Mercedes' George Russell cruised to his second win of the season at the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday as McLaren clinched back-to-back constructors' titles with six races left. Russell won from pole ahead of world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris, who banged wheels with team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri in a robust first-lap passing manoeuvre.
Mercedes' George Russell cruised to his second win of the season at the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday as McLaren clinched back-to-back constructors' titles with six races left.
Russell won from pole ahead of world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris, who banged wheels with team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri in a robust first-lap passing manoeuvre. Piastri, who also had a slow pit stop, finished fourth.
Russell briefly lost the lead during the first round of pit stops but then raced unbothered to the finish line to take his fifth career win. Russell had previously won the Canadian GP this year.
The outcome saw Piastri's lead cut to 22 points over Norris and 63 over Verstappen, while McLaren basked in their second straight constructors' crown which they took at ease with 27 points on the day, having only required 13.
"Pretty awesome. What a great work McLaren have done, everyone here at the track, at the factory. F1 is so competitive, it so hard, so (the title) it's sweet. We will celebrate tonight and then we got a lot of racing to go," McLaren CEO Zak Brown told broadcaster Sky.
Team principal Andrea Stella said: "With six races to go it looks unbelievable but that's thanks to the work of everyone of McLaren."
Norris sees off Piastri in first lap
Russell started from pole position and retained his lead as defending champion Max Verstappen was a bit slow getting away from the line.
Norris overtook the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli at the start before going side by side with Piastri in the dispute for third place.
They came dangerously close to the barriers, but Norris still had some front wing damage after it got caught on the rear of Verstappen's car before he touched wheels with Piastri.
"It was a tough race, Max didn't make any mistakes but I gave it my all today. I'm happy, I got forward two positions and we won as a team the constructors' again so I'm happy," Norris said.
He tried to make a move on Verstappen in the final laps to take second place but the Dutchman resisted the attacks despite saying over the radio that he was struggling.
"The whole race was quite difficult for a few different reasons so we need to understand what went wrong today. For us, second was the maximum result," Verstappen said.
Russell makes up for 2023 debacle
Russell couldn't avoid recalling a potentially missed win in Singapore in 2023.
"Feels amazing, especially after what happened a couple of years ago. So grateful to the team who did an amazing job all weekend. So happy," he said.
Russell saw his chances of victory in Singapore go up in smoke in 2023 after he clipped the wall and crashed into the barriers while hunting down race leader Carlos Sainz and second-placed Norris in the final lap.
The rest of the grid
Antonelli was fifth, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin was eight and Oliver Bearman of Haas and Carlos Sainz of Williams completed the top 10.
Next on the calendar is the Unites States GP in Austin on October 19.
Category: General Sports
