2025 F1 Round 18, Singapore Grand Prix race: Russell wins from pole as McLaren retain constructors’ title

The Singapore Grand Prix, round 18 of the 2025 F1 season, took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on the evening of October 5, China Standard Time (UTC+8). Norris finished third and Piastri fourth, securing McLaren a second consecutive constructors’ championship following last season’s success.

The 62-lap race was a one-man show for Russell (Mercedes): he led from pole to win by 5.430 seconds over Verstappen (Red Bull), claiming his second victory of the season and the fifth of his career. Losing four places at the start had lasting consequences for Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), who ultimately finished twelfth.

Persistent showers around an hour before the start completely reset the track surface, but not a single car opted for wet-weather tyres. For the second consecutive year, the race ran without a safety car, although contact between the top three in the drivers’ standings on lap 1 created early tension.

Starting fifth, Norris immediately went on the attack. He forced his way into the fight for second on the run to Turn 3, lightly clipping the rear of Verstappen’s car on entry and damaging his left-front wing endplate. He then made wheel-to-wheel contact with team-mate Piastri. An unhappy Piastri protested over the radio: “So it’s fine for Lando to push me out of the way? What’s going on?” A slow left-rear tyre change at his pit stop cost him more than three additional seconds, and he eventually finished fourth, two seconds behind Norris.

This was the first time McLaren had successfully defended the constructors’ title since their run of four consecutive championships from 1988 to 1991, when Senna drove for the team. Their total now stands at 10 constructors’ titles, surpassing Williams’ nine and putting them second on the all-time list behind only Ferrari. The contact between their team-mates, however, cast a shadow over the celebrations.

Pole-sitter Russell had built a five-second lead over Verstappen by lap 10 and maintained a consistent pace thereafter, duly securing his second victory of the season after the Canadian Grand Prix. Team-mate Antonelli was unable to regain the position he lost to Norris on lap 1 and finished fifth, giving Mercedes two cars in the top five to round off the weekend.

Verstappen, who started on soft tyres, was the first of the top ten to switch to hards, stopping on lap 19. He struggled with downshift problems throughout the race and had a scare at Turn 14 on lap 37, when a major lock-up almost sent him into the wall. Nevertheless, he held firm to retain second behind Russell.

For Ferrari, Leclerc finished sixth, while Hamilton initially crossed the line seventh but was demoted to eighth after receiving a five-second penalty following a post-race investigation. While battling Antonelli for fifth with three laps remaining, he overshot the braking zone at Turn 16. Brake trouble caused his pace to drop sharply, and he gave the position back to Leclerc. Hampered by the problem, he breached track limits four times on the final lap and was summoned by the stewards after the race, resulting in the penalty.

Despite starting on soft tyres, Tsunoda was passed by Colapinto (Alpine) at the start and dropped to fourteenth, then slipped further to seventeenth before the end of lap 2 in what he called the “worst start of my life”. Hoping to recover in clean air, he pitted earlier than anyone else on lap 13 and rejoined in a favourable gap with 18.5 seconds of clear track ahead. To guard against the undercut, however, Colapinto followed him into the pits on the next lap and rejoined seven seconds ahead of Tsunoda. Ten laps later, Tsunoda had closed within striking distance. On lap 43, he pressured his rival into a mistake and made the pass. With other cars also making their pit stops, he was back up to his starting position of thirteenth by lap 44 and had moved into DRS range of Hadjar (Racing Bulls), who was losing around 0.3 seconds per lap with an engine problem. However, the leading group, including team-mate Verstappen, caught him, and he lost considerable time letting them through. With five laps remaining, Sainz (Williams), on fresh soft tyres, also passed him, leaving Tsunoda to finish twelfth.

Sainz, who started eighteenth after being disqualified from qualifying for a DRS infringement, recovered through a calmly managed race. He extended his opening stint on medium tyres longer than anyone else, switched to softs on lap 52 and passed Hadjar with three laps remaining to take the chequered flag in tenth, completing a comeback into the points.

Alonso (Aston Martin) beat Bearman (Haas) to seventh as the best of the midfield runners. Like Norris, he lost more than six additional seconds to a slow right-front tyre change and at one point snapped: “If you’re going to talk to me every lap, I’ll turn off the radio.” Whether his shout over the radio while passing Hadjar in the middle of the race was praise for his own overtaking move or sarcasm aimed at Hadjar’s aggressive defence remained unclear. After crossing the line eighth, just 0.4 seconds behind Hamilton, he strongly criticised Hamilton for continuing to race with a damaged car. Hamilton’s penalty subsequently promoted Alonso to seventh.

Hülkenberg (Sauber) spun under braking on lap 45 but came to a stop in the run-off area, avoiding the wall and a safety car intervention. Team-mate Bortoleto suffered front-wing damage in a first-lap collision and finished seventeenth.