SINGAPORE GP – George Russell wins five seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, as McLaren seals the constructors but not without friction
George Russell has taken his second win of the season, winning the Singapore Grand Prix by almost five and a half seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. The Mercedes driver looked to have control of the race as he covered off the Red Bull at the start, and then started to pull away from the Red Bull. After a tough start to the weekend, Russell turned it around from Q3 onward to take victory.
Russell’s early lead allowed him to cover off any attempt by Verstappen to attempt an undercut on the Mercedes, that was key as, following his stop he came out ahead of the Red Bull to resume control of the race.
Lando Norris finished third eight seconds ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, allowing the team to secure back-to-back constructors’ championships for the first time since 1998. Norris, however, found it difficult to find a way past Verstappen and spent much of the race fighting his teammate Oscar Piastri who he finished eight seconds ahead.
But, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the constructors’ champions, as there appeared to be some friction between the team over strategy after Piastri dropped behind Norris by five seconds because of a slow pit stop. This followed a minor collision at the start between the two McLarens, after Norris banged wheels with Verstappen, which appeared to be nothing more than a racing incident.
The Australian was furious with the move, stating “that’s not fair” on the radio and hinting that Norris had broken McLaren’s racing rules of engagement. Norris overtook Kimi Antonelli at the start then nudged his teammate into Verstappen as he overtook at Turn Three, but the stewards decided no further action was needed.
Though it did, in theory, break the ‘papaya rules’, which say the drivers are free to race but must not make contact with each other. It was deemed by the team as not breaking them and they would take “no action in the race” because “Lando had to avoid Verstappen” and that they would “review it afterwards”.
Piastri replied that the decision was “not fair” and used an expletive in relation to Norris avoiding Verstappen “by crashing into his team-mate”. But his fate was sealed on lap twenty-seven, a slow stop with his tyres not tightening dropped him just over nine seconds behind Norris, which was after the Englishman made his stop.
That allowed Norris to close the gap to twenty-two points with six weekends to go, as McLaren equalled the record, wrapping up the constructors as the earliest point in the season.
Piastri says after Budapest and Monza, where he was ordered to give the place back to Norris he thought they had agreed that slow pit stops were to be considered part of racing, and therefore not something that should be corrected. However, the Monza incident was created by the combination of an unusual team decision to pit Piastri, the second of the two drivers, which first led to Norris losing second place.
He told Sky Sports, “Obviously it was a difficult race and first lap but I’ve not seen the replay… so I will go and have a look. It is a great night for the whole team, but just not the race I was looking for. Tonight is a combination of a lot of hard work, not just this year but lots of years, so it’s a really proud moment for me to be a part of that.”
On if McLaren raced clean: “Yes, I think we do, I don’t think there was any intention of contact, but there was, and I need to look at the replay and look at exactly what happened.”
Norris said of the incident, “It was slippery and also wet in a lot of places but it’s racing and I put it on the inside. I had a small correction, but nothing more than that. It was good racing and I wish I could have driven a little bit more, I wish that there were a few more overtaking opportunities today, but I feel like I did everything I could and I’m happy with that.”
There will be questions about how the team manage the fallout from the collision and whether now, with the constructors wrapped up how free Norris and Piastri are to race as they decide the driver’s championship. Norris cutting Piastri’s lead to twenty-two points with six Grands Prix and three sprints to go, with Verstappen sixty-three further behind.
Russell, who wins the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position: “It feels amazing, especially after what happened a couple of years ago, that was a bit of a missed opportunity but we more than made up for it today. I’m so grateful for the team; they did an amazing job this whole weekend. We don’t really know where this performance came from but I’m really happy.”
Verstappen said, “I think the problem we had in general today was that nothing went smoothly. I had a lot of issues with the shifts, the downshifting and upshifting, it was difficult to go into corners, and the balance of the car wasn’t as I expected it to be, and there I had to manage, and basically it was very difficult to be consistent.”
Antonelli brought his Mercedes home fifth, he finished thirty-eight seconds behind race winner and teammate Russell. The Italian twelve seconds ahead of the Ferrari duo, with Charles Leclerc thirty-four seconds ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Antonelli recovering the places he had lost at the start.
Hamilton nursing his Ferrari home after a brake issue to finish four tenths ahead of his former teammate Fernando Alonso, who was struggling with a lack of stopping power as he tried to recover from a slow stop to finish eighth. But the seven-time champion is under investigation for a breach of track limits, after just holding off Alonso as they exited the final corner.
Alonso had passed Ollie Bearman in the closing laps, after running a long opening stint he had also lost track position through a slow stop. Bearman was the final car on the lead lap as he took ninth ahead of Carlos Sainz, who recovered from last after he and Williams teammate Alex Albon were disqualified from qualifying for a technical breach. Albon, meanwhile, could only manage fourteenth. Williams using a long first stint to bring Sainz from last into the points.
Isack Hadjar missed out on points as he finished almost two seconds behind Sainz, and ahead of his rival for the second Red Bull seat, Yuki Tsunoda by just over five seconds. Lance Stroll was just over eight-tenths ahead of Albon, Liam Lawson and franco Colapinto.
In a rare race under the lights and the Singaporean heat, the race saw no safety cars and every driver finished the race. Franco Colapinto just under four tenths ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon three and a quarter behind and ahead of his former teammate Pierre Gasly by the same margin, and Nico Hulkenberg completing the field.
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