Formula One made its way to another street circuit, although it was very different from the Baku circuit they visited two weeks ago. This time it was the FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2025 in Singapore. It’s a race that tends to take the full two hours, although this race would be a rare exception where the drivers would complete the race distance.
George Russell had a good start from pole position to enter the opening corners uncontested, mostly thanks to an uncharacteristically slow start by Max Verstappen in P2. This compromised Oscar Piastri in the first corner, leaving the inside open for Lando Norris. The McLaren teammates were side-by-side in the second corner.
Under braking for the third corner, Norris brushed the rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull, damaging the endplate of his front wing. He also bumped into his teammate, nearly shuffling Piastri wide into the wall. Piastri had to back out to avoid hitting the wall, allowing his teammate to slip through to P3.
Piastri was unhappy with the aggressive move, complaining on the radio and hinting at team orders to swap positions. In Monza, the McLaren pit wall used team orders to benefit Norris after he lost a position due to a slow pit stop. On this occasion, the team refused to swap positions, much to Piastri’s disappointment.
Russell spent the opening stint growing the gap out front, while Norris nibbled at the gap to Verstappen. Red Bull’s aggressive strategy to start Verstappen on the soft tyres didn’t quite pan out. He was the first of the leaders to pit, taking hard tyres on lap 20.
Norris pitted on lap 27. McLaren had asked if Piastri could pit first, eager to rejoin in front of Charles Leclerc, who had pitted on lap 22. Norris declined, insisting that he pit first. Ultimately, it didn’t make a difference, as Piastri stayed ahead of Leclerc despite a slow pit stop from McLaren.
At the top of the second stint, Verstappen was gaining time on the lead Mercedes. But the gap only got as low as 2.8s before Verstappen suffered a huge lockup in turn 14, increasing the gap back to 5s. This left Russell to finish the race in the lead.
As the leaders began lapping backmarkers, the gap between Verstappen and Norris plummeted. Before long, Norris was within DRS range of the Red Bull, applying pressure to the Dutchman. But although he was very close as they were in the traffic, he struggled to keep up when Verstappen found the clear air.
Norris managed to keep within DRS range for most of the closing 20 laps, but ran out of race distance to mount a challenge. He had to settle for P3, although it was still good points towards his World Drivers’ Championship challenge, reducing the points deficit to 22 points behind his teammate.
A P3 and P4 finish was enough for McLaren to secure their second consecutive World Constructors’ Championship title. This is the team’s tenth championship title since their F1 debut in 1966.
Although one championship title is secured, six races remain in the season, and the drivers’ championship is still up for grabs. Next is the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Texas. It’s a sprint weekend, so the racing action will begin on October 18 and conclude with the main race on October 19.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 62 | 1:40:22.367 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 62 | +5.430 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 62 | +6.066 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 62 | +8.146 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 62 | +33.681 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 62 | +45.996 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 62 | +80.251 | 6 |  | |
| 8 | 62 | +80.667 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 62 | +93.527 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 61 | +1 Lap | 1 | ||
| 11 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 12 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 13 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 14 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 17 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 19 | 61 | +1 Lap | |||
| 20 | 61 | +1 Lap |
| 1 | O. Piastri | 336 |  | |
| 2 | L. Norris | 314 | -22 | |
| 3 | M. Verstappen | 273 | -63 | |
| 4 | G. Russell | 237 | -99 | |
| 5 | C. Leclerc | 173 | -163 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 650 |  | |
| 2 | Mercedes | 325 | -325 | |
| 3 | Ferrari | 300 | -350 | |
| 4 | Red Bull | 290 | -360 | |
| 5 | Williams | 102 | -548 | |
