George Russell put in a dominant display as he cruised to victory on the streets of Singapore, while McLaren won their 10th constructors’ championship in F1.
George Russell has a strong launch off the line, managing to cover himself well to fend off a potential threat from Verstappen at the start. His teammate Antonelli however, had a poor start, dropping from third to sixth.
Another driver who had a strong start was Lando Norris, who jumped up to fourth coming into turn 1, before then barging his way past Piastri, picking up some minor front wing damage in the process.
Piastri was unhappy with the incident, with McLaren reviewing the incident internally and Piastri describing it as not being “team like”.
The early laps saw some gaps open throughout the field, particularly up front. After six laps, Russell was already 3.4 seconds ahead of Verstappen, who himself was just under two seconds ahead of Piastri.
Gabriel Bortoleto had caused damage to his front wing on the opening of the race, which he would try to carry on with for a while, though the team would ultimately look to bring him in to replace the wing.
After some attempts of a dummy pit stop in previous laps from McLaren, it would be Verstappen who would be the first of the frontrunners to come in to the pits, switching over onto hard tyres.
Norris would continue on, looking to achieve a tyre delta while seeking to gain on Russell while in free air.
George Russell would pit at the end of lap 25, with Mercedes performing a well executed double stack as Antonelli would come in just moments later.
Norris would pit one lap later, with some discussions taking place with him and the team about allowing Piastri to put first, a hypothetical decision that Norris was against.
Piastri would come in the lap after Norris, but it seemed that it would be the Australian’s turn to be hit with a poor pitstop at McLaren, being held stationary for 5 seconds, following recent races where Norris would be given slow stops in Azerbaijan and Italy.
Piastri at least wasn’t the only one to have had a slow stop, as Alonso, who pit only moments after, would end up being held for five seconds.
Verstappen would have a near scare at turn 14, locking up and nearly hitting the wall in an incident that appeared reminiscent of something that happened to Lando Norris last year.
The uncharacteristic mistake from Verstappen allowed Norris into a better position to try and challenge for second place, but a mistake at the end of lap 41 would then widen the gap a bit further.
Nico Hulkenberg would have himself a spin at turn 7, seemingly having an issue with the rear axle and almost taking out Colapinto in the process, with whom he had made contact with not long ago to damage the Sauber’s front wing.
Difficulties in navigating the traffic, along with issues being felt to Verstappen’s car, allowed Norris to be within DRS range, the fight for second place still very much on with 15 laps to go.
Norris would have half a suggestion on getting past Verstappen on lap 53, being briefly alongside the Red Bull on the outside of turn 7, but would just as quickly back out of the move.
The squabbles between Norris and Verstappen, alongside having a second pack of lapped traffic to navigate, allowed Piastri to start closing in on Norris, giving himself an outside chance in the fight for second place, ending lap 54 3.5 seconds behind.
Lewis Hamilton had made a second stop onto soft tyres in the later portions of the race, after which he would start to gain significantly on Leclerc and Antonelli ahead, with Leclerc moving over for Hamilton on lap 56.
However, Hamilton would report having brake issues not too long after, and would begin to fall back behind Leclerc. He even nearly lost out to Fernando Alonso, who had been over 40 seconds behind, but would end the race just four tenths behind.
Ultimately, the difficulty in passing around Singapore allowed Verstappen to keep his second place, while Norris settled for third, with Russell cruising to victory.
The results mean that McLaren were able to secure their 10th constructors championship in F1.
They also mean that Norris is now 24 points behind Piastri in the championship, while Verstappen closes his gap to the championship leader to 63 points.
The next race is the United States Grand Prix, which will take place on Sunday, October 19.
