Russell on song at Singapore street circuit
Six races remain in a closely fought championship.
George Russell (Mercedes) drove an impeccable race to win the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit.
He was 5.4 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) at the chequered flag, but there was nothing Verstappen could do about it, for pretty much the entire race.
In third position, just half a second behind Verstappen came Lando Norris (McLaren) after a pushy drive, where he was not able to get past Verstappen but not for lack of trying.
In fourth place came Oscar Piastri (McLaren), two seconds behind his teammate.
His was a good race but he was disappointed in an altercation with Norris on the first lap which to me seemed like a racing incident and nothing more.
Another 25 seconds down the road came Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes).
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was next in sixth place while Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) did a great job to get into seventh spit, only five seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) in the second prancing horse.
Hamilton had passed Leclerc earlier but had a difficult race and incurred an infringement penalty for speeding under the yellow flag.
Oliver Bearman (Haas) drove hard all weekend and did well to come in eight seconds after Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz (Williams) took the last point in tenth place, just keeping Isack Hadjar (Racing Bull) out of the points.
It seems as though both Red Bull and Mercedes have made up some of their performance disadvantage to the McLarens, but we need to compare performances after some of the faster races to come.
I believe that McLaren’s ‘trick advantage’ comes from their particular application of ground effects aerodynamics.
Somehow, the cars from Woking appear to run a little closer to the ground, without causing an infringement.
Only time will tell the secret of their advantage and how the competition can make up their difference.
In two weeks’ time we move over to the circuit of the Americas for the first of the United States grand prixs. It should be very interesting to see what happens there.
Six races remain – USA, Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
DRIVERS
1 Oscar Piastri 336
2 Lando Norris 314
3 Max Verstappen 273
4 George Russell 237
5 Charles Leclerc 173
6 Lewis Hamilton 125
7 Kimi Antonelli 88
8 Alexander Albon 70
9 Isack Hadjar 39
10 Nico Hulkenberg 37
CONSTRUCTORS
1 McLaren 650
2 Mercedes 325
3 Ferrari 298
4 Red Bull 290
5 Williams 102
6 Racing Bull 72
7 Aston Martin 68
8 Kick Sauber 55
9 Haas 46
10 Alpine 20
HAVE YOUR SAY
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