George Russell won a clear victory at the Singapore Grand Prix from Max Verstappen, with three finishes from Rand Norris and Oscar Piastri secured McLaren for his second consecutive Constructors Championship.
Russell got the perfect launch to keep Verstappen in the mirror and piled almost teens on the field with the opening 20 laps on 20 laps, but secured his victory.
The Mercedes driver was temporarily under threat after the pit stopped. Verstappen appeared to have a pace to catch him in his second stint, but one mistake from Chicane’s Dutchman sent him a big deal and quickly defeated his challenge. Russell was released to claim his and Mercedes’ second victory in the season and his fifth victory in his career.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I am very grateful to the team, they did an amazing job this weekend.
“I don’t really know where this performance came from, but I’m really happy.”
Russell’s start was mild, but the opening lap was nothing for the championship contenders.
Verstappen’s start was late from the front row, and he became vulnerable to Piastri from the third. However, the Australian found himself boxed outside Turn 3 by Norris, a quick teammate who launched from the fifth.
Norris passed his sister McLaren from the top, but a slight misjudgment caused him to retreat, breaking the front wing, and plagued the piercing near the wall in correcting the error.
Norris emerged from the third incident, ahead of the fourth and fierce piastry.
“Are we cool because Rand is just keeping me out of the way, or what are we going there?” he radioed and he raised ante when he felt his team didn’t respond to his concerns.
“That’s not fair,” he said. “Sorry, that’s not fair. If he has to hit a teammate and avoid another car, that’s pretty ****’s job to avoid.”
The team committed only to post-race discussions. Meanwhile, Norris pursued Verstappen the road, and his broken front wing was not hampered by his performance.
Their duel was twisted on lap 19 when Burstappen was transported to the pits to protect Norris Undercut. Dutchman replaced the used soft for fresh hard, and strong out-lap forced Norris ran deep into the race to build tire offset.
However, his and Piastry’s strategy was compromised by Charles Leclerc Pitting shortly after Verstappen. With fresh tires, Ferrari is closed in the McLaren driver’s pit window, limiting the time it takes to wait for it to stop.
It was a repetition of the scenario from the Italian Grand Prix. There, Piastri stopped first to protect the undercut, and before Norris he caused a team order to reverse positions.
The team once again asked Norris if he was happy to risk being undercut, but this time he refused the offer, claiming he would stop first.
Norris got a clean pit on the next tour with lap 26 and piastry, but Australia’s service was slow, dropping a nine behind his teammates and getting off the podium. Norris was released to advance his attention, and on lap 36, Burstappen, who was running deep in the chicane, dropped the Red Bull Racing driver directly into his clutch.
“The back is like a handbrake,” Verstappen said, handling the issue. “It’s very difficult to drive.”
Norris closed the gap to less than a second on lap 46 as the pair navigated through the slow moving traffic. Britton stuck to the Dutchman gearbox to prevent the wrapped car from fleeing to his rival. However, he only approached once to try to move. The outside rushing on lap 53rd could never have made a mistake with the reigning champion. Unable to find a path to the past, Verstappen managed to score second place just 0.636 seconds ahead of Norris.
“The whole race was very difficult,” he said. “For a variety of reasons, it’s harder than I’d like.
“There are a few things you need to understand why these things didn’t work today. But even so, around this, you won’t be able to pass even if you’re at a greater pace, even if you’re not going crazy.
Norris’ third place guaranteed the constructor’s title to McLaren regardless of other outcomes, securing the first consecutive title of the walking team since four consecutive victories in 1988-91.
“I gave it all today,” Norris said. “There were a few opportunities lined up and a few small bits of good fights, but it was too difficult to pass, which is a shame as we were at such a strong pace today.
“I’m happy today. I got two positions. We’ve once again won the constructor as a team.
Piastri took a dissatisfied fourth place, with Australia’s championship lead with 22 points for Norris and 63 points for Verstappen.
Kimi Antoneri finished fifth after a fight with the Ferrari driver. He stopped behind Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, but after returning the Ferrari driver to his second stint, he placed fast fishing Lewis Hamilton at arm length during the closing stages.
Leclerc came in sixth in the Hamilton place. Hamilton was on track to finish at least sixth after a second stop on soft tires, but with a brake breakdown he placed seventh on the flag. However, the steward issued him a five-second penalty after a race that exceeded the track limit as he stepped into the finish, and he sacrificed another position.
Fernando Alonso recovered from a slow pit stop and scored for the second time in the 13th round, finishing in the middle heading of Oliver Baerman, finishing in the second round (seventh after Hamilton’s penalty).
Isack Hadjar finished 11th and dodged Yuki Tsunoda at the place after battling a power unit problem that cost a few tens of minutes per lap.
Lance Stroll came in 13th place with Alex Albon, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Boltreto, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Guthrie and Nico Halkenberg.
Updated Results (After Hamilton’s penalty)
