Revenge for Russell, bitter-sweet for McLaren
6 October 2025, Singapore – George Russell became the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix’s eighth race-winner in his Mercedes but McLaren claimed their second successive Constructors’ world title on a Marina Bay evening where their drivers’ relationship soured dramatically.
Think first, act later: Russell gets his Singapore revenge
‘It’s a thinking driver’s circuit, round here,’ said Jenson Button before the race. A challenging 62 laps at Marina Bay proved the 2009 World Champion correct – and the most thinking driver in today’s F1 got the job done to claim his first Singapore victory and his second of the season for Mercedes. The 29-year-old Englishman got off the line well, defended his lead and controlled the race from that point on. ‘It feels amazing, especially after what happened a couple of years ago,’ said the 27-year-old Englishman, referring to his late-race crash that cost him the win. ‘That was a bit of a missed opportunity but we more than made up for it today.’ It was the second win of Russell’s season and the fifth of his F1 career. His winning time was 1hr 40m:22.367, an average race speed of 182.581 km/h. He finished 5.430 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Norris just six-tenths of a second behind in third. Still thinking after the victory: Russell finished by saying, ‘We need to sit down tomorrow and work out why the performance was so good.’
Not an Oscar-winning start
Did the McLaren duo heed Button’s words? Apparently not: starting from the second row, Norris got his elbows out at the start, made contact with Verstappen, then banged wheels with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri through Turn 3. ‘That wasn’t very team-like,’ said the Australian icily. ‘Are we cool with Lando barging me out of the way there?’ ‘Control the controllables, mate,’ was the team response… but are McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ about to face their severest test as their two drivers fight it out for the title? The messages grew chillier as the race went on, Norris challenging Verstappen for second place in the closing stages but settling for third to reduce Piastri’s title lead to 22 points. Still, McLaren’s 27-point haul was more than enough to settle the Constructors’ battle; they now have 650 points, exactly twice the tally of Mercedes with six races still to come. Norris explained the early incident by saying, ‘It was slippery, still wet in a lot of places, but it’s racing. I stayed on the inside, a small correction, but nothing more. I feel I gave everything I could have today and I’m happy with that.’
Payback for Max?
Verstappen was not a happy man from the start, at one point calling his car ‘undriveable’ as he lost ground to Russell off the line then fought to keep Norris at bay. The result was a measure of revenge for the Dutchman, who felt Norris had cost him a shot at pole position on Saturday evening. He then gambled on starting on Soft tyres when most drivers were on the Medium compound. ‘The track only just got dry and, starting on the dirty side of the grid, we opted to try something different,’ Verstappen explained. ‘It didn’t really work... The race was more difficult than I hoped for a whole lot of reasons.’ After his pit stop Verstappen was taking time out of Russell’s lead but a lock-up cost him dear. ‘Man, it’s so hard to drive!’ he told his team, adding ‘The rear is like a handbrake – please help.’ They couldn’t, and Max’s wait for a Singapore victory goes on.
Veterans still fighting
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, both in their forties, provided one of the talking-points of the race. Hamilton’s Ferrari finished seventh, but the four-time Singapore winner was hit with a five-second penalty for repeated track limits infringements. That cost him a place – to Alonso, whose Aston Martin at one point was over 40 seconds adrift of Hamilton but crossed the line just four-tenths of a second behind. Who says it’s a young man’s game?
The games people play…
… when they’re on team radio. On lap 16 McLaren started alerting Norris to the possibility of undercutting Verstappen; a lap later they told him to ‘box to overtake Max’, then at the last second told their driver to stay out. Red Bull didn’t buy the dummy, but Verstappen himself came in on lap 20 for new Hard tyres and got the message, ‘Out lap critical, let’s get on with it’. Three laps later he is told he can push. ‘I’ll try,’’ he says, ‘but everything is working against me in this race.’
McLaren then shot themselves in the foot. Asked if he would allow Piastri to pit first, Norris says ‘Yes’ – then ‘No’. So Norris pits first, Piastri pits a lap later – and there is a problem with the left rear wheel and the Australian’s stop takes 5.2 seconds. He rejoins fourth behind his teammate.
Not to be outdone, two-time Singapore winner Fernando Alonso reacts angrily to a team message after a slow stop: ‘If you speak to me every lap I will disconnect the radio,’ says the Spanish veteran. And when Isack Hadjar is told his engine problem is back, the Frenchman yells: ‘What the hell is wrong with this engine again??’ A few laps later Alonso overtakes Hadjar, comes on the radio and shouts, ‘Trophy for the hero of the race!’ The games people play…
Other points to note...
Oliver Bearman finished best of the Singapore rookies with a fighting ninth place for Haas... Carlos Sainz recovered from disqualification and a pit-lane start to bring his Williams into the points in 10th... there was not a single retirement from the race... the fastest lap went to Hamilton, a 1:33.808 on lap 48, an average of 189.079 km/h.
F1 Academy: does Maya have the Rocket in her Pocket?
Maya Weug’s never-say-die attitude ensured the 2025 F1 Academy will go down to the wire when she took a last-gasp win over Championship leader Doriane Pin in the second Singapore race for the 1.4-litre, 174-horsepower, all-female category. The Dutchwoman, backed by Ferrari, started from pole but saw her Mercedes-backed French rival grab the race lead off the line. Heavy rain and Nicole Havrda’s late crash gave Weug a chance: she gambled on staying on slick tyres, attacked at the restart and won by 0.409s. Pin, known as the Pocket Rocket, came second and set the fastest race lap of 2:03.950 in pursuit, an average speed of 130.282 km/h. McLaren driver Ella Lloyd of Great Britain completed the podium trio. The result means, appropriately, it will be all to play for in Las Vegas next month: Weug is just nine points adrift. Will she gamble again?’ Let’s go!’ she yelled, ‘the fight is on!’
PCCA: It’s Dylan times two, Pereira times four
Singapore is the place to be if you race a Porsche and your name is Dylan. Dylan O’Keeffe in the #888 TORO Racing entry was second in the second 12-lap PCCA race at Marina Bay, but the other Dylan – Pereira, that is – was a monstrous 8.864 seconds ahead of the 27-year-old Australian in his Team Shanghai Yonda BWT #5 car. So the 28-year-old 2025 champion duly claimed his second consecutive PCCA clean sweep in Singapore. Bayley Hall claimed his own second podium of the weekend in third for EBM. Another Aussie, Matt Belford, took the honours in the Pro-Am class, with Eric Kwong taking his second win in the Am category. It's a landmark moment: the final race appearance of the legendary six-cylinder, 510 hp 911 GT3 Cup car.