George Russell won the Singapore Grand Prix after a commanding drive, as McLaren claimed the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship for the second season running.
The Brit led from the start and nullified any potential threat from Max Verstappen to take his fifth Grand Prix win, strengthening his case for a Mercedes contract extension.
Lando Norris took third to confirm McLaren’s Teams’ title victory, after barging past team-mate Oscar Piastri at the start, a move that set an irritated tone for the title-leader for the whole race, taking fourth.
Second place did little for Verstappen’s outside title bet with the McLarens just behind him, as Norris was able to take a further small chunk out of Piastri’s lead.
At the start, Russell got away superbly, leaving Verstappen to fend off Piastri. In the midst of that, Norris got ahead of Antonelli and muscled past his team-mate at Turn 3 to take third.
The second Mercedes also dropped behind Leclerc, as Piastri ended his first lap going off at Turn 16, but recovering and getting back onto the track.
Irked, Piastri told his team Norris’ manoeuvre was “not very team-like,” as Norris communicated that there was damage to his front wing. Replays would show that it was caused by nudging Verstappen, rather than the slight touch with Piastri.
Piastri once again vented, asking if the team would do something about Norris “barging” him, as Russell opened up a lead of two seconds from Verstappen.
The stewards took a keen look at the McLaren incident too, but no further decisions were made, as the Australian was told to “control the controllables”.
Russell was setting fastest lap after fastest lap, and by Lap 7, the gap was now 3.4s to Verstappen, with Norris a further 1.8s behind.
With Verstappen struggling with a typical downshift problem with his car, Russell was able to make the gap six seconds by Lap 13,
And it was nearly nine by Lap 18, all the while with Russell on Medums, with Verstappen having begun on Softs.
Verstappen pitted on Lap 20 for hards, dropping him down to seventh, with Leclerc to next of the big guns to box, taking on Hards and dropping down to 10th behind Nico Hulkenberg, but quickly dispatched the Sauber for ninth place.
Norris, now second as a consequence of Verstappen’s stop, was mitigating the increasing gap to Russell, nine seconds as the Mercedes driver noted his Mediums were starting to drop off.
Russell had Hards bolted onto his Mercedes on Lap 26 and dropped to third behind Verstappen.
Piastri pit stop blunder compounds misery as Alonso begins recovery drive
Norris was then asked by the team if he would be willing to let Piastri pit for tyres first. He seemed to respond “yes” and then quickly “no,” and duly boxed at the end of Lap 26, coming out fourth, releasing Piastri into the lead, but effectively handing the lead back to Russell.
Piastri boxed, and for the third race running, another tyre would stick and halt a McLaren driver’s progress. The left rear would not come off, but eventually did, causing Piastri’s stop time to be a whopping five seconds.
He would still rejoin ahead of Leclerc, who was coming into the clutches of Antonelli, whose Hards were working well.
Lap 30, and Russell was now four seconds ahead of Verstappen, with Norris a further four seconds back in third with Piastri nine seconds adrift of his team-mate, no doubt exacerbating his mood.
Verstappen had taken a second out of Russell in four laps, as the race was now past half-distance, but a lock-up from Verstappen on Lap 36 gave Russell some breathing space, taking it back to 4.8s.
Norris was now 1.6s behind Verstappen, knowing that the lingering threat of the Dutchman in the title could be nullified, as well as that of Piastri’s, who lurked ominiously behind in fourth.
Verstappen was getting increasingly insensed by the RB21, complaining it was difficult to drive and that the rear brake was “like a handbrake,” and begged for help.
With Norris being accused of creating dirty air for Verstappen in qualifying, the roles were now reversed as he was stuck in Verstappen’s, needing to overhaul it to get himself into DRS range.
Further back, Fernando Alonso was producing an entertaining drive, albeit a damage limitation one having had a problematic pit stop earlier in the race. After threatening to disconnect his radio if he were to receive instructions every lap, the Spaniard got his skates on and took Isack Hadjar and then Alex Albon, working his way up to 11th.
Russell and Verstappen hold on as Hamilton suffers late drama
Verstappen complained he was “struggling a lot” on Lap 46, as Norris finally got himself into DRS range, as Alonso then worked his way into the points, overtaking Oliver Bearman for 10th.
The dirty air Norris was caught in gave Piastri a chance to close, now just 3.5s behind his team-mate as the trio, as well as Russell, started to find traffic all over the circuit.
Norris was still holding on to Verstappen as an unenthusiastic Piastri was being willed along by his team, as Russell was now 5.4s ahead in the lead.
The #4 McLaren got side by side with Verstappen on Lap 54, as Piastri was now just 3.1s behind his team-mate.
Further behind this battling trio, Antonelli got by Leclerc for fifth, as the sister Ferrari of Hamilton had been bearing down on him. The Brit, on fresher tyres, set the fastest lap of the race so far and was on for a fifth place finish if allowed through to complete the battle.
Leclerc did indeed let him through with six laps to go, as Norris drifted in and out of Verstappen’s DRS range, with Russell now stretching his lead to 6.2s.
Hamilton took massive chunks out of Antonelli, now just eight tenths behind on Lap 59, with Leclerc dropping to six seconds behind. But Hamilton went off at Turn 16, leaving him now two seconds behind, effectively ending his challenge.
With three laps now left, Russell was able to afford loosen the advantage, as Hamilton, saying his “brakes are gone”, swapped back with Leclerc, forced to nurse this ailing brakes until the end, with replays showing his front-left sparked as he broke and miss the apex at Turn 16.
Despite Verstappen’s problems and McLaren’s anti-climactic lack of significance in its challenge, Russell could not be faulted for a flawless race, and took the chequered flag to take his second win of 2025.
Verstappen held on to second, with Norris third and Piastri fourth. Antonelli took a mature fifth, with Leclerc sixth. Norris’ top-three finish confirmed McLaren’s retention of the Constructors’ Championship.
Further back, Hamilton, with barely any brakes left, just held on to seventh as Alonso took seven seconds out of him on the final lap.
Bearman took ninth, with Carlos Sainz, having started in the pit lane along with team-mate Albon, took the final point in 10th with a fine drive after a long 50-lap stint on one set of tyres.
For Russell, it was further evidence that Mercedes would be intelligent to seal his long-negotiated new contract quickly.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Singapore Grand Prix – Race Results
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