Five Winners, Five Losers: Singapore Grand Prix
- Peter Johnson
- Oct 8
- 6 min read
Written by Peter Johnson, Edited by Meghana Sree
The Singapore Grand Prix saw McLaren secure the Constructors’ title, while the two championship protagonists locked horns. But who came out on top?
Winner - George Russell
A superb lights to flag drive from George Russell on Sunday topped off a scintillating Saturday performance during which he set the Marina Bay lap record not once, but twice.
The British driver closed to within 100 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri with his second win of the season - hardly close enough to challenge for the title at this stage but still an interesting benchmark which serves to highlight his speed and consistency throughout 2025.
Only Max Verstappen (86) has collected more points than Russell (67) in the four races since the summer break, and you cannot help but wonder how much of a threat the Briton could have posed in the championship battle had he had even just a couple more weekends like this.
If the Mercedes power unit for 2026 proves to be as effective as rumoured, you would be a brave person to bet against Russell if his current form persists.
Winner - McLaren
It has been inevitable pretty much lights out in Australia, but McLaren finally got their hands on their tenth World Constructors’ Championship in Singapore.
The opportunity to break the record for the earliest ever constructors’ title went up in smoke in Azerbaijan, but the team in papaya still managed to equal Red Bull’s 2023 record of winning the championship with six races remaining.
McLaren have exactly twice as many points (650) as second-placed Mercedes in a stunning revival for a team that finished ninth out of 10 teams as recently as 2017.
Winner - Mercedes
With Kimi Antonelli finishing fifth in the sister Mercedes in Singapore, the Silver Arrows now have two back-to-back top-five finishes in the last two races, as many as in the first 16 races of the season combined.
The Brackley-based team now sits 27 points ahead of Ferrari and 35 ahead of Red Bull in what could well become a battle between Russell and Verstappen for second in the Constructors’ Championship.
Winner - Carlos Sainz
It wasn’t the podium of Baku, but it was nonetheless a very impressive performance from Carlos Sainz under rather different circumstances in Singapore.
With both Williams disqualified from qualifying for technical violations on their rear wings, Sainz started 18th - ahead of teammate Alex Albon and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who started from the pit lane.
The Spaniard was the final man to box in the race, taking his starting medium tyres to the end of lap 50 of 62. While a dream scenario for the team would have involved a Safety Car, Sainz enjoyed a huge tyre advantage after he did finally stop and was able to charge through the field regardless, completing five overtakes in the final 10 laps to steal the final point.
Winner - Aston Martin
Iconic team radio interactions aside, the Singapore Grand Prix was a positive endeavour for Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin.
The Spaniard made good early use of his soft tyres to pass Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar, before a slow stop appeared to hamper his progress.
A classy drive from Lance Stroll to back the pack up brought his veteran teammate back into play, though, and Alonso was able to cut back through the field to cross the line eighth, which became a seventh-placed finish following Lewis Hamilton’s penalty.
His and Aston Martin’s first points since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August also keep the team in the fight for sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Loser - McLaren
In an unprecedented move for the Five Winners, Five Losers series, McLaren enters both the Winner and Loser categories this week.
Despite winning the Constructors’ World Championship, the team in papaya leaves South-East Asia under something of a cloud.
As predicted by observers all season long, McLaren’s handling of the Piastri-Norris title battle has come back to bite the team.
The Australian was irate at his teammate’s Lap 1 aggressive overtaking manoeuvre, which also saw Norris make contact with Verstappen.
The incident in isolation can be considered hard racing from Norris, arguably harder than you would usually expect against a teammate, but thoroughly understandable in the heat of a title battle. Norris himself was quick to make this point after the race.
Piastri’s frustration stemmed from McLaren’s often-perplexing desire to achieve parity between its drivers this season, best exemplified when he was asked to make way for Norris at Monza following the Briton’s slow stop.
The oft-cited ‘papaya rules’ have often seemed commendable in principle, but unfulfillable in practice. This was one such situation where according to the team’s internal rules, Piastri may have expected to be given the place back, while in practice no such instruction was ever likely to be given to Norris.
Hopefully with the Constructors’ title now under wraps, the two can slug it out, uncompromised by the team’s self-imposed restrictions.
Loser - Ferrari
Another frustrating weekend for the Tifosi saw lift and coast, or “Li-Co”, rear its head once more to the disgust of Charles Leclerc, while a brake failure for Hamilton cost him the better part of a minute on the final lap, with a five-second penalty and position loss to boot.
The Scuderia could only watch on as principal rivals Mercedes bagged another chunk of points to move 27 points ahead in the Constructors’ Championship, with Leclerc and Hamilton languishing in sixth and eighth.
Despite a tough week away from the track, Hamilton generally had more to smile about in Singapore, out-qualifying Leclerc and set to beat him in the race owing to a smart strategy call. His brake failure in particular, however, proved to be the latest in an extensive series of self-inflicted problems for the team in 2025.
The only of the top four teams not to win a Grand Prix this season, last year’s runners up in the Constructors’ Championship have serious work to do to salvage their campaign.
Loser - Alpine
Another double Q1 elimination for Alpine proved unsalvageable on Sunday, as the team failed to score points for a sixth consecutive weekend.
Bearman’s ninth place and two points for Haas leaves the Enstone team 26 points adrift at the bottom of the championship, meaning that, shy of a São Paulo 2024-type miracle, the team’s wooden spoon prize in the Constructors’ rankings is all but confirmed.
With Franco Colapinto the only driver on the current grid not to record a top-six finish this season, it seems likely that he will have to begin pulling his weight points-wise for the team to stand a chance of making up significant ground.
Loser - Nico Hülkenberg
For a man who has been around in Formula One for so long and well aware of what is in store for 2026, a run of six pointless races is unlikely to trouble Nico Hülkenberg hugely.
It does, however, remain the case that the German has failed to score a single point since his heroic British Grand Prix podium in July, the most barren active run besides Colapinto.
His third place in Silverstone, which at the time marked a fourth consecutive points finish, seems a distant memory now. Sauber will do well from here to finish eighth in the championship, when just a few months ago so much more seemed achievable.
Loser - Esteban Ocon
It was a miserable weekend for Esteban Ocon, who languished at the back of the field in his Haas while teammate Bearman pinched a couple of points.
The Frenchman qualified down in 17th and was unable to make any inroads, his singular pit stop on Lap 30 putting him onto the back of a DRS train of backmarkers. An eventual 18th-placed finish concluded a disappointing evening, and leaves Ocon with just one point from the last seven Grands Prix.
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