Martin Brundle on the results of the Singapore Grand Prix

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle summarised the Singapore Grand Prix.

We saw a dominant victory from Lando Norris and McLaren, reminiscent of his victory at Zandvoort. He controlled the pace and progress of the race, lapping everyone, including Carlos Sainz, who finished seventh.

This is partly because for the first time in Singapore there were no safety cars or yellow flags. The temporary street circuit is surrounded by walls and has no internal service path through which cars can be towed. This means that almost every incident requires the presence of people and equipment on the circuit to deal with the consequences. The race did not involve the giant lizard that walked across the track during the third practice session.

Norris has had his share of bad luck in his career, but on Sunday night he was lucky. At one point, locked brakes sent him into a tyre barrier, but the contact was gentle and did not damage the front wing. Later, approaching Turn 10, he hit the same wall that destroyed George Russell’s car and race last year. Another few inches in the wrong direction and Norris’ race would have been over.

It was a wake-up call. Comfortably in the lead, he suddenly felt the heat and tension, so on the next lap he rode his best lap of the race to come to his senses.

Max Verstappen did an excellent job, taking second place at the start and holding on to it until the finish. Red Bull often struggles at this circuit, as it is the only race on the current calendar where it has not yet won. Max was quite happy with his result.

I don’t understand why Max gets distracted and gets involved in a fight with the FIA. This waste of energy does him no good and in the end he answered almost no questions during the post-race press conference.

Racers are not children, we know they sometimes argue and say: “If you don’t like our negotiations, don’t send them on the air.” But they represent themselves, their families, their country, their team, their sponsors, Formula 1 and broadcasters all over the world.

They are role models and opinion makers and need to consider the responsibility that comes with that privilege, especially when so many young fans are watching them. No one wants to deprive them of their energy, emotion or freedom of expression, but baseless name calling in the heat of the moment is really not necessary.

Interestingly, Mercedes equipped Lewis Hamilton with soft tyres in the hope that he would beat Verstappen into the first corner. This strategy was based on the high probability of a relatively early safety car, which ultimately did not appear, resulting in Lewis finishing only sixth.

George Russell started fourth in another Mercedes car, and it was in this car that he finished 62 gruelling laps later and earned points for the first time in Singapore.

McLaren kept Oscar Piastri, who started fifth, on the track until the 38th lap and then fitted him with new Hard tyres. He completed 23 laps behind Hamilton, his pace strong enough to pass his rivals and take third place on the podium. A failed flying lap in the final qualifying session robbed him of a likely second place at the start and finish. It is hard to imagine how he could have beaten Norris that day.

Charles Leclerc also had a poor qualifying performance, finishing ninth. His best lap was disallowed for going off track, but even without that he would have only been seventh. He was an eternity behind Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg, but after a pit stop on lap 36 he surged forward, passing Hamilton and passing Russell for fifth.

Sainz crashed the car in qualifying by pressing the throttle too hard, and a bad start complicated the situation further. He dropped to 12th place and then moved up to seventh, but eventually finished 96 seconds behind the winner.

Eighth place went to the relentless Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, who was just a few seconds ahead of the impressive Nico Hulkenberg of the small Haas team.

Sergio Perez, driving the second Red Bull car, finished only 10th after starting from 13th place, disappointing the team again. He became a real problem for Red Bull in 2025.

Their sister team RB fitted Daniel Ricciardo with a new set of Softs, and he scored the best lap of the race, which earned him no points but left Norris and McLaren without, who complained of unfair tactics as their main rivals run two teams at once.

This was Daniel’s last race in Formula 1 for some time, possibly forever. The farewell turned out to be frivolous. The fans awarded him the title of best driver of the day, he has 257 starts, 8 wins, 3 pole positions and 32 podiums. And also a lot of smiles and happy fans. Good luck to him, whatever happens, he is a great guy and a world-class racer.

Liam Lawson will replace Ricciardo at RB in Austin, his chance to prove he deserves to be the lead driver for one of Red Bull’s two teams in 2025.

McLaren extended its lead in the Constructors’ Championship to 41 points, while Norris trails Verstappen by 52 points with six Grands Prix and three sprints to go until the end of the season. He now has to win almost every race and hope that his teammate, but also the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers, can take the points from Verstappen. It is entirely feasible.

It wasn’t the best Formula 1 race, the absence of a safety car affected the intrigue and entertainment. There is a mini break ahead until Austin, where the fight will continue in three weeks.

Source: F1 News

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