Singapore Grand Prix: Teams & Drivers report from Marina Bay Circuit

Russell completed the job which he started with that brilliant lap in Qualifying on Saturday which meant he started from pole and managed to keep his lead as Max Verstappen was too busy defending from both McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after a bad start on the dirty side of the grid despite being on Softs.

From there on, the Dutchman suffered car issues which meant he could not attack Russell and was more focused on keeping Norris at bay which he did.

Despite finishing third and fourth with Norris and Piastri respectively, McLaren clinched the 2025 F1 Constructors' Championship, their second in a row and can now focus on the Drivers' Title which appears to be a challenge given the clash between their drivers in Singapore which promises to give Papaya Rules their toughest challenge yet.

It was another tough race for Ferrari who lacked pace, struggled with pace, with Lewis Hamilton also slapped with a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits as he couldn't control his car with failing brakes.

We covered what the top three finishers had to say, to here are the rest.

Charles Leclerc (P6): "It was a really difficult race, unfortunately, a reflection of the whole weekend. Right from Friday, we struggled to find the right feeling with the car and we never managed to put everything together in the way we would have wanted. Today, in traffic it was impossible to move forward, as we also had to deal with cooling problems. Sadly, where we finished reflects where we are today.

"Over the past two races we have encountered various difficulties that we must now analyse in detail, so that we can start improving again. The aim is to be better prepared and ready to fight with our main rivals in two weeks’ time in the United States."

Lewis Hamilton (P8): "It has been a challenging couple of days but there were definitely some positives to take. I’ve felt good in the car all weekend and we had a strong final third of the race. The Softs gave us great attacking pace and meant I could close down a big gap to the cars ahead, but unfortunately a brake issue cost us the overtake and the chance to score more points.

"We had the potential to be further ahead this weekend, starting from qualifying, so the focus now is on maximising what we have going into Austin and executing cleanly to bring home as many points as possible."

Fred Vasseur Team Principal: "First of all congratulations to McLaren for winning the Constructors' Championship, it's well deserved. On our side it was a tough weekend. We had a strong start of the weekend and after that we didn’t extract the full potential from the car in quali. In the race, cooling was an issue right from the beginning although when we were in clean air the pace was decent. Over the last 15 laps, Lewis had mega pace, but he pushed so hard to catch up those ahead that in the end he had a problem with the brakes overheating.

"Clearly, the last couple of races, we have been a step behind our rivals. We need to improve the potential of the car and also our overall execution of the race weekend to ensure we are getting the best out of the car and from the drivers, because for sure, results like today’s are frustrating.

"Starting from Austin, we need to get back to being in a position to have good pace throughout the entire weekend."

Fernando Alonso (P7): "We had a good race tonight and the car was behaving well. I enjoy racing here and it's very physically demanding too. We showed good pace on both stints and the team made a good call to fit the Medium tyres, as that enabled us to fight back after a slow pit-stop. Hopefully we can score some more points at the remaining rounds of the Championship."

Lance Stroll (P13): "No opportunities for us today: we tried to sit it out and waited for a Safety Car that never came. We managed to make the Soft tyre work for 38 laps. The Mediums in the second stint wore off quicker than expected due to traffic, overheating and fighting other cars. It could have gone better for us, but we did the best we could do and we will keep trying. We now look to Texas in two weeks' time."

Andy Cowell, CEO & Team Principal: "Singapore is known for its Safety Cars and lack of overtaking, but this evening there were no Safety Cars and Fernando and Lance did plenty of overtaking!

"The slightly damp track encouraged us to start both cars on the Softs, which proved to be the right decision as the race played out. Lance did a fantastic job of managing the Softs for 38 laps, holding out for a Safety Car before taking the Mediums to the end, gaining seven places with some great overtakes.

"Fernando also did his overtaking on the track, and P7 this evening saw the fans vote him driver of the day. The team did a great job with tyre decisions, cooling levels and strategy to optimise the race performance. We take encouragement from this and will look to carry this momentum into Austin."

Carlos Sainz: "Given the circumstances, we need to be happy and proud about our performance today. It was a straightforward race with no safety cars, but we still managed to progress through the field and grab a valuable point starting from P18. We were able to extend our medium tyre longer than anybody else into the race and once I put the softs on, I was able to do a very fast stint and some strong overtakes on track. We could’ve been fighting higher up the field today but all in all I’m very happy with our race execution. We’ll take the learnings and start preparing for the upcoming races."

Alex Albon: "Starting from the pit lane today we knew it was going to be a bit of a test session for us. We did a test setup just for some learnings and it didn’t really work, but that’s okay as we can use that data for future races. We had good pace when we were in clean air, we just got caught up in some blue flags and were stuck in traffic for majority of the race. Even when we did have fresher tyres, we had to wait for the car in front to catch the cars further up, so it was just one of those races where we couldn’t do much, especially with no safety cars. There were a lot of learnings from this weekend, and we will look to tidy everything up for the next weekend out in Austin."

James Vowles, Team Principal: "Congratulations to Carlos on a really strong drive to achieve a point today, and thank you to Alex for working closely on strategy to achieve that result - it really was a team game. We couldn't have achieved more from our starting position, but that only reiterates my disappointment about our qualifying disqualification because we had a quick car today. I'm looking forward to the remaining six rounds of the season, because we have a competitive car and we're here to fight for our position in the Championship. Finally, congratulations to McLaren for retaining the Constructors' Championship – their journey back to the top is an inspiration to us and the benchmark for what we want to achieve."

Isack Hadjar (P11): "It wasn't our day today as we had an issue with the car just before the pit stop. It lasted the whole second part of the race and cost us the points. I was just hoping for the other drivers not to catch up so quickly, but they did, and the blue flags didn't help us. In the corners we were pretty fast but we lost everything on the straights, so there wasn't anything more we could do. I'll be looking together with the team at what happened today and then we'll switch our focus to Austin, aiming to keep the good momentum started after the summer break."

Liam Lawson (P15): "We stayed out most of the race on a set of Mediums and unfortunately ended up behind a train of cars after we boxed. Had we started higher up the grid, we could've potentially ended up in the points with our pace, but a tough Quali meant it was going to be tricky from the outset. It's been a difficult weekend in challenging conditions, but my focus is now on Austin."

Alan Permane, Team Principal: "A very tough day today for us, and the first time that we've been out of the points since Silverstone. We had an issue with Isack's powertrain, which cost him 0.5s each lap, and to race under those conditions, when everything else is so tight here, makes it virtually impossible. He drove brilliantly and did everything he could, but in the end it proved too much of a handicap to keep the car in the points. For Liam, he had just as tough of a race. He didn't have the car underneath him that he wanted and struggled with grip and balance. We went very long for him on his first stint, hoping he could take advantage of a Safety Car, but ultimately he didn't have the pace. We will re-group and absolutely get to the bottom of the issue on Isack's car, coming back strong in Austin – a track that will definitely suit our car."

Pierre Gasly: "Today was always going to be difficult especially with the Pit Lane start. I have not been feeling too comfortable in the car recently so we changed set-up and changed floor to try and understand some things further which should benefit us for the future. We knew the race would be complicated and it was nice to have a few battles out there even if it was not for the points paying positions. I know the team is working exceptionally hard at the moment and we all know we are nowhere near where we should be right now. I am confident we can do better in Austin next time out compared to the last few races where the circuit characteristics have not suited our package especially with the lack of grip and bumps that are common on street circuits. We will continue to keep our heads down and keep focusing on improving our current position."

Franco Colapinto: "It was a long race with lots of close battles out there, which was fun but, ultimately, we didn't have the pace and lost some places towards the end on older tyres. I managed to get a good launch off the line and made up places through the opening sequence of corners. We were running quite well in the midfield pack on the Softs at the time and knowing how difficult it is to overtake at this track, we pitted early trying to undercut and use track position to make up places. We tried our best to manage the tyres but with a lot of degradation and having to also move offline for blue flags, it made it difficult to hold off the cars on fresher tyres in the closing laps. It was not what we wanted but we just have to keep pushing and better results will come. I'm looking forward to the next leg of the season in the Americas, which is one of my favourites with incredibly passionate fans."

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director: "It has been another tough race for us but we can take some positives from it in the respect we managed to take a bit of a fight to our competitors. Franco had a good start to gain some places on the opening lap and we went aggressive quite early on strategy with an undercut on the cars ahead which required Franco to manage a long stint on Mediums. It had looked promising but he tailed off at the end with the tyres degrading. For Pierre, we opted to change set-up on his car and change his floor, which meant a Pit Lane start. That put him on the backfoot early on but he did a good opening stint to be in that midfield mix which was held up by a train of traffic. After his Hards faded we opted for some laps on Soft at the end where he closed the gap to cars ahead and had the benefit of some low fuel, high grip running. Of course, it is not the end result we ever set out to achieve but there are plenty of positives to take from the entire weekend and we head to Austin feeling more optimistic in our ability to perform on a much more conventional circuit. We can be confident that better days are coming and I am pleased to see the continued work ethic that everyone in this team is applying in a difficult time. Finally, congratulations to McLaren on setting an extremely high bar with their second Championship win in a row."

Ollie Bearman (P9): "I'm really happy. After my lap 1 incident, and dropping to P10, I was then under threat from Nico, who was very fast. In general, I was struggling in my first stint with car balance. We made a good step after the pit stops, and we were looking like P8 potentially with (Fernando) Alonso's long pit stop but sadly lost that position to him as he was quicker than us today. I'm happy to score points, they're so important and on a tough track, we executed a great weekend."

Esteban Ocon (P18): "It was always going to be a tough challenge, but we at least gained a position at the start, and we moved up a couple of positions in the first few laps. We were on for catching Lance (Stroll) at some stage, it was getting better through the race. But we stayed out really late and when we boxed, we lost out on everything. We couldn't recover because of the DRS train that was in front – that was it for the race really. It feels like we've had a missed opportunity this weekend."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "I'm glad that we finally managed to put a weekend together. As a team, this race was difficult, but converting P9 in qualifying to P9 in the race and points was lots of hard work. It was a shame to be overtaken by Alonso, but in the end, he had good pace, and Aston Martin was quick. We executed the weekend well and I'm very happy for all the team, and for Ollie as well. Yes, overtaking in a DRS train is difficult, but Alonso managed to do it, so we need to see whether that's a car characteristic or what else it is. On Esteban's side, the positive is that he's been quick in all practice sessions, so he has the pace. Overall, I'm very happy to be coming away from Singapore scoring two points. In Austin, I'm looking to build on from here – we want both drivers to score points."

Nico Hulkenberg (P20): “It wasn’t our day today. Without track position it’s always tough for us, especially on a street circuit like this where overtaking is nearly impossible unless you’ve got a big tyre advantage. In the end, when I got close to Franco [Colapinto], he braked quite early — a bit of a surprise — and I lost a lot of rear downforce, which caused a big lock-up and the spin. We’ll have to review the strategy, but overall, we didn’t quite have the pace this weekend. Still, even on tough days like this, there’s always something to learn and take things forward into the next races.”

Gabriel Bortoleto (P17): “It definitely wasn’t the best race for us today. I picked up some damage on lap one after contact in Turn One — we went three-wide and unfortunately touched and broke the front wing. This forced us to pit to change it, which cost us some time, and from then on it was always going to be a difficult race. Our pace wasn’t the strongest and, once we fell behind Colapinto, we knew it would be hard to get back past — overtaking here is extremely difficult. I spent most of the race stuck behind him, which also allowed others to close in. Overall, it was just one of those days where things didn’t quite go our way.

"Still, we’ll take the positives from the weekend, learn what we can, and move on. The team keeps working really hard, both here and at HQ, and we’re all determined to get back to scoring points.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “First of all I would like to congratulate McLaren on defending their title. For us, it was an incredibly frustrating race where very little went our way. Starting from P11, I genuinely believe we had the potential to score points today, and we shouldn’t shy away from that. With no safety cars, the race unfolded without many of the usual variables here in Singapore, and not a lot of opportunities. We’ll thoroughly review to make sure we learn from this weekend and take any lessons forward. That’s racing: the great thing about Formula One is that we get to race again in just two weeks.”