Verstappen claims his first win in Singapore. Antonelli on the podium, Ferrari shoots itself in the foot
Hamilton was forced to retire after his tyres wore out: he dropped from third to sixth place. Russell finished ninth, bringing the Italian closer to the world title
Pole, Sprint, Fastest Lap and Grand Prix: a Grand Chelem or Grand Slam ‘enhanced’ by the Sprint: there’s still no official name for the ‘full package’, but perhaps someone from the English-speaking world will come up with one between now and 2027. Verstappen, then, literally on his own as in the old days, wins for the first time in Singapore – a circuit where, until Saturday, he had never even secured pole position – and he does so without putting a foot wrong. Yet on that dry Singapore evening, he got off to a worse start than Leclerc, shut him out at the first corner and from there led unchallenged all the way to the chequered flag, with a lead of around ten seconds. Behind him came Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli. For the Italian, this third place carries significant weight: Russell, who started from the back of the grid due to a power unit change, finished ninth, and Antonelli’s lead in the standings continues to grow. Barring any penalties, in short, he will have his first mathematical chance to clinch the championship at Austin.
Ferrari’s result is a bitter one. Starting from second and third on the grid, the Scuderia returned home with just one driver on the podium – and bad luck had little to do with it. Hamilton started on medium tyres and, on lap 19, was the first in a ‘train’ – the same order as at the start, from first to seventh – to pit: he switched to Softs with the intention of taking them all the way to the end, i.e. for another forty-three laps. Pirelli had predicted that this year the C5 compound could last almost an entire race distance, and for a while the gamble seemed to be paying off. The reality is that he struggled with the medium tyres, whilst for Verstappen they were the secret to his success. Low temperatures and a rubberised track seemed to favour the soft compound as well. But after his pit stop on lap 25, Leclerc returned to the track a hair’s breadth ahead of his team-mate, and Lewis was stuck in his slipstream without finding a clear opening.
The decisive moment came on lap 39, with the second Virtual Safety Car. The pit wall called Leclerc in for a set of new Softs and ‘deliberately’ left Hamilton out, on tyres that already had around twenty laps under their belt. According to the post-race transcripts, it appears to have been the driver’s decision: for once, it wasn’t entirely the pit wall’s fault. However, it was the same pit crew who, shortly afterwards, made it clear to him that they risked not making it to the finish. On lap 47, Leclerc overtook him without Lewis being able to defend his position; he was then overtaken by Antonelli and finally, on the very last lap, by Norris. The stewards even launched an investigation into him for gaining an advantage by going off the track, but they let it go: he had already lost those positions of his own accord.
Hamilton finished sixth, and his performance can be viewed in two ways. With his tyres well and truly worn out, he managed to hold off Piastri right to the finish line – which was by no means a foregone conclusion. However, by not bringing him in under the VSC – when a pit stop would have cost less – Ferrari turned what was likely to be a one-two finish into a third-place finish handed to Mercedes on a plate.
Russell, meanwhile, tries to limit the damage. By the tenth lap he is already thirteenth; on the twenty-third lap he overtakes Ocon and moves within striking distance of the points. Then came the cruel twist: he pitted just as the second VSC ended and, instead of rejoining in seventh, found himself in tenth. He made up one place on Gasly, but the two points for ninth place were of little use against Antonelli’s fifteen.
