What the teams said – Race day in Singapore

Mercedes

Russell led off the line in Singapore and was rarely troubled as he recorded his second win of the season. He built a good lead in the first stint, lost a few seconds in the second stint as he struggled to get the hard tyres to work. But Verstappen could never get close enough to apply any pressure and he was able to lift off and coast to the finish for his first win in Singapore. Antonelli did not have such a good getaway, dropping behind Norris and Leclerc. But undeterred, he drove a faultless race from there and pulled off a rare overtake on Leclerc to climb back to fifth at the flag.

George Russell, 1st

“I’m really pleased with our victory this evening. This track has not always been my best friend over the years, maybe from my own doing. We didn’t start the weekend in the best way either but come Q3 yesterday I felt really good in the car and that carried on into today. It was such a long race, so I was very glad to see the chequered flag, but we ultimately had it all under control.

“The goal for us is to finish second in the Constructor’s Championship this year. This result helps us in that quest, but we still have six races to go. We will need to be at our best if we are to achieve that but hopefully we can carry this form into the double header of Austin and Mexico City. Congratulations to McLaren on their Constructor’s title and to Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains too.”

Kimi Antonelli, 5th

“I struggled with some wheelspin in the second phase of my start and that cost me into turn one. I lost two positions, and my race was a fightback from there. It was a tough race physically but I’m happy with how I managed to battle back. The pace was good, and I was able to gain a position back with a good move on Leclerc. We could have achieved more tonight but P5 is still OK.

“Congratulations to George on a great win and a brilliant drive. That is a great result for the team and really helps us out in the Constructor’s. Congratulations to McLaren too and everyone at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains on another Mercedes powered title.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“That was an amazing drive from George this evening. He controlled the race from lights out to the chequered flag to take a brilliant win. The pace he and the car had was surprising but strong and that was the winning formula today. It was also great to have PETRONAS represent our team on the podium with Tengku Muhammad Taufik receiving the trophy. They are a brilliant title partner, and it is sweet to win at what is the closest race on the calendar to Malaysia.

“Kimi’s race meanwhile was compromised by losing two places at the start, but he had good pace and battled back hard. His move on Leclerc at turn 16 was incredible; it took everyone by surprise and ensured both our cars finished ahead of Ferrari which is important for second in the Constructor’s Championship. On that note, congratulations to McLaren as they secured the Constructor’s crown this evening. They have been the best team this year, so it is well deserved. Congratulations also go to our team-mates at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains who secured a 10th Mercedes powered Constructor’s title in the past 12 years.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

“That was a great result for the team and congratulations to George on another win. We didn’t really know what to expect in terms of pace going into the race; we didn’t have any good long run data but it was really encouraging to see George able to pull a decent gap in stint one and keep the tyres in a decent temperature window.

“Kimi lost a couple of places at the start; one of those was on the initial getaway and then another around the first corners where he was struggling for grip on the inside. He drove a very impressive race to finish ahead of both Ferraris though and was able to show good pace once he was in free air.

“It was fun to be fighting at the front again, but we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead if we want to keep second place in this championship. It will be a tough fight with Ferrari and Red Bull, but we will be pushing to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. Finally, congratulations to McLaren on their Constructor’s Championship and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains for powering their success.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Race winner George Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team celebrates with Champagne on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Race winner George Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team celebrates with Champagne on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Red Bull

Verstappen opted for a soft tyre start, gambling on a rapidly drying track. He held onto P2 off the line, but could not find the pace to chase down Russell. Instead he was forced to defend from Norris behind, especially in the second stint on the hard tyre after pitting seven laps earlier than the McLaren man. But despite some downshifting issues, the Dutchman defending superbly to hold onto second to the flag. Tsunoda also started on the softs, and was embroiled in plenty of midfield fights but could not quite make it back to the points on a day where there were no retirements.

Max Verstappen, 2nd

“We had a difficult start to the race, having little grip on our side of the grid. We opted for the Soft compound for a better launch and to try and get to P1 but it didn’t happen for us unfortunately. The car wasn’t where we wanted in terms of the set up and it isn’t a mystery what went wrong but just need to analyse this later. The biggest problems were the downshifts and upshifts: this was giving me a lot of pushing in the braking which is not what you want on a street circuit and it was not easy to drive around the track. However, it didn’t matter as, even if the balance was perfect, it is hard to pass round here so I think second is the best result we could have achieved. I think my tyres were older for the final stint, so it was difficult to manage, but we were able to keep Lando behind which is what mattered. Well done to McLaren on the Constructors’ Championship, they fully deserve that title, and I am very happy for them. Overall, we can still be very satisfied with the weekend, Singapore is not our favourite layout and we maximised our result today. We do understand the car a lot better, we have definitely improved in the last few races, we just need to analyse and hopefully next weekend we can do a little better.”

Yuki Tsunoda, 12th

“Today’s first lap was the worst one that I have ever had. I lost so many positions and just didn’t have any space to move, every time I tried there was another car there which left no room for me. It was the same at every corner on that first lap when I was trying to overtake. What is really frustrating is that my pace today was really really good, the best that I have had since being with the Team, and definitely enough to put me in the points. The long and short run is feeling so great which was the complete opposite before Baku, and even with a little bit of damage to the car today it still felt competitive which is very positive. Towards the end there was an opportunity to pass Isack but Max was fighting for P2 from behind me, so I moved aside as I didn’t want to hold him up which was definitely the right decision for the Team. Looking forward to the rest of the season I will be focusing on bringing together all of the improvements that we have made in the last few races, consistency and extracting grip from the one lap pace will be key.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“Firstly, congratulations to McLaren on their Constructors’ title, we know how hard it is to win championships, so a big well done to everyone there. From our side, Max had a very strong race and was quick enough today to stay in contact with George and hold off the McLarens. We tried everything we could to win the race, we started on the Soft tyre to try our best chance at the start when the conditions were tricky. It was an aggressive decision and a risk we chose to take. After that there was very little possibility to do anything else with the race. It was very tough out there and, after pitting early, Max did an amazing job defending from McLaren to keep the car in second place. It is good to be fighting at the front today, that’s a huge testament to all the hard work that has and is being done back at Milton Keynes and at track. Having increased performance on a track like this gives us confidence that we will be able to fight better at other circuits and it is a good indication of the progress we have made. Yuki had a difficult day, he really suffered on the first lap and dropped back, but from that point on he did a very decent job, worked hard to get back through the order and nearly had a shot at the points. It had not been a good Saturday for him but he is working incredibly hard and we will continue to work with him to improve together.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Second placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Second placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Ferrari

Leclerc got the better start of the Ferrari drivers and found himself running fifth. He lost out to Antonelli after the pit stops, the Mercedes man just too quick to keep at bay. Then the Monegasque ceded position to his team mate, Hamilton on a different strategy in Singapore. The seven-time World Champion had stopped twice as he had a free pit stop window, and ate up the ground to the back of his team mate on fresh rubber. He was let through to chase down Antonelli which he did, only to lose his brakes late on. He allowed Leclerc back through and lost nearly 40 seconds to Alonso over the last couple of laps. He crossed the line just 0.3s ahead of his former team mate, but having already been shown a black and white flag, Hamilton was pinged for exceeding track limits as he struggled to turn his car on the final lap. That was looked at by the stewards, and he was handed a five-second time penalty which dropped Hamilton from seventh to eighth behind Alonso.

Charles Leclerc, 6th

“It was a really difficult race, unfortunately, a reflection of the whole weekend. Right from Friday, we struggled to find the right feeling with the car and we never managed to put everything together in the way we would have wanted. Today, in traffic it was impossible to move forward, as we also had to deal with cooling problems. Sadly, where we finished reflects where we are today.

“Over the past two races we have encountered various difficulties that we must now analyse in detail, so that we can start improving again. The aim is to be better prepared and ready to fight with our main rivals in two weeks’ time in the United States.”

Lewis Hamilton, 8th

“It has been a challenging couple of days but there were definitely some positives to take. I’ve felt good in the car all weekend and we had a strong final third of the race. The Softs gave us great attacking pace and meant I could close down a big gap to the cars ahead, but unfortunately a brake issue cost us the overtake and the chance to score more points.

“We had the potential to be further ahead this weekend, starting from qualifying, so the focus now is on maximising what we have going into Austin and executing cleanly to bring home as many points as possible.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

“First of all congratulations to McLaren for winning the Constructors’ Championship, it’s well deserved. On our side it was a tough weekend. We had a strong start of the weekend and after that we didn’t extract the full potential from the car in quali. In the race, cooling was an issue right from the beginning although when we were in clean air the pace was decent. Over the last 15 laps, Lewis had mega pace, but he pushed so hard to catch up those ahead that in the end he had a problem with the brakes overheating.

“Clearly, the last couple of races, we have been a step behind our rivals. We need to improve the potential of the car and also our overall execution of the race weekend to ensure we are getting the best out of the car and from the drivers, because for sure, results like today’s are frustrating.

“Starting from Austin, we need to get back to being in a position to have good pace throughout the entire weekend.”

Hamilton hit with post-race time penaltyInternal linkGallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Aston Martin

Alonso picked up two places at the start, and looked on for good points until a very slow pit stop. That dropped him down the order, but he pulled off some good overtakes – and livened up the airwaves with some pithy radio messages. He made it all the way back to P8, where he was lying before the pit stop, and came agonisingly close to picking off Hamilton, missing out right on the line by three tenths of a second. But when Hamilton was penalised post-race, Alonso inherited P7. As for Stroll, he was another to hang it out for a Safety Car despite starting on the soft tyre. The Canadian was less impressed with the medium, saying at one point that it felt like it was already 100-laps old.

Fernando Alonso, 7th

“We had a good race tonight and the car was behaving well. I enjoy racing here and it’s very physically demanding too. We showed good pace on both stints and the team made a good call to fit the Medium tyres, as that enabled us to fight back after a slow pit-stop. Hopefully we can score some more points at the remaining rounds of the Championship.”

Lance Stroll, 13th

“No opportunities for us today: we tried to sit it out and waited for a Safety Car that never came. We managed to make the Soft tyre work for 38 laps. The Mediums in the second stint wore off quicker than expected due to traffic, overheating and fighting other cars. It could have gone better for us, but we did the best we could do and we will keep trying. We now look to Texas in two weeks’ time.”

Andy Cowell, Team Principal

“Singapore is known for its Safety Cars and lack of overtaking, but this evening there were no Safety Cars and Fernando and Lance did plenty of overtaking!

“The slightly damp track encouraged us to start both cars on the Softs, which proved to be the right decision as the race played out. Lance did a fantastic job of managing the Softs for 38 laps, holding out for a Safety Car before taking the Mediums to the end, gaining seven places with some great overtakes.

“Fernando also did his overtaking on the track, and P7 this evening saw the fans vote him driver of the day. The team did a great job with tyre decisions, cooling levels and strategy to optimise the race performance. We take encouragement from this and will look to carry this momentum into Austin.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR25 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR25 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Haas

Bearman scored in Singapore for Haas, their first points since Zandvoort. He tangled with Hadjar at the start which could have been worse for the youngster, who only lost one position. From there he ran a superb race, pitting relatively early and then making his tyres last as he climbed back into the points. Ocon’s poor Qualifying yesterday proved costly, the Frenchman starting so far back that he was unable to make much progress through the field on a day where all 20 cars finished.

Esteban Ocon, 18th

“It was always going to be a tough challenge, but we at least gained a position at the start, and we moved up a couple of positions in the first few laps. We were on for catching Lance (Stroll) at some stage, it was getting better through the race. But we stayed out really late and when we boxed, we lost out on everything. We couldn’t recover because of the DRS train that was in front – that was it for the race really. It feels like we’ve had a missed opportunity this weekend.”

Oliver Bearman, 9th

“I’m really happy. After my Lap 1 incident, and dropping to P10, I was then under threat from Nico, who was very fast. In general, I was struggling in my first stint with car balance. We made a good step after the pit stops, and we were looking like P8 potentially with (Fernando) Alonso’s long pit stop but sadly lost that position to him as he was quicker than us today. I’m happy to score points, they’re so important and on a tough track, we executed a great weekend.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“I’m glad that we finally managed to put a weekend together. As a team, this race was difficult, but converting P9 in qualifying to P9 in the race and points was lots of hard work. It was a shame to be overtaken by Alonso, but in the end, he had good pace, and Aston Martin was quick. We executed the weekend well and I’m very happy for all the team, and for Ollie as well. Yes, overtaking in a DRS train is difficult, but Alonso managed to do it, so we need to see whether that’s a car characteristic or what else it is. On Esteban’s side, the positive is that he’s been quick in all practice sessions, so he has the pace. Overall, I’m very happy to be coming away from Singapore scoring two points. In Austin, I’m looking to build on from here – we want both drivers to score points.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Haas F1 VF-25 Ferrari leads Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Haas F1 VF-25 Ferrari leads Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Williams

After a dreadful Saturday, Williams opted to start Sainz from the back of the grid and Albon from the pit lane. The Spaniard’s race was made by his ability to keep his tyres alive, Sainz the very last man to pit for fresh rubber. That left him with a big tyre off-set late on and he attacked, picking off Hadjar to score the final point on offer. Albon also had a solid race, fighting hard with a number of drivers. He couldn’t quite make the same progress as his team mate.

Alex Albon, 14th

“Starting from the pit lane today we knew it was going to be a bit of a test session for us. We did a test setup just for some learnings and it didn’t really work, but that’s okay as we can use that data for future races. We had good pace when we were in clean air, we just got caught up in some blue flags and were stuck in traffic for majority of the race. Even when we did have fresher tyres, we had to wait for the car in front to catch the cars further up, so it was just one of those races where we couldn’t do much, especially with no safety cars. There were a lot of learnings from this weekend, and we will look to tidy everything up for the next weekend out in Austin.”

Carlos Sainz, 10th

“Given the circumstances, we need to be happy and proud about our performance today. It was a straightforward race with no safety cars, but we still managed to progress through the field and grab a valuable point starting from P18. We were able to extend our medium tyre longer than anybody else into the race and once I put the softs on, I was able to do a very fast stint and some strong overtakes on track. We could’ve been fighting higher up the field today but all in all I’m very happy with our race execution. We’ll take the learnings and start preparing for the upcoming races.”

James Vowles, Team Principal

“Congratulations to Carlos on a really strong drive to achieve a point today, and thank you to Alex for working closely on strategy to achieve that result – it really was a team game. We couldn’t have achieved more from our starting position, but that only reiterates my disappointment about our qualifying disqualification because we had a quick car today. I’m looking forward to the remaining six rounds of the season, because we have a competitive car and we’re here to fight for our position in the Championship. Finally, congratulations to McLaren for retaining the Constructors’ Championship – their journey back to the top is an inspiration to us and the benchmark for what we want to achieve.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Tenth placed Carlos Sainz of Spain and Williams talks to the media during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Tenth placed Carlos Sainz of Spain and Williams talks to the media during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Racing Bulls

Hadjar banged wheels with Bearman at the start, which cost him a place to Alonso. From there he drove well to make his soft tyres last, but once he pitted a power issue was detected. That cost him some time, but the rookie recovered just about back to the points despite some frustrated radio messages. But he was powerless to prevent Sainz on much fresher tyres from overtaking him late on. As for Lawson, he ran in the top 10 midway through the race courtesy of a lengthy first stint. But the much-hoped for Safety Car did not come, and he dropped back down the field when he eventually pitted.

Isack Hadjar, 11th

“It wasn’t our day today as we had an issue with the car just before the pit stop. It lasted the whole second part of the race and cost us the points. I was just hoping for the other drivers not to catch up so quickly, but they did, and the blue flags didn’t help us. In the corners we were pretty fast but we lost everything on the straights, so there wasn’t anything more we could do. I’ll be looking together with the team at what happened today and then we’ll switch our focus to Austin, aiming to keep the good momentum started after the summer break.”

Liam Lawson, 15th

“We stayed out most of the race on a set of Mediums and unfortunately ended up behind a train of cars after we boxed. Had we started higher up the grid, we could’ve potentially ended up in the points with our pace, but a tough Quali meant it was going to be tricky from the outset. It’s been a difficult weekend in challenging conditions, but my focus is now on Austin.”

Alan Permane, Team Principal

“A very tough day today for us, and the first time that we’ve been out of the points since Silverstone. We had an issue with Isack’s powertrain, which cost him 0.5s each lap, and to race under those conditions, when everything else is so tight here, makes it virtually impossible. He drove brilliantly and did everything he could, but in the end it proved too much of a handicap to keep the car in the points. For Liam, he had just as tough of a race. He didn’t have the car underneath him that he wanted and struggled with grip and balance. We went very long for him on his first stint, hoping he could take advantage of a Safety Car, but ultimately he didn’t have the pace. We will re-group and absolutely get to the bottom of the issue on Isack’s car, coming back strong in Austin – a track that will definitely suit our car.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Isack Hadjar of France driving the (6) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 02 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Isack Hadjar of France driving the (6) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 02 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Alpine

Gasly started from the pit lane in the end after stopping out on track in Qualifying yesterday, so was always likely to be in for a long evening. He pitted twice too, which did not help his cause. That left Colapinto to fly the flag for the team and the Argentine racer fought hard, climbing up the order before falling back as some drivers used fresh tyres to recover places late on.

Pierre Gasly, 19th

“Today was always going to be difficult especially with the Pit Lane start. I have not been feeling too comfortable in the car recently so we changed set-up and changed floor to try and understand some things further which should benefit us for the future. We knew the race would be complicated and it was nice to have a few battles out there even if it was not for the points paying positions. I know the team is working exceptionally hard at the moment and we all know we are nowhere near where we should be right now. I am confident we can do better in Austin next time out compared to the last few races where the circuit characteristics have not suited our package especially with the lack of grip and bumps that are common on street circuits. We will continue to keep our heads down and keep focusing on improving our current position.”

Franco Colapinto, 16th

“It was a long race with lots of close battles out there, which was fun but, ultimately, we didn’t have the pace and lost some places towards the end on older tyres. I managed to get a good launch off the line and made up places through the opening sequence of corners. We were running quite well in the midfield pack on the Softs at the time and knowing how difficult it is to overtake at this track, we pitted early trying to undercut and use track position to make up places. We tried our best to manage the tyres but with a lot of degradation and having to also move offline for blue flags, it made it difficult to hold off the cars on fresher tyres in the closing laps. It was not what we wanted but we just have to keep pushing and better results will come. I’m looking forward to the next leg of the season in the Americas, which is one of my favourites with incredibly passionate fans.”

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“It has been another tough race for us but we can take some positives from it in the respect we managed to take a bit of a fight to our competitors. Franco had a good start to gain some places on the opening lap and we went aggressive quite early on strategy with an undercut on the cars ahead which required Franco to manage a long stint on Mediums. It had looked promising but he tailed off at the end with the tyres degrading. For Pierre, we opted to change set-up on his car and change his floor, which meant a Pit Lane start. That put him on the backfoot early on but he did a good opening stint to be in that midfield mix which was held up by a train of traffic. After his Hards faded we opted for some laps on Soft at the end where he closed the gap to cars ahead and had the benefit of some low fuel, high grip running. Of course, it is not the end result we ever set out to achieve but there are plenty of positives to take from the entire weekend and we head to Austin feeling more optimistic in our ability to perform on a much more conventional circuit. We can be confident that better days are coming and I am pleased to see the continued work ethic that everyone in this team is applying in a difficult time. Finally, congratulations to McLaren on setting an extremely high bar with their second Championship win in a row.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Alpine F1 A525 Renault on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Alpine F1 A525 Renault on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Kick Sauber

Bortoleto needed a new front wing at his pit stop thanks to some contact at the start, and the resultant slow stop cost him some positions. One tyre almost escaped his pit crew as well, the mechanics just about getting it all back under control. Hulkenberg was running 11th ahead of his team mate but finished behind after a mid-race spin, the German getting in the turbulent air and misjudging his braking point. A stop for some fresh tyres to replace his flat-spotted ones sent him to the back of the pack.

Nico Hulkenberg, 20th

“It wasn’t our day today. Without track position it’s always tough for us, especially on a street circuit like this where overtaking is nearly impossible unless you’ve got a big tyre advantage. In the end, when I got close to Franco (Colapinto), he braked quite early — a bit of a surprise — and I lost a lot of rear downforce, which caused a big lock-up and the spin. We’ll have to review the strategy, but overall, we didn’t quite have the pace this weekend. Still, even on tough days like this, there’s always something to learn and take things forward into the next races.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, 17th

“It definitely wasn’t the best race for us today. I picked up some damage on lap one after contact in Turn One — we went three-wide and unfortunately touched and broke the front wing. This forced us to pit to change it, which cost us some time, and from then on it was always going to be a difficult race. Our pace wasn’t the strongest and, once we fell behind Colapinto, we knew it would be hard to get back past — overtaking here is extremely difficult. I spent most of the race stuck behind him, which also allowed others to close in. Overall, it was just one of those days where things didn’t quite go our way. Still, we’ll take the positives from the weekend, learn what we can, and move on. The team keeps working really hard, both here and at HQ, and we’re all determined to get back to scoring points.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal

“First of all I would like to congratulate McLaren on defending their title. For us, it was an incredibly frustrating race where very little went our way. Starting from P11, I genuinely believe we had the potential to score points today, and we shouldn’t shy away from that. With no safety cars, the race unfolded without many of the usual variables here in Singapore, and not a lot of opportunities. We’ll thoroughly review to make sure we learn from this weekend and take any lessons forward. That’s racing: the great thing about Formula One is that we get to race again in just two weeks.”

Gallery2SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Kick Sauber C45 Ferrari on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 05: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Kick Sauber C45 Ferrari on track during to the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 05, 2025 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“First of all, congratulations to George Russell for the win and to McLaren for the Constructors’ title!

“As for the race, we had yet further confirmation that the current generation of cars has reached such a sophisticated level of development that overtaking is really complicated, especially on a track like Singapore, which by its very nature does not make this an easy task. On top of that, the teams and drivers have become ever more adept at tyre management, to the extent that we saw stints of 50 laps on the Medium and 38 on the Soft. To be honest, even if we had brought a theoretical C8 compound here it wouldn’t have made much difference to how the race unfolded!

“This evening, as we had expected, all three compounds were competitive. At the start, the Soft became an interesting choice, partly because of the rain that fell shortly before the cars went out onto the grid, after which it proved to be very quick, as demonstrated by Hamilton and Sainz as they fought their way back. All in all, the Medium offered the best balance between consistency and performance, but the Hard also delivered good performance.”

More to follow…