If you ever needed proof that Formula 1 is a sport where the past is never truly past, look no further than the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix. Under the artificial glare of Marina Bay’s floodlights, history, controversy, and raw human emotion collided in a race that will be dissected for years to come. The night produced a new winner, a familiar heartbreak, and a reminder that in F1, the only thing more dangerous than your rivals is your own teammate.
- The Lion in the Night: George Russell’s Statement Win
- Table: 2025 Singapore Grand Prix – Final Standings
- Papaya Rules and Papaya Bruises: McLaren’s Civil War
- Verstappen: The Relentless Shadow
- The Losers: Piastri, Ferrari, and the Ghosts of Singapore
- Oscar Piastri: The Pressure Cooker
- Ferrari: The Eternal Soap Opera
- The Midfield: Alonso’s Fury, Bearman’s Breakthrough
- The Night the Safety Car Slept
- The Historical Echoes: When Teammates Collide
- Waste a Bit More Time
The Lion in the Night: George Russell’s Statement Win
George Russell’s victory in Singapore was as clinical as it was cathartic. Mercedes, a team that has spent much of the hybrid era either dominating or desperately searching for the plot, found itself back on the top step thanks to a driver who has quietly become one of the grid’s most complete competitors.
Russell’s pole lap was a thing of beauty—two, in fact, as he delivered not one but two laps good enough for the front. From there, he controlled the race with a maturity that belied his years, never once looking flustered even as Verstappen’s Red Bull loomed in his mirrors and the McLarens threatened chaos behind.
There’s a very strong case that this is the best season of Russell’s F1 career. But it’s been easy to lose sight of that in recent months as the intra-team McLaren fight has developed, as Max Verstappen has become more of a looming threat in the title battle, and as the Mercedes challenge has faded. Even Russell’s assured run to second in Baku a fortnight ago went a bit under the radar. But there was nothing under the radar about this. Two stunning qualifying laps, and an utterly dominant drive to a second win of the season. Emphatic.
Jack Cozens, The Race
For Mercedes, this was their fifth win at Singapore, joining previous triumphs by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. But unlike the Hamilton years, this was not a victory born of overwhelming machinery. It was a triumph of execution, of a driver and team seizing a rare opportunity in a season where such chances have been few and far between.
Table: 2025 Singapore Grand Prix – Final Standings
| Position | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | Winner |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +5.430s |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +6.066s |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +8.146s |
| 5 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +33.681s |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +45.996s |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +80.667s |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +85.251s |
| 9 | Ollie Bearman | Haas | +93.527s |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +1 lap |
Full results and analysis at The Race
Papaya Rules and Papaya Bruises: McLaren’s Civil War
If Russell’s win was the story of the night, the drama at McLaren was the story of the season. The team clinched its second consecutive Constructors’ Championship—a feat not achieved since their glory days in the late 1990s—but the celebrations were muted by the sight of their two drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, nearly coming to blows on track.
On the opening lap, Norris—never one to let an opportunity pass—lunged past both Verstappen and Piastri, making contact with his teammate in a move that was equal parts audacious and reckless. Piastri, usually the embodiment of composure, was left fuming on the radio:
That wasn’t very team like. Are we cool with Lando barging me out of the way?
Oscar Piastri, team radio
The stewards saw no need to intervene, and McLaren’s management, perhaps wary of reigniting memories of Senna-Prost or Hamilton-Alonso, chose to let their drivers race. But the damage—psychological, if not physical—was done. Norris finished third, Piastri fourth, and the gap in the Drivers’ Championship shrank to just 22 points with six races to go.
The irony is delicious: McLaren, a team that once tore itself apart with intra-team warfare, now finds itself once again at the mercy of its own success. The so-called Papaya Rules—a commitment to letting both drivers fight freely—are being tested to their limits. As one commentator put it, There comes a time when attempts to avoid undue interference may seem like the team is choosing sides, and that seems to be the case in Singapore.
For a full breakdown of the intra-team drama, see the excellent analysis at PlanetF1.
Verstappen: The Relentless Shadow
Max Verstappen’s second place was, in many ways, a microcosm of his season: relentless, resourceful, and just a little bit haunted by what might have been. The Dutchman struggled with tyres, understeer, and a car that seemed determined to sabotage his every effort. Yet he still managed to fend off Norris and keep his championship hopes—however slim—alive.
Verstappen may have not taken a third consecutive win after his triumphs in Monza and Baku, but his second place in Singapore feels like the more significant performance for the team as a whole. An easy race this was not. Verstappen struggled with the tyres, understeer, dodgy downshifts and was put under significant pressure by Norris, almost planting his Red Bull into the wall at one point.
Motorsport.com
Red Bull’s resurgence under Laurent Mekies has been one of the quieter stories of 2025, but Singapore was proof that the team is no longer the wounded giant of early spring. Verstappen’s drive was a reminder that, in F1, the great ones never go quietly.
The Losers: Piastri, Ferrari, and the Ghosts of Singapore
Oscar Piastri: The Pressure Cooker
For Oscar Piastri, Singapore was a study in frustration. After a nightmare in Baku, he needed a strong result to steady the ship. Instead, he found himself on the receiving end of Norris’s aggression and a slow pit stop that consigned him to fourth. The Australian’s cool exterior is beginning to crack, and with Norris now outscoring him for three consecutive weekends, the title momentum is shifting.
As Crash.net put it, We are starting to see chinks in Piastri’s armour and it seems that the usually oh-so-cool Australian is feeling the pressure as the title race hots up. Things aren’t going his way at the moment and he is losing momentum at a crucial time.
Ferrari: The Eternal Soap Opera
If you’re a Ferrari fan, you might want to look away now. The Scuderia’s weekend was a familiar tale of promise unfulfilled. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (yes, that still feels odd to write) both showed flashes of pace, but operational errors and a lack of grip left them sixth and eighth, respectively. Hamilton’s late-race penalty for track limits was the final indignity.
In the race, Ferrari had no pace, finishing behind both McLarens, both Mercedes and Verstappen. Leclerc was overtaken by Kimi Antonelli on his way to a low-key P6 while an impressive final stint for Hamilton on soft tyres ended with brake issues and a penalty for track limits infringements that dropped him from seventh to eighth. Another weekend to forget for Ferrari.
Crash.net
It’s now looking increasingly likely that Ferrari will finish the season winless—a fate that would have been unthinkable in the days of Schumacher or even Vettel.
The Midfield: Alonso’s Fury, Bearman’s Breakthrough
Fernando Alonso, the ageless wonder, once again wrung every last drop from his Aston Martin. A slow pit stop and a radio rant (I cannot f***ing believe it!) were mere speed bumps on his way to seventh, later promoted to sixth after Hamilton’s penalty. Alonso’s claim that he’s driving “better than ever” is starting to sound less like bravado and more like fact.
Ollie Bearman, meanwhile, scored his first points since Zandvoort, surviving first-lap chaos and a brush with Isack Hadjar to finish ninth for Haas. For a rookie, it was a drive of real maturity—a small ray of hope for a team that has spent much of the season in the wilderness.
The Night the Safety Car Slept
Perhaps the most remarkable statistic of the night: for the first time in its history, the Singapore Grand Prix ran without a safety car. Since 2008, every race at Marina Bay had featured at least one safety car period, usually triggered by the circuit’s unforgiving walls and the drivers’ overzealousness. That the 2025 edition ran green from lights to flag is a testament to the skill (and perhaps the caution) of the modern grid.
For a bit of historical context, the most infamous first-lap incident at Singapore remains the 2017 pile-up involving Vettel, Verstappen, and Räikkönen—a crash that wiped out three potential winners before the first corner. This year’s opening lap was no less dramatic, but mercifully less destructive.
The Historical Echoes: When Teammates Collide
Singapore has always been a magnet for controversy and intra-team strife. Who could forget the 2008 “Crashgate” scandal, when Renault ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash and hand victory to Fernando Alonso? Or the 2010 Ferrari team orders saga, when Massa was told to move aside for Alonso? The ghosts of those nights hovered over McLaren’s pit wall as Norris and Piastri danced their dangerous duet.
As I’ve said before, Back in my day, we had gear sticks, not marketing departments. But some things never change: in F1, your greatest rival is often the man in the next garage.
Waste a Bit More Time
- Winners and losers from F1’s 2025 Singapore Grand Prix – The Race
- Winners and losers from F1’s fiery 2025 Singapore Grand Prix – Motorsport.com
- Winners and losers from the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix (Marina Bay) – PlanetF1
- Oscar Piastri losing his cool – and F1 title momentum – Crash.net
- F1 Singapore Grand Prix 2025 race results – The Race
- Singapore GP: Russell dominates as McLaren title rivalry explodes – PlanetF1
- 2025 F1 Singapore GP – Race Results: George Russell wins ahead Max Verstappen – Crash.net
