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Formula OneF1's 2025 Singapore Grand Prix marked the three-quarter point of the season and somehow also the start of the World Drivers' Championship battle. George Russell won a relatively straightforward race from a surprise pole position, and McLaren picked up the Constructors' title, but contact between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris made the headlines. The pair have had an uneventful championship fight verging on boring up until now, but frustration in Piastri's cockpit suggested that might now change.
Russell and Max Verstappen kept the two McLaren men off the front row after a thrilling Qualifying session with brushes of the wall. P2-starting Verstappen opted for Pirelli's Soft tyre compound for extra grip off the line in an attempt to steal the lead from the Medium-equipped Russell into Turn 1. The gamble might've worked, but low-grip conditions from earlier rainfall had those on the left side of the grid struggling to launch.
With Russell easing off into a lead he'd retain throughout, Verstappen had to check his mirrors to defend from Piastri's P3 start. The Australian championship leader kept close to the Red Bull on the outside of Turn 1, but was unable to advance. Slotting in behind Verstappen allowed Norris, who had jumped from P5 to P4 by starting better than Andrea Kimi Antonelli, to get alongside into Turn 2 and too close for comfort.
Norris' plucky positioning had his McLaren in a better position heading into the left-hand Turn 3. The late-braking move tapped the rear of Verstappen and bounced Norris into Piastri, who was on the outside and lucky not to hit the wall. The move broke Norris' front wing end plate, but reversed his poor Qualifying session to get ahead of his title rival and into the podium positions.
Inevitably, radio complaints soon followed. Piastri, who had recently played the team game after a slow pit stop in Monza, queried whether he would get the position back. Piastri argued that Norris had barged him out of the way, to which his engineer replied that Norris had to avoid Verstappen. "That's not fair, Piastri responded, continuing on to say, "If he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, then that's a pretty **** job at avoiding."
Whether Piastri was happy or not, the order stood with Russell streaking ahead of Verstappen's soft-tyre Red Bull, and Norris opening a gap to Piastri behind. Singapore's tough-to-pass reputation was on full display in 2025 as the race settled into a procession with few overtakes. Pit stop strategies and Pirelli compound choices mattered more, and the question became which frontrunning driver would be the first to switch as the race approached half distance.
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Max Verstappen was the answer, who needed to move off the shorter-lived Soft compound. He triggered a flurry of pit stop laps, with both Ferraris coming in, and race leader Russell, as Mercedes performed a flawless double-stack stop. Charles Leclerc's stop came to cover off the threat of Antonelli behind, but also pressured McLaren into reacting to prevent an undercut. With Norris as the lead McLaren, the team asked if he'd approve Piastri pitting first and benefitting from new Pirelli tyres. "No," was the reply, and the team stopped Norris before Piastri and ended up with another slow stop, this time for the Australian, who still remained ahead of Leclerc.
It wouldn't be any consolation for Piastri, but Fernando Alonso also shared the pit stop pain. A 9-second stop for the two-time champion left the Spaniard fuming. His annoyance bubbled onto the airwaves as his race engineer informed him of the current lap count. "If you talk to me every lap, I will disconnect the radio," was Alonso's response as his latest team radio highlight from a long career of hugely quotable snippets.
Back at the front, a mistake from Verstappen at Turn 14 had allowed Norris to get a little closer. The Briton had fallen back behind the Red Bull after stopping, but looked like the quicker car, but had nowhere to pass. Verstappen's rare lock-up error contributed to Norris reaching DRS as he pressured the reigning champion. Despite the proximity, only one defensive move from Verstappen was required to hold off Norris and take P2 by the flag. Piastri had closed in, eventually, to two seconds, but this was another points swing away from the championship leader.
Although he barely featured on the broadcast, the day was Russell's. The Mercedes driver drove a faultless race to clinch his fifth career victory and give his team a little breathing room in P2 of the Constructors' Championship. With no signed contract for 2026, Russell might've added a few digits to his salary with this latest win at a track he previously thought was one of his team's worst for this season.
It's now three races since McLaren last won in 2025. Despite their celebrations for the Constructors' title, there are lingering questions about Red Bull, and now Mercedes, closing the gap. Verstappen has beaten both Piastri and Norris at every race since Zandvoort, and the once-unthinkable possibility of the Dutchman challenging for the title is becoming a little less fantastical every race. F1 now heads to the Americas for four of the final six rounds, with the US Grand Prix coming on October 19th.
