third while McLaren secured their second Formula 1 Constructors' Championship in a row.
The rain hit the track before the race but it stopped and the track dried out for teams to opt for slicks, most of the them going for Mediums which Russell and both McLarens did, while Verstappen and Red Bull Racing went aggressive opting for Soft tyres.
That was an attempt to pass Russell into Turn 1, but the reigning F1 Champion had a bad start on the dirty side of the gird and barely managed to keep second place as Norris and Oscar Piastri were fighting for third.
After playing a bit of bumper cars for a brief moment, Norris emerged ahead of Piastri albeit with a damaged front wing which didn't appear to affect his pace.
Piastri was not happy and expressed that over the radio suggesting it was unfair soliciting a team order for Norris to give the place back, but as much as Papaya Rules are fair, that order never came.
From there on, Russell went on extending his lead enjoying the fresh air in the lead while Verstappen didn't seem to have the pace to close in on him while Norris looked racy keeping the Dutchman honest.
As the race developed, it appeared Verstappen was struggling with the downshifts on his car at one points reporting his rear brakes felt like "handbrakes" which played into the hands of Norris who pushed his rival all the race long.
While McLaren attempted an undercut, Red Bull responded by pitting Verstappen before Norris pitted, on Lap 20, and succeeded to keep the #4 McLaren behind.
And with everyone after that pitting, the order remained the same with Russell leading Verstappen and Norris with Piastri trying to make inroads into the top three having suffered a slow pit stop earlier, but the Aussie simply did not have any response to his teammate's pace.
Verstappen initially pulled away from Norris but then locked up which brought the Briton closer, but then he himself had an error at the chicane which gave the four-time F1 Champion a breathing space which did not last for long as both rivals caught up with the back markers.
The gap between Norris and Verstappen dropped to less than a second but both of them went through the traffic in the same order.
Norris had a look on Lap 53 but Verstappen kept him at bay, the two continuing their battle till the end, the latter managing to keep second.
Norris finished third with Piastri behind him in fourth scoring enough points for McLaren to secure their second consecutive F1 Constructors' Championship.
That concluded a dominant couple of days for Russell who started from pole - his second this season and managed to convert that into his second win in 2025.
How the rest of the pack finished
With Piastri finishing in fourth, Kimi Antonelli who lost a couple of positions at the start, managed to bounce back to fifth passing Charles Leclerc on Lap 54. The Monegasque finished in sixth on another bad day for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton finished in seventh.
The seven-time F1 Champion pitted twice, the second time due to a big enough gap and took on Softs trying to climb up the order which he did for a brief time passing his teammate under team orders trying to attack Antonelli, but the #44 Ferrari ran out of brakes towards the end.
Hamilton will be investigated after the race for track limit offenses which he did as he couldn't control the car with its failing brakes.
Fernando Alonso was one of the driver who started on the Soft tyres in an attempt to make up positions on the start, which he did, and ended up in eighth having started from tenth, but then he suffered from a very slow pitstop which dropped him down the order.
The Spaniard was livid with his team, threatening to cut off radio communications, but then drove valiantly up the order to finish eighth.
Ollie Bearman was ninth fastest at the end, surviving a first lap incident with Isack Hadjar who had to settle for a disappointing 11th after suffering from an engine issue from mid-race onwards.
Carlos Sainz drove to recover from the bottom of the grid and took the final point finishing tenth.
While we have been used to a Safety Car having a run around the Marina Bay Circuit, that wasn't the case this time and while there was a scare - for Russell that is - when Nico Hulkenberg spun on Lap 44, the German kept his car out of the barriers and running and rejoining only causing a Yellow Flag.
What the top three said
After taking his first win in Singapore, the venue where he crashed two years ago, Russell said: "It feels amazing, especially after what happened a couple of years ago. That was a bit of a missed opportunity, but we more than made up for it today.
“Just so grateful for the team," he added. "They did an amazing job this weekend. We don’t really know where this performance came from, but really, really happy.
“Friday was a really tough day for me for many different reasons and I wasn’t feeling comfortable, but by the time I got to Q3, I felt great in the car and that’s when it matters.
“I was a bit nervous at the beginning when I saw Max on the soft, but that first stint was great from us and extended the gap," Russell concluded.
Verstappen, on the other hand, will have to wait one more year to try an take a maiden win in Singapore and explained his team's choice to start him on the Softs.
He said: “The track only just got dry and starting on the dirty side of the grid, we opted to try something different because normally if you just pass Turn 1, you just stay there unless something crazy happens.
“We tried. It didn’t really work out, so then the first stint was always about just surviving on the tyres, trying to make it long enough to then pit for the hard tyre.
“I think that worked out but unfortunately I think the whole race was quite difficult, more difficult than I hoped for, for a lot of different reasons. A few things that we need to understand why they went wrong today.
“But around here even if you have more pace, you can’t pass without anything crazy happening. So I think second was the maximum result," the Red Bull ace concluded.
As for Norris, he reflected on the first lap chaos with his teammate and Verstappen; he added: "It was slippery. It was still wet in a lot of places.
"But it's racing. I put it on the inside, I had a small correction, but nothing more than that. It was good racing," he insisted.
The McLaren driver was unwell over the course of the weekend and reflected: "Not too bad. I could go again! It was a tough race.
"Max didn't make any mistakes. Whether I was feeling good or not, I gave it my all today and got close. A few chances where we were side by side and a some good little bits of battling.
"But just too difficult to overtake because the pace was very strong today and would have loved to have tried to catch George and give him a little bit more pressure.
"But I'm happy with today. I got forward two positions, we won as a team the constructors' once again, so I'm mot happy about that," Norris concluded.
And a final word from McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, who said after his team secured their second F1 Constructors' Title in a row with six races to spare.
The American hailed his drivers, saying: "They have driven brilliantly all season. You can't win the constructors' without two awesome racing drivers.
"As you can see, we are letting them race. That was a bit more of a nail-biter there, but they race hard, they race clean, they race to win.
"A lot of racing to go and hopefully a lot more victories for both of them," Brown concluded.
Singapore Grand Prix Provisional Race Classification
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