The 2025 Singapore Grand Prix at the iconic Marina Bay Street Circuit delivered everything Formula 1 fans could hope for: drama, dominance, controversy, and a shake-up in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships. As the city’s lights shimmered over the twisting street circuit on October 5, the world’s best drivers battled not just each other, but the infamous Singapore heat and the ever-present threat of the concrete walls. The result? A weekend that will be talked about for seasons to come.
Mercedes’ George Russell emerged as the star of the night, clinching pole position on Saturday and converting it into a commanding race victory on Sunday. Russell’s margin over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen—five seconds at the flag—didn’t just underscore his pace, but also signaled a new level of confidence and maturity in the British driver’s approach to championship contention. Reflecting on his breakthrough, Russell said, “I'm a very different driver today to the one I was a couple of years ago, and I feel more complete, more confident. Of course, I was nervous before the race, as you'd expect, but I didn't feel any additional nerves or any additional pressure. It just felt like another race, and I knew I had a chance to win, and I felt comfortable with that. So I've said it for a while - I feel ready to fight for a championship. I feel ready to take it to my next step.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was quick to heap praise on his driver, highlighting Russell’s growth from previous years. “He was in control of the race today, eking out an advantage, managing it when Max was a bit closer, and there was not at any moment a doubt that there was any risk in his driving. He’s been formidable this year… you can see when it merges, the car being in a perfect space, and the driver being on top of things, that becomes the dominant formula, and that is what we've seen here.”
Russell’s win wasn’t the only bright spot for Mercedes. Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli continued his impressive form, crossing the line in fifth and notching up his third consecutive points finish—the first time he’s managed such a streak this season. For a team that’s had its share of ups and downs in 2025, the Singapore weekend felt like a statement of intent as the campaign enters its final stretch.
However, the Silver Arrows weren’t the only ones making headlines. McLaren, a team steeped in history and success, secured their tenth Constructors’ title, thanks to solid drives from Lando Norris (third) and Oscar Piastri (fourth). The achievement, their first successful defense of the championship since the legendary 1990-91 run, should have been a cause for unbridled celebration. Yet, the focus quickly shifted to intra-team friction and the so-called ‘Papaya Rules’—McLaren’s philosophy of hard but fair racing between teammates.
The flashpoint came on Lap 1, when Norris, starting from fifth, made a bold move down the inside of Turn 3, brushing past both Antonelli and his own teammate Piastri. The maneuver, which also saw Norris make slight contact with Verstappen’s Red Bull, prompted an immediate reaction from Piastri over the radio: “That wasn’t very teamlike, but sure.” Team engineer Tom Stallard replied, “No further action from the stewards. As a team, we can see Lando had to avoid Verstappen, so we won't take any action during the race. We can review further afterwards.” Piastri’s frustration was palpable: “That's not fair. I'm sorry, that's not fair. If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his team-mate, then that's a pretty * job of avoiding.”
Despite the tense radio exchanges, both drivers held position until the flag, with Norris unable to pass Verstappen for second and Piastri’s podium bid hindered by a slow pit stop. Norris, defending his aggressive move post-race, said, “I mean it was slippery, it was still wet in a lot of places. It’s racing. I put it on the inside, I had a small correction, but nothing more than that. It was good racing.” With Norris now just 22 points behind Piastri in the Drivers’ standings and six full races plus three sprints to go, the inter-team rivalry promises to be a central storyline as the season heads toward its climax.
For Red Bull and Verstappen, Singapore was a crucial test. After back-to-back wins at Monza and Baku, the Dutchman’s adaptability was on display as he finished second at a circuit not traditionally suited to his car. A gamble to start on Soft tyres didn’t pay off, forcing Verstappen into a defensive drive against Norris. “It was a bit more difficult than I would have hoped for, to be honest,” Verstappen admitted. “The car was also not where I wanted it to be, unfortunately. A few things of course to learn from that, I think, from some decisions that we made throughout the weekend in terms of the set-up.” Team Principal Laurent Mekies was optimistic, noting, “Being able to fight for the win here, it means a lot… This is good news. It means that what we have unlocked is not only low-downforce specific.” Verstappen’s runner-up finish narrows his gap to Piastri in the standings and keeps his title hopes alive.
Not every team left Singapore in high spirits. Ferrari, tipped to excel on the high-downforce street circuit, endured a “mega frustrating” weekend. Brake overheating issues plagued both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from as early as Lap 2, with Hamilton’s woes culminating in a five-second penalty for corner-cutting. Team boss Fred Vasseur summed up the disappointment: “We didn’t extract the best from the car, I think honestly. We are doing 29.7s Q1 yesterday and 29.7s Q3. We are struggling like hell all race [just] to be on the back foot.” Leclerc, still searching for a podium after five races, was candid: “We are struggling massively with the car. It's not easy. I wish I could say that I'm positive for the rest of the season, I don't think there's anything in the car that proves to me that we are going to do a step forward.” Ferrari now finds itself 27 points behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ and only eight ahead of Red Bull.
Elsewhere, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso made headlines both for his on-track heroics—charging from tenth to seventh and winning Driver of the Day—and his unfiltered radio outbursts. After a contentious battle with Hamilton, Alonso fumed, “I cannot f believe it. I mean, I cannot f believe it. I cannot f*** believe it. Is it safe to drive with no brakes? For me, you cannot drive when the car is unsafe. Sometimes they try to disqualify me with no mirror, and now you have no brakes and everything is fine? I doubt it.” Once the dust settled and Hamilton’s penalty was applied, Alonso reflected, “It was a very good race for us. The car was fast, the car felt fast in the first stint, we opened a nice gap with the soft tyre, lasted longer than we expected so that was very good news. And then a slow pit stop, but the car was still very fast in the second stint and we finished in the same position. Everyone fitted the Hard in the second stint, I fitted the medium, so that was a good call from the team and I had this tyre advantage that gave the opportunity to overtake.”
For Kick Sauber, the Singapore GP was one to forget. Both Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto made contact with rivals and finished outside the points, with Hulkenberg last of the classified runners. Bortoleto summed up the team’s woes: “What happened in Turn 1 was unfortunate, three-wide into one, sometimes I think these things happen… From there on I think our race was a bit gone and then we pitted for changing the front wing and tyres and we ended up staying very long in the race and degradation was quite high for us, so no tyres at the end.” Hulkenberg echoed the frustration, stating, “Not our day, not our race, [it's] fair to say. If you don't have track position it's very difficult with our car and I think generally on the street circuit where you saw overtaking, how almost impossible it is today unless you have a huge tyre delta and by pitting late we lost more positions and have to review that a little bit the strategy.”
With the Singapore spectacle now in the rearview mirror, the F1 circus heads to Austin for the United States Grand Prix, where the championship battles promise to intensify. If Singapore was any indication, fans are in for a wild ride to the season’s finish line.
