Singapore GP
The Singapore GP provided less drama than anticipated, and remarkably for a second successive year the race ran without a safety car interruption.
Nevertheless the event provided plenty to talk about, with both Mercedes and Red Bull beating McLaren in a straight fight, and contact between title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri creating yet another headache for the Woking team.
That controversy somewhat overshadowed a great performance by George Russell, who was waylaid by illness at the last race in Baku and was still suffering in the days that followed.
His Singapore weekend started badly with a crash on Friday, but when it mattered in qualifying he and his car were dialled into the track better than anybody else. He did two laps that were good enough for pole.
The race was never going to be easy, but having held onto the lead at the start he drove a faultless race to log his second victory of the season after his earlier success in Montreal, putting the painful memories of his last lap crash in the 2023 event behind him. For Russell it was the perfect way to remind Mercedes of his value as team leader as final negotiations over his future contract continue to drag on. Kimi Antonelli made it an even better day for Mercedes with a solid run to P5 at a track that can so easily catch out rookies.
Singapore has never been a happy hunting ground for Max Verstappen, and even his Red Bull engineers didn’t know if the RB21’s winning form at the last two events would translate to high downforce spec in Singapore. To their relief did, and the Dutchman came close to beating Russell to pole, but had to abort his final lap. A punt on soft tyres to give him an extra boost at the start didn’t pay off – he was on the less favourable dirty side of the grid – and he ran second for the duration, doing a good job to hold off Norris for the latter part of the race. He gained points on both McLaren drivers, and remains in the title hunt. Meanwhile it was another mediocre weekend for his team mate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished 12th.
For McLaren finally securing the 2025 constructors’ title in Singapore was always going to be a formality, but that success was somewhat diluted by more drama on the camp. Piastri and Norris qualified only third and fifth, and having made a good start the latter went for a gap on the first lap. Getting too close to comfort to Verstappen ahead Norris checked up, and he clipped Piastri as he went by.
The Australian, unaware of the Red Bull’s involvement, assumed that Norris had simply barged him wide. He felt that wasn’t within the rules that the team mates are supposed to abide by, and having asked for the situation to be addressed, was told by the team that it wouldn’t be. The papaya cars ran third and fourth to the flag, with Norris clawing three points back on his rival. McLaren boss Andrea Stella said that the situation would be reviewed and that the team would come back stronger, but that was of little comfort to Piastri. Tensions can only ramp up as the races continue to count down.
In recent weeks Ferrari has sunk to the role of bit part player, and the red cars were off the pace all weekend. Both drivers had to nurse their brakes from early in the race, and after a good start Charles Leclerc had to settle for sixth place, losing out to Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton’s brake issues became urgent in the closing stages, but he just hung on to seventh place – only to lose it when the stewards penalised him for cutting corners as he tried to fend off Fernando Alonso.
That duly handed P7 to the highly motivated Aston Martin driver, who had done a good job to recover from a bad pit stop with some good passing moves in the latter part of the race. It was the team’s first score after disappointing outings at the low downforce events in Monza and Baku.
Of the rest Haas had a good weekend with Oliver Bearman starting 10th and claiming a couple of points with P9. Williams had a disastrous qualifying session with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon disqualified and sent to the back for a wing infringement. The Spaniard was able to recover to take the final point in 10th place, having dislodged Isack Hadjar in the closing stages.
The Racing Bulls driver had been quick all weekend, but a mistake in qualifying, first lap contact with Bearman and then an engine issue all conspired to keep him out of the points on a weekend that had promised much. Two big practice crashes did not bode well for the future of his team mate Liam Lawson, and with former McLaren protégé and F2 star Alex Dunne being lined up to join the Red Bull camp, the timing wasn’t great for the Kiwi.
Off-track the future of former Red Bull boss Christian Horner remained the big subject of debate. It’s no secret that he wants equity in a team, and that he has talked to various parties up and down the pitlane. For the moment it’s hard to see where he would fit.
