Singapore is the race the drivers dread. Two hours under floodlights at Marina Bay, humidity that never lifts, a street circuit of walls and kerbs that gives nothing back. In 2025 it became the first Grand Prix ever declared a Heat Hazard race under Formula 1's new rules, which meant liquid-cooled vests had to be available to every driver. Wearing one was optional. Max Verstappen chose not to. The night belonged to George Russell. From pole position, the Mercedes driver delivered a faultless weekend and his redemption at a circuit that had broken his heart two years before.
RUSSELL'S NIGHT AT MARINA BAY In 2023, Russell had been chasing victory in Singapore when he crashed on the final lap. In 2025 there was no such drama. He controlled the race from the front, built a ten-second cushion within 20 laps, and never let Verstappen close. He called it payback. Verstappen brought the Red Bull home second. Lando Norris completed the podium for McLaren, but only after a first-lap move that caused a stir: Norris dived up the inside of his teammate Oscar Piastri at Turn 1 and the two cars touched. "That's not fair," Piastri said on the radio. McLaren chose not to order a position swap and said it would discuss the incident after the race. Norris kept it simple: "It was good racing."
MCLAREN CROWNED AGAIN Fourth for Piastri was enough to settle the bigger prize. McLaren won the 2025 constructors' championship in Singapore, its second title in a row and the tenth in the team's history, with six races still to run. Only Red Bull in 2023 had ever clinched the title so early. The drivers' championship is far from settled. Piastri's lead over Norris was cut to 22 points, and Verstappen, third in the standings, sits 63 points behind with the American races still to come.
THE REST OF THE FIELD Kimi Antonelli finished fifth for Mercedes, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton had been running fifth when his Ferrari's brakes began to fail; he dropped to seventh and then to eighth after a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. Oliver Bearman scored for Haas in ninth, and Carlos Sainz took the final point for Williams in tenth, two weeks after his podium in Baku. Hamilton carried more than the usual weight. He came to Singapore days after losing Roscoe, the bulldog who had been at his side, and in the paddock, for more than a decade. "It's still very painful and will be forever," he said later.
THE HEAT AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP The Heat Hazard declaration came under a new FIA rule for races where temperatures are forecast to pass 31 degrees. On the night, the air settled nearer 28 degrees, cooler than expected but still heavy with Singapore's humidity, and several drivers, Verstappen among them, raced without the cooling vests. Drivers lose kilograms of body weight over the race distance at Marina Bay, and concentration has to hold through more than 60 laps between the walls. Russell's drive was clean from lights to flag. Verstappen's second place kept him in the fight, and his form since the summer break has McLaren looking over its shoulder. Austin is a sprint weekend, with extra points on offer. Nobody can afford a quiet one.
SINGAPORE RESULT 1 — George Russell, Mercedes 2 — Max Verstappen, Red Bull 3 — Lando Norris, McLaren 4 — Oscar Piastri, McLaren 5 — Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes 6 — Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 7 — Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin 8 — Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari 9 — Oliver Bearman, Haas 10 — Carlos Sainz, Williams
NEXT STOP: AUSTIN From one of the toughest nights of the season, Formula 1 heads to one of its biggest weekends. The United States Grand Prix runs from 17 to 19 October at the Circuit of the Americas, and it is a sprint weekend: Sprint Qualifying on Friday, the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday, the race on Sunday afternoon. Austin has become something more than a race. The city's technology boom has brought money, talent and an audience that treats the weekend as a festival, and COTA leans into it. Kygo headlines the Friday night concert, Garth Brooks plays on Saturday, and Turnpike Troubadours close the weekend after the race on Sunday. In between come fan zones, simulator challenges, pit-stop competitions and enough Texas barbecue to feed the grid. The contrast with Singapore could hardly be sharper. Marina Bay is a street circuit squeezed between buildings. COTA is a purpose-built 5.513-kilometre circuit carved into the Texas hills, with a steep climb to Turn 1 that every driver talks about, and a sequence of fast esses borrowed from the great European tracks.
THE HISTORY AT COTA Formula 1 arrived at the Circuit of the Americas in 2012, and Hamilton won that first race for McLaren. He has made Austin his own since, winning again in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 for Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel won in 2013, Kimi Räikkönen in 2018 and Valtteri Bottas in 2019. Verstappen took three in a row from 2021 to 2023, and Leclerc won for Ferrari in 2024. Leclerc also holds the lap record, a 1:36.169 set in 2019. That list sets up the questions for 2025. Can Verstappen reclaim a circuit he once dominated and keep his slim championship hopes alive? Can McLaren's drivers settle their rivalry on track? Can Hamilton, so often brilliant here, give Ferrari a moment to celebrate? And there is Sainz. Williams carries the colours of the Australian software company Atlassian this season, a sponsor at home in a tech city like Austin, and after Baku the team has a taste for the podium.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER Formula 1's American story has changed beyond recognition. Austin, Miami and Las Vegas now give the sport three races in the United States, each with its own personality. Austin's is the most traditional and, for many fans, the most loved: a proper circuit, a passionate crowd and a city that embraces the weekend. After Singapore's heat, Texas offers a different test. Wider spaces, faster corners, a crowd that wants a show. The championship is still open. Austin is waiting.