While the 2025 Formula 1 season continued to produce a relieving amount of parity among the top teams when Mercedes’ George Russell took a dominant win in Sunday’s (Oct. 5) Singapore Grand Prix, the attention was largely focused on the third- and fourth-place finishing McLaren teammates of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Singapore is a notoriously hot race and, clearly, tensions are hot between the two papaya drivers.
The duo’s performance earned McLaren sufficient points to take its second consecutive World Constructors’ Championship and Norris’ three points earned over Piastri leave him just 22 points behind his younger teammate in the World Drivers’ Championship with six races remaining in the season.
Russell called the race “amazing,” especially in comparison to how Singapore played out for him in 2023, when the Briton crashed out from a podium fight on the final lap. Russell remains fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, with massive shifts in performance needed for him to either catch third-placed Max Verstappen or be caught by fourth-placed Charles Leclerc.
The Race
Russell led every lap of the race en route to a dominant win. Verstappen finished second, followed by Norris and Piastri. Kimi Antonelli, Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz wrapped up the points-paying positions.
Russell’s lead was nearly entirely undone late in the race when the white-sidewalled hard tires proved wholly uncooperative compared to the softer compounds. However, Norris and Verstappen spent multiple laps squabbling over second place, leaving Russell unchallenged for the win.
All in all, the racing throughout the field was solid, and the race went without a Safety Car for the second year in a row. That’s refreshing, given that the first 14 (yes, 14) Singapore Grands Prix on the Marina Bay Circuit featured at least one Safety Car deployment.
The Good
Singapore has consistently, at least in recent years, proven itself to be an exception to the idea that street circuits are doomed to produce processional racing with inadequate opportunities for overtaking. Sainz, Bearman, Alonso, Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg were all involved in compelling battles at some point or another, which left plenty of action for fans at the track and at home to lose themselves in.
Antonelli put together his second top-five finish in two races, a career first for the young Italian. The rookie has naturally been somewhat outshone by his older and more experienced teammate, Russell, but F1 is a vicious sport and every performance, good or bad, counts toward a driver’s future. So, even this fun-fact-style achievement is more than nothing for Antonelli.
Splitting my opinion, however, is the drama continuing to build between Norris and Piastri as the championship battle between them heats up.
The McLaren drivers have expressed plenty of frustration with one another throughout their tenure as teammates, and this weekend Piastri’s feelings in particular betrayed a sense of disgust with his team. That’s good for the sport. Drama is good for sports. Point blank. Period.
However, this is more worrying than relieving in my mind, though to say it’s only one or the other would be missing the point.
The Bad
Piastri criticized Norris’ driving at the start after the Briton nearly ran him into the wall while allegedly trying to avoid Verstappen’s Red Bull (I don’t believe the onboard footage supports this).
What cannot be denied either way is that McLaren is letting their drivers race, for better or for worse. This is a stark departure from the days when Red Bull was demanding Sergio Perez sacrifice his own strategy to maximize Verstappen’s points during the sixth race of the season.
However, Verstappen is still very much alive in this title fight, at least mathematically, and McLaren cannot afford to let its drivers fight uninhibited if this is the kind of internal resentment they can expect to come as a result.
All things being said, I worry that McLaren is setting itself up with an unsustainable intrateam rivalry, which it may not be able to reel in if and when a more high-stakes, multiteam title fight comes along.
There was also a moment of virality where Piastri appeared to disconnect his in-car radio while CEO Zak Brown was congratulating him on his contributions to the team’s constructors’ title. McLaren has since countered this interpretation by saying the car was already turned off and Brown was, in fact, speaking into the void.
It made for good TV either way, I suppose?
One more thing: what a rough night for Yuki Tsunoda.
I don’t say that in the sense that Tsunoda’s race was uniquely disastrous or his performance particularly underwhelming. Rather, he finished 12th and now has 11 finishes outside of the points from his 16 starts with Red Bull. I should be careful, as I have spent no shortage of time saying Tsunoda was overdue for a shot in that car, but Lord in the Heavens has that car gotten the better of him so far.
The Quotable
When it comes to phrases that work their way into your daily vocabulary against your will, Alonso is the gift that keeps on giving.
Dealing with a feisty Hadjar, Alonso was none too pleased that the French driver vehemently defended his position despite his Racing Bulls car being notably down on power. He referred to Hadjar, mor than once, as the “hero of the race.” Ostensibly, Alonso was peeved that both cars lost time fighting for position while one was down on pace.
Personally, this will be incorporated into my daily aphorisms alongside “GP2 engine!” and “all the time, you have to leave the space.”
From Hadjar’s point of view, Alonso’s sentiment was a grumpy overreaction.
The Driver
Oliver Bearman, believe it or not.
Since his string of three consecutive points finishes early in the season, the 20-year-old had only one finish in the points, a sixth at Hungary. His ninth-place result was a much-needed boost as he is tied with Gabriel Bortoleto with 18 points apiece on the season. They sit two points behind Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, who both hold 20 points.
It goes on and on up the order, but for perspective, Bearman and Bortoleto are both only 21 points behind ninth-placed Hadjar in the drivers’ standings. A standout day or two for any of these drivers could have massive championship implications.
Finally, Bearman drove to his ninth-place result in a style we haven’t seen out of the Haas camp in recent years.
The Results (Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay Circuit)
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | LAPS | TIME / RETIRED | PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 62 | 1:40:22.367 | 25 |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 62 | +5.430s | 18 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 62 | +6.066s | 15 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 62 | +8.146s | 12 |
| 5 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 62 | +33.681s | 10 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 62 | +45.996s | 8 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 62 | +80.667s | 6 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 62 | +85.251s | 4 |
| 9 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 62 | +93.527s | 2 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 61 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 61 | +1 lap | 0 |
| Note – Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. | ||||||
Alex is the IndyCar Content Director at Frontstretch, having initially joined as an entry-level contributor in 2021. He also serves as Managing Director of The Asia Cable, a publication focused on the international affairs and politics of the Asia-Pacific region which he co-founded in 2023. With previous experience in China, Japan and Poland, Alex is particularly passionate about the international realm of motorsport and the politics that make the wheels turn - literally - behind the scenes.