Here’s our report of the race via Giles Richards and that concludes the live coverage for today.
It’s been a refreshing change to see George Russell atop the podium with the McLarens scrapping it out for third and fourth – with a bit of needle between the two title rivals too, despite their team’s success in the constructors’ championship.
Thanks for joining us, as always. Bye!
Next up is the United States Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time. A short rest, then all roads lead to Austin.
Updated world championship standings
McLaren now have 650 points, exactly double the amount of their nearest constructors’ championship rival, Mercedes on 325 points.
But what about the individual standings? Here’s how it looks after the Singapore GP.
Piastri – 336 points
Norris – 314
Verstappen – 273
Russell – 237
Leclerc – 173
Hamilton – 127
Antonelli – 88
Albon – 70
Hadjar – 39
Hulkenberg – 37
Alonso – 34
Sainz – 32
Stroll 32
Lawson – 30
Ocon – 28
Gasly – 20
Tsunoda – 20
Bortoleto – 18
Bearman – 18
Colapinto/Doohan – 0
It looks like Lewis Hamilton was given a five-second penalty after running around for the final couple of laps of that race without working brakes. Fernando Alonso was apparently fuming at officials afterwards about it.
George Russell is delighted as he conducts his post-race interview, but he’s having to sit down as sweat pours down his brow. Clearly he’s shattered!
Russell: “If I sat down and made a list at the start of the season of the races I thought we could win, this [Singapore] would be right at the bottom. So we’ll celebrate this and we won’t worry about Austin yet.”
Norris is in reflective mood: “I feel like I did everything I did today and I’m happy with third.”
How they finished in the Singapore Grand Prix
Here’s the top 10, the points scorers.
Russell
Verstappen
Norris
Piastri
Antonelli
Leclerc
Hamilton
Alonso
Bearman
Sainz
They’re just finalising the race standings. Before that, Zak Brown and Andrea Stella are chatting about McLaren’s constructors’ championship victory.
“Unbelievable team here and back at the factory, they’ve done an incredible job,” says Brown.
Stella says: “We are working very hard to continue this streak of wins into the future, with these big changes of technical regulations.”
Now the big question: how do McLaren manage the rivalry for the individual title?
“They’ve driven brilliantly all season. We’re letting them race, as you can see. We’re letting them race. They race hard, they race clean, they race to win.”
McLaren win the Constructors' championship
An absolute cakewalk for McLaren.
The world championship title fight between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will unfold in the coming weeks, but their team can bask in this success for now.
Fireworks go off into the Singapore night sky. Quite a sight.
Updated
George Russell wins the Singapore Grand Prix
The Mercedes man led from the front after a brilliant pole position yesterday and he’s not put a foot wrong in claiming race victory. A great day for the British driver and his team, well deserved.
Max Verstappen holds off Lando Norris for second. Norris is third.
The full race standings will follow.
Updated
Final lap! Let’s see how this one unfolds…
Lap 60/62: Hamilton has jumped beyond Leclerc into P6 and might fancy a fifth place finish now as he chases down Antonelli.
Norris is running out of time to overtake Verstappen. He may need these points, he’s got to push hard.
Lap 58/62: You have to give Verstappen some credit here. He’s a master at defending his track position and continues to frustrate Norris. Behind these two, it doesn’t look likely that Piastri will push Norris for a podium spot.
Lap 56/62: We’re getting to the business end of this race now. Russell seems home and hosed in first place but there’s plenty to battle for behind him.
Can Norris have another pop at Verstappen now?
I’ve barely mentioned Lewis Hamilton today. He’s been p7 for most of this race, but could yet finish ahead of his teammate Leclerc, who is sixth.
Updated
Lap 54/62: OK, maybe he’s not marooned. He’s found some pace, now around three seconds shy of Norris. Will he have time to close in on his teammate?
Less than 10 laps to go.
Norris still cannot wriggle past Verstappen. Piastri is marooned in fourth.
Lap 52/62: Verstappen, under the pump from Norris, is doing a fine job at holding off the McLaren. For how much longer he can sustain this defence, I’m not sure.
Lap 51/62: It might be an odd atmosphere in the McLaren camp after this race. They’re set to seal the constructors’ championship – they were never going to not win it this year, but Piastri and Norris aren’t the best of friends. Specifically, Piastri has been extremely peeved with Norris’ early move on him tonight.
An email from Peter Lee: “Am I the only one that thinks George looks like a 1920’s silent movie actor – specifically Welsh heart-throb Ivor Novello?”
It’s a great shout Peter. Will he be celebrating Great Gatsby style this evening?
Lap 49/62: This is where Singapore’s reputation as a physically-demanding race comes into play. The drivers will be feeling the heat at this point.
Norris and Verstappen are now zipping past the back markers with the help of those blue flags.
Lap 48/62: There’s a lot of traffic for the frontrunners to negotiate now. Russell has made his way through a few of them.
That Norris v Verstappen battle seems only a matter of a couple of laps away. The Red Bull is losing pace just as the McLaren is maintaining it.
Lap 45/62: Hulkenberg has thudded into a spin but thankfully seems OK and continues, although he’s gone last.
Norris is chucking absolutely everything at this race, throwing the car around the corners, going full throttle pretty much all the time. He leads Piastri by six seconds.
Lap 44/62: There are plenty of skirmishes towards the back of the field. Everyone between P8 and P19 is within a couple of seconds of each other. There’s less action, as it stands, towards the front.
Lap 41/62: Drivers are in danger of being lapped, which could cause a few issues. Lance Stroll is now dead last so could start getting in the way of Russell. Almost blue flag time.
“Verstappen is struggling in clean air,” Norris is told on the radio as McLaren urge him to put pressure on the Dutchman.
I would be surprised if Verstappen remains second in this race.
Updated
Lap 40/62: Verstappen continues to rant and rave on the Red Bull radio. He’s clearly really unhappy with the car.
It’s going to be a one-stop policy from almost everyone, given they’re on hard tyres.
Stroll finally pits, which allows Ollie Bearman into the points. The young Brit in his maiden F1 season will surely accrue more points this evening.
Updated
Lap 38/62: Norris finds himself less than two seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri is more than eight seconds behind Norris, and really doesn’t want to see his teammate gain any more positions.
In the battle for the points, Lawson (P8) and Stroll (P9) haven’t pitted so there’s another bunching effect going on. Sainz is 10th but behind him, Bearman, Albon and Alonso are gunning for position.
Alonso is P14 and looking to get past Hadjar.
Lap 35/62: Things are definitely bunching up, with Verstappen quicker than Norris and the cars in third to sixth looking quicker than Verstappen.
Lap 34/62: Russell’s lead to Verstappen at the front is ebbing away, now less than two seconds. The Red Bull man has conjured some speed from somewhere.
Russell has been fairly untroubled today so far, but there’s lots of work ahead for him to claim a rare Grand Prix victory.
Piastri hasn’t been a happy bunny throughout this race but as things stand there wouldn’t be any major damage done to his championship lead, with Norris just a place in front of him. He must stay close to his teammate and hope Norris doesn’t win the race.
Lap 31/62: Here’s a reminder of how things stand going into the second half of the Singapore GP:
1. Russsell; 2. Verstappen; 3. Norris; 4. Piastri; 5. Leclerc; 6. Antonelli; 7. Hamilton; 8. Lawson; 9.Stroll; 10. Sainz.
With almost half the race done all the leaders have now pitted once.
“If you speak to me every lap I will disconnect the radio,” says a rather grumpy Fernando Alonso on the Aston Martin radio. Not feeling sociable then, Fernando?
Lap 28/62: Oh no Piastri has had real issues in the pit lane, a big delay, which you suspect he won’t be very happy about. He’s not lost track position, in the sense that he’s back out in P4 in front of Leclerc. But the gap to Norris remains pretty big.
Updated
“Mate what the hell is wrong with this engine? Again?” – Isack Hadjar on the Racing Bulls’ team radio.
Lap 27/62: So McLaren finally make the decision and it’s to bring Norris into the pit lane, after the Brit had refused to allow Piastri in there first. Some serious politicking going on from the orange team right now. A repeat of Monza is clearly in everyone’s thoughts.
Russell pits. It’s a pretty swift stop time, so well done Mercedes. Antonelli has quickly followed him in.
Norris is now the race leader.
Lap 25/62: Piastri sounds reluctant to come into the pit lane. He says degradation is low on his tyres, but McLaren will have a decision to make on both their cars soon.
The gap between Norris (now second) and Russell is closing at a fair lick. Mercedes are sounding a little worried as they issue their man some instructions. Norris is having a fine race so far.
Lap 23/62: “Everything is working against me in this race,” says Verstappen in response to Red Bull’s command for him to “push now”.
The Dutchman currently sits P6 having pitted, but maybe there’s an underlying issue with his car.
A few more are now heading into the pit lane.
Hadjar came out of it and immediately found himself in a scrap with Franco Colapinto.
Lap 20/62: Verstappen is heading into the pits and it looks like Red Bull will be swapping his soft tyres for harder ones.
He emerges back out in seventh place, in front of Alonso.
Lap 18/62: Oh no, they’re standing down. What’s going on? The call must have come from up on high.
It sounds like they believe Norris can overtake Max soonish.
Right, which of the frontrunners is heading into the pit lane first?
The McLaren team are readying themselves…
Lap 15/62: Norris has now scraped the wall. Good grief he’s been in the thick of the action so far, has the McLaren. Maybe trying a little too hard to claw back that deficit in the title race?
Lap 13/62: Kimi Antonelli has recovered well since losing a couple of places early on, showing strong pace just like his teammate Russell. The Mercedes are coming good late in this F1 season, although it sounds like the team engineers have told the youngster to take care of his medium compound tyres, rather than push the pace too much.
Lap 11/62: Verstappen isn’t happy with his downshifting. Maybe that’s why he’s struggling to keep the heat on Russell?
“Pace is good,” chimes Norris, who is much chirpier on the radio than his McLaren mate right now. “I think I’m quicker…”
Quicker than who, though, Lando?
Lap 8/62: There was briefly a yellow flag out there, DRS was disabled, but it didn’t last long so it was clearly nothing serious.
On we go.
More bickering between Piastri and his McLaren engineers on the radio. He’s simmering, is the world title leader. He’s now a full second behind Norris.
Lap 6/62: Russell may be on medium tyres compared to Verstappen’s softs but the Mercedes man still looks to have the pace at the sharp end of this race early doors.
Inevitably Verstappen will have to pit earlier than his rival, so he needs to make a move for this strategy to pay dividends.
Updated
Lap 4/62: No further investigation on the Norris v Piastri collision. “Control the controllables,” is the diktat from McLaren to the championship leader.
This was always going to happen between the pair wasn’t it? It was never going to stay completely amicable as they fought each other for the title.
Piastri is back on the McLaren radio asking if they’re cool with Norris bumping his way past him. Clearly the Australian isn’t happy. “Small amount of front wing damage, nothing to worry about,” is the message Norris is getting meanwhile.
Lap 3/62: Norris has been up on the tail of Verstappen and replays suggest that was the moment his car sustained damage.
There’s a heck of a lot going on further down the field. Tsunoda fighting Ocon, lots more …
Lap 2/62: The narrow and wet sections of this track are going to prove very difficult, it’s clear to see. It’s interesting that of the frontrunners only Verstappen is on the soft tyres.
And it looks like Norris has some damage to his front wing, probably from the moves he made to go beyond Antonelli and Piastri at the start of the race. “That wasn’t very team like,” says Piastri on the McLaren team radio.
Updated
First corner: Russell has speed off the front and the two McLarens then surge into third and fourth, with Norris battling past Piastri, making up a very quick two places. Brilliant from the Briton. Antonelli has lost a few places.
Lights Out
… and away we go!
Let’s get this thing under way, then. Formula One’s original night race. The cars are out on the track and we’ll, of course, have a formation lap before lights out time.
Nine minutes to clear the track. It’s always a hell of a task.
We’ve had the national anthem and the drivers are now heading back into their garages to get ready for the race. With the track wet in places and dry and others, it sounds like it’ll be really challenging in Singapore tonight.
Where’s your money? Verstappen v Russell at the front? Or will one of the McLarens come good to further their title chances? Let’s remember Piastri has a 25-point lead over Norris in the world championship standings with Verstappen a further 44 points back.
Alex Albon has been chatting to Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle about starting in the pit lane, now that’s been confirmed by race officials. Teammate Pierre Gasly will be there with him.
Albon says sectors 2 and 3 are “very wet” but that he’s hoping for some carnage… he’s got a glint in his eye, despite the sanction imposed on the two Williams cars.
Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson are less chatty… Brundle then accosts singer Lewis Capaldi for a chat, but mistook his brother for Capaldi himself. LOL.
Less than half an hour until lights out now in Singapore and it looks like, despite earlier rain, we’ll get a fairly dry race. Dry but hot. The temperature down at track level is said to be 33.3C, so those cooling vests will no doubt be worn by many drivers, with the race said to be a ‘heat hazard’. It’s going to be physically demanding for drivers either way. Can Russell suffer through the stifling humidity and sweat it out to victory?
The live sport offering on the website right now is plentiful to say the least. And there’s more football to come, inevitably. Do tuck in.
Another big talking point post-qualifying was Max Verstappen’s annoyance at Lando Norris, complaining that he had been obstructed by the McLaren driver.
“They always complain, they complain about everything, that’s Red Bull,” said Norris. “I didn’t even know, I was like three seconds ahead or something.”
Lewis Hamilton – as he’s often found during a frustrating first season with Ferrari – lacked the pace he was expecting in qualifying yesterday.
The seven-time world champion was slightly bemused afterwards, telling TV cameras: “Q1, the car and tyres were feeling good but Q2 run one was fairly decent but then we are the last in the queue often and losing a lot of temperature in the tyres and every time we do that we fall further and further back. It happens every single weekend.
“The guys on pole went out quicker with less waiting in the pit lane. It’s an area we can improve on.
“Red Bull have had an upgrade, Mercedes have found something I think, and we haven’t and we are fighting with what we have. Everyone’s trying so hard but it’s disappointing to be where we are when there was potential to be higher.”
Qualifying standings
Russell (Mercedes)
Verstappen (Red Bull)
Piastri (McLaren)
Antonelli (Mercedes)
Norris (McLaren)
Hamilton (Ferrari)
Leclerc (Ferrari)
Hadjar (RB)
Bearman (Haas)
Alonso (Aston Martin)
Hulkenberg (Sauber)
Lawson (RB)
Tsunoda (Red Bull)
Bortoleto (Sauber)
Stroll (Aston Martin)
Colapinto (Sauber)
Ocon (Haas)
Gasly (Alpine)
Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz (both Williams) look set to start the race from the pit lane after being disqualified from qualifying, although officials are yet to confirm this.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to another race day in the Formula One calendar.
George Russell stole the show in Singapore GP qualifying yesterday with a stunning run in his Mercedes to claim pole, pipping Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who qualified in second. The world championship leader Oscar Piastri was third, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was fourth and Lando Norris back in fifth.
Russell actually crashed in practice on Friday, but recovered in fine style. Afterwards he said: “I had a difficult day yesterday for many reasons but it’s good to come back and get a good result today. I knew there was potential in the car.”
So, can he hang on round the Marina Bay circuit this afternoon, or will the chasing championship contenders haul him in? It’s all set up rather nicely, with the race due to begin at 1pm (BST), which translates to 8pm local time in Singapore – and who doesn’t love a night race? Stick with us for updates and feel free to drop me an email. Let’s gooooo.
