George Russell drove a superb race from pole position to win the Singapore Grand Prix as McLaren secured the Formula One constructors’ championship with six races to go.
Mercedes driver Russell took the chequered flag under the lights of the Marina Bay street circuit 5.4 seconds clear of Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen to claim his second victory of the season.
Lando Norris put pressure on Verstappen towards the end of the race but had to settle for third spot on the podium ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. The pair, however, accrued enough points to seal a second consecutive constructors' title for McLaren and the 10th in the team's history.
Piastri's lead over Norris in the drivers' standings was cut to 22 points, while Verstappen is 63 points behind the Australian with six races remaining in the season.
The celebrations for the team win in the McLaren garage might be muted, however, with Piastri fuming at the way Norris forced his way past his teammate on the opening corner.
Kimi Antonelli crossed the line fifth in a Mercedes, followed by the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10.
Russell's Mercedes was on pole and got away cleanly from Verstappen's Red Bull at the start, but the drama all happened behind.
Norris, from fifth on the grid, darted past Antonelli and dived up the inside of Piastri, who started third, at turn one.
Norris was flying and clipped the back of Verstappen on the way to barging his way into third place in a wheel-to-wheel clash with teammate Piastri.
The championship leader was not impressed.
“That wasn't very team like, but sure,” Piastri said. “So we are cool with Lando just barging me out of the way?”
Piastri was informed by race engineer Tom Stallard that McLaren were looking into it. The stewards were also busy noting the collision but elected against any action.
Stallard was back on the intercom: “As a team we can see that Lando has to avoid Verstappen, so we won't take any action during the race. We can review further afterwards.”
Piastri was not impressed, adding: “Mate, that is not fair. I'm sorry, that is not fair.”
Stallard replied: “Oscar we will have the opportunity to review together afterwards. Focus on this race, mate. We can still get a good result here.”
Piastri bit back: “Yeah, but if he (Norris) has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate, then that is a pretty **** job of avoiding.”
After pitting for hard tyres, the leading four emerged in the same order, though Verstappen was reporting downshift problems with his gearbox that felt “like a handbrake”.
By lap 41 of the 62, Norris had the ailing Verstappen in his sights but found it impossible to get close enough to pass on a Marina Bay Circuit where overtaking is notoriously tricky.
The night race in tropical Singapore was declared the first official Formula One “Heat Hazard”.
That means all drivers had to have liquid-cooled vests available, though wearing them was not mandatory.
However, with the air temperature around 28° Celsius for the night race, rather than the expected 31°, some opted not to use the new equipment, including Verstappen.
The day, however, belonged to Russell. It was a poignant moment for Russell, who crashed on the last lap while fighting for the podium places in Singapore in 2023.
“It feels amazing, especially after what happened a couple of years ago. It was a bit of a missed opportunity, but more than made up for it today,” he said.
