Singapore placed on one other spectacular present over the weekend, with Mercedes’ George Russell charging to a shock pole place and victory, McLaren sealing successive Groups’ Championships, title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri clashing and far, far more…
Behind the impressed Russell, a powerful P2 end for Max Verstappen and Purple Bull continued their current constructive momentum, whereas Norris’ daring first-lap cross on workforce mate Piastri led to the Australian’s championship lead being reduce as soon as extra.
Elsewhere, Ferrari endured a tricky weekend at a observe they’ve mastered on so many events, Aston Martin racer Fernando Alonso skilled a very eventful night, and F1 ACADEMY delivered some field workplace title race drama.
With loads to evaluate up and down the order, right here is F1.com’s standard post-race evaluate of the whole lot that occurred at Marina Bay…
Russell makes a Singapore assertion
Russell’s weekend began in tough circumstances when he put it within the obstacles a 3rd of the way in which by Friday’s second apply session and misplaced some beneficial, consultant observe time – the Briton subsequently apologising to Mercedes.
Nevertheless, each the driving force and the workforce got here again combating on Saturday to emerge as outdoors challengers for pole place, regardless of the usually sizzling and humid situations which have labored in opposition to their package deal lately.
After topping Q2, Russell got here out flying in Q3 to place a lap on the board that solely he would beat throughout the second sequence of runs, incomes himself and the Silver Arrows their first P1 begin since June’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell picked up the place he left off when the lights went out on Sunday night time, conserving the soft-shod Verstappen behind him into Flip 1, driving into the gap after which calmly managing the hole again to the automobiles behind.
It was an announcement fifth profession Grand Prix victory that provides to an already stellar 2025 season for Russell, who will have the ability to proudly level to the efficiency as negotiations over a brand new Mercedes contract rumble on…
One other conflict and one other title for McLaren
After lacking out on an opportunity to wrap up the Groups’ Championship on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, McLaren headed to Singapore’s Marina Bay Avenue Circuit with a lot better odds – needing simply 13 factors to seal the deal.
Zak Brown and Andrea Stella’s hearts should have been of their mouths on the race begin, although, when Norris’ dive down the within of Piastri ended with the pair banging wheels and the latter nearly conserving his automotive out of the wall.
“That wasn’t very teamlike, however positive,” mentioned a pissed off Piastri on the radio, earlier than he adopted up with: “So, are we cool with Lando simply barging me out of the way in which?”
Finally, the stewards – and the McLaren pit wall – opted in opposition to taking any additional motion, with Norris and his barely broken entrance wing occurring to complete third, a number of seconds forward of Piastri in fourth.
“It’s racing,” Norris argued afterwards, pointing to the observe nonetheless being slippery due to some pre-race showers. “I put it on the within, I had a small correction, however nothing greater than that. It was good racing.”
Both means, the P3/P4 return was greater than sufficient to verify McLaren as back-to-back champions, one thing the squad had not achieved because the early-Nineties – when F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger have been on the wheel.
Verstappen continues to chip away within the standings
Regardless of failing to make it a hat-trick of F1 victories, Verstappen did handle to outscore each McLaren drivers for the third consecutive race in Singapore and maintain himself within the combine for an unlikely fifth world title.
A raffle to begin on mushy tyres and launch forward of polesitter George Russell in the end failed, and thereafter, Verstappen’s consideration for a lot of the race across the Marina Bay Avenue Circuit turned in the direction of conserving Norris behind.
This he did, regardless of locking up and working deep at Flip 14 on one event, in addition to having to defend from Norris into the heavy braking zone of Flip 7.
With Drivers’ Championship chief Piastri fourth, Verstappen sits 63 factors behind the Australian and 41 factors behind Norris forward of the ultimate six Grands Prix (and three Sprints), which means he stays a thorn within the facet of the McLaren duo.
“Sadly I believe the entire race was fairly troublesome, harder than I hoped for, for lots of various causes – let’s say it like that,” mentioned Verstappen, who has nonetheless but to win in Singapore.
“There are some things that we have to perceive, why this stuff went unsuitable immediately, however even then, round right here even when you’ve got extra tempo, you may’t cross with out something loopy occurring. I believe for us second was then the utmost end result.”
Alonso’s eventful run to eighth – then seventh
Alonso loved one among his strongest races of the 2025 marketing campaign in Singapore by ending seventh and proving to be the ‘better of the remainder’ behind the main groups.
The Aston Martin driver made up two locations within the opening laps from a P10 beginning place and was managing a cushty tempo on Pirelli’s mushy tyres over Isack Hadjar, earlier than a gradual pit cease dropped him behind the Racing Bulls rookie.
With nonetheless spectacular velocity on the medium rubber, Alonso was in a position to retake the place and closed to inside 5 seconds of Lewis Hamilton by the chequered flag, sufficient for him to be promoted on the expense of the Ferrari man due to a post-race penalty.
“It was an excellent race for us,” mentioned Alonso, who has completed within the factors seven occasions within the final 10 Grands Prix. “The automotive felt quick within the first stint, we opened a pleasant hole with the mushy tyre – it lasted longer than we anticipated, in order that was superb information.
“Then [we had] a gradual pit cease, however the automotive was nonetheless very quick within the second stint, and we completed in the identical place. Some enjoyable battles. Singapore isn’t [an] simple [place] to overhaul, however as I mentioned, I had a bonus on the tyre as effectively.”
What occurred to Ferrari’s problem?
The beginning of the race appeared to trace at promise for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc having overtaken Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli to maneuver up into fifth place early on. That tempo appeared to fall away afterward, nonetheless, with Antonelli retaking the place and crossing the road with a sizeable margin of simply over 12 seconds from Leclerc.
Hamilton, in the meantime, switched positions with Leclerc within the latter levels in an try and catch Antonelli – solely to then expertise a brake situation, ensuing within the swap being reversed and the seven-time World Champion ending the race in P7.
To make issues worse, Hamilton was hit with a five-second time penalty post-race after being discovered responsible of “leaving the observe with out justifiable motive a number of occasions” while managing his brake issues in the course of the latter levels, dropping him right down to P8.
With six race weekends remaining within the 2025 season, Ferrari at the moment are 25 factors behind Mercedes within the battle for P2 of the Teams’ Championship, whereas Purple Bull are simply 10 factors adrift of the Scuderia in P4.
Leclerc provided a downbeat evaluation of the squad’s prospects going ahead, commenting after the Singapore race: “We’re struggling massively with the automotive – it’s not simple.
“I want I might say that I’m constructive for the remainder of the season, [but] I don’t suppose there’s something within the automotive in the intervening time that proves [to] me we’re going to do a step forwards.”
F1 ACADEMY title race goes right down to the ultimate spherical
It was an exciting weekend of motion within the penultimate spherical of the 2025 F1 ACADEMY sequence, with Lia Block taking her debut victory within the class throughout Race 1 on Saturday.
This was adopted up by an eventful Race 2 on Sunday. Maya Weug initially misplaced the result in title rival Doriane Pin off the road, however the order was shaken up when the Security Automotive was deployed following a crash for Nicola Havrda, the rain having fallen on the Marina Bay Avenue Circuit.
With Pin unable to cost away on the restart given the difficult situations, Weug pulled off a daring overtake on the final lap to grab the victory.
In addition to marking a 3rd win of the season for Weug, the end result additionally implies that the title battle will go right down to the wire when F1 ACADEMY heads to Las Vegas for its 2025 finale in November, with Weug now simply 9 factors away from chief Pin.
The celebs come out underneath the lights
The celebs turned out for Singapore, with a plethora of singers and actors noticed up and down the pit lane, weaving out and in of the garages as they bought up and private with the F1 equipment.
Smashing Pumpkins have been seen down at Haas, whereas Mel C whipped the gang right into a frenzy earlier than the race and Lewis Capaldi headed to the grid earlier than lights out to have a more in-depth take a look at a few of the automobiles.
New Superman actor David Corenswet mentioned he was supporting Purple Bull, with the Austrian workforce additionally visited by boy band sensation ENHYPEN as they garnered loads of help amongst the celebrities.
Comic Jake Whitehall was available to crack some jokes as effectively, however the final chuckle went to McLaren who did greater than sufficient to safe one more Groups’ title.
