A win for Russell, a Constructors’ title for McLaren

The victory went to George Russell, while McLaren retained the Constructors’ title. That’s the headline from the Singapore Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver converted yesterday’s pole position into a win that never really looked under threat. It was only during the run of pit stops that he momentarily gave up the lead which he took going into the first corner. This is the Englishman’s fifth career win, the second this year and he becomes the eighth driver to have his name inscribed on the winner’s trophy for this event. It was win number six in Singapore for Mercedes, its 131^st in total.

McLaren picked up 17 points today, courtesy of a third place for Lando Norris and a fourth for Oscar Piastri, thus retaining the Constructors’ title for a second year, its tenth championship win. Not since the four years from 1988 to 1991 has the Woking team managed to win two consecutive Constructors’ titles. McLaren is now on its own in second place in this particular list, behind Ferrari on 16.

Max Verstappen has yet to break his duck at the Singapore Grand Prix, this being the third time he has finished second, and his fourth time on the podium.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Medium and Soft were the compounds chosen for the start of the race. As predicted, most of the drivers (14) opted for the C4, while six (Verstappen, Tsunoda, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto and Hadjar) preferred the C5. Use of the Hard for the first stint was ruled out as the track was still a bit damp after rain fell in the late afternoon.

The Hard was the most popular choice for the second stint, but the Soft was still in use, as three drivers, Lawson, Albon and Sainz, drove their second stint on the C5. Three drivers, Hamilton, Gasly and Hulkenberg, pitted twice.

Overall, the C3 and C4 did a similar amount of work, the Medium completing 508 laps, the Hard doing four less. Compared to last year, the Soft did more than twice as many laps today, going from 8.67% of the total laps completed in 2024 to 17.66% this year.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First of all, congratulations to George Russell for the win and to McLaren for the Constructors’ title!

“As for the race, we had yet further confirmation that the current generation of cars has reached such a sophisticated level of development that overtaking is really complicated, especially on a track like Singapore, which by its very nature does not make this an easy task. On top of that, the teams and drivers have become ever more adept at tyre management, to the extent that we saw stints of 50 laps on the Medium and 38 on the Soft. To be honest, even if we had brought a theoretical C8 compound here it wouldn’t have made much difference to how the race unfolded!

“This evening, as we had expected, all three compounds were competitive. At the start, the Soft became an interesting choice, partly because of the rain that fell shortly before the cars went out onto the grid, after which it proved to be very quick, as demonstrated by Hamilton and Sainz as they fought their way back. All in all, the Medium offered the best balance between consistency and performance, but the Hard also delivered good performance.”

The Feature Race was very exciting with rain putting in an appearance in the closing stages. Following a Safety Car, some drivers chose to pit for rain tyres while the leaders opted to stay out on slicks. That led to a very exciting final lap, featuring a duel between the two Drivers’ title contenders, Doriane Pin and Maya Weug. The Scuderia Ferrari driver came out on top, with a great overtaking move right at the very end to lead home her Mercedes-Prema opponent by less than half a second. Making it to the third step of the podium was Ella Lloyd (McLaren-Rodin).

With just one round remaining, only nine points separate Pin (151 points) from Weug (142) and Lloyd (101) now up to third, having moved ahead of Chloe Chambers (99).