George Russell reflects on F1 Singapore GP win and redemption for the lost podium two years back, as Toto Wolff adds on his dominant victory despite mixed confidence.
After his crash in FP2, not many predicted pole for Mercedes’ Russell in F1 Singapore. But he proved everyone wrong by setting two quick laps on Saturday night to take top spot. With Max Verstappen starting on soft, there was potential scare of the Dutchman pouncing, but it wasn’t to be.
Verstappen was in no space to challenge Russell, not just at the start but throughout the grand prix. The Dutchman was in defence mode for most part from Lando Norris. This allowed the Mercedes to have a steady margin on the Red Bull and rest of the F1 field until the end.
Russell felt it was correct of Verstappen to try the soft tyre, which raised some worries but he was confident to hold him off. “I mean, a one hour, 45-minute race here in Singapore, with the heat and humidity, is never smooth and straightforward,” he said. “But when I saw Max on the Soft tyres, I knew I just needed to stay ahead of him at Turn 1. But then the opening laps were really strong, and I know Max was probably managing those Softs more than I was managing my Mediums, but pulling the 10-second gap in 20-something laps was really great.
“And from that moment on, I just knew it was, yeah, bring it home and watch out for the wall at Turn 10. I thought it was a smart move from those guys because if Max jumped me at Turn 1, to be honest, I think he would have won the race, because overtaking was so challenging. You saw Lando was definitely the quickest guy out there, and he just couldn’t pass Max. He was within a second every single lap.
“So if Lando couldn’t get past, I doubt we would have been able to achieve it. So, it was crucial that we nailed the start. It’s been a strong point of mine this year, so I’m glad we did. I think there’s been less tyre overheating this year compared to years gone by. I think it’s a track that in the past had major overheating, but with some of the corners having new tarmac, it’s a bit smoother.
“The tyres seem a little bit more robust this year. It was all just in a bit of a nicer window, but nevertheless, it was still quite a surprise,” summed up Russell, who had some redemption from two years back when he was chasing Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris for a win. He crashed out on the penultimate lap from third and lost his podium chance.
This year, he made sure to be on the mark from start to finish, despite his FP2 crash which hurt his confidence in the final corner. “Yeah, absolutely, I mean, this track has not been my best friend over the years, and that’s often been through my own doing,” continued Russell. “But as I said, yes, I’m a very different driver today to the one I was a couple of years ago, and I feel more complete, more confident.
“I know exactly what I need to do in given circumstances. Of course, I was nervous before the race as you’d expect, but I didn’t feel any additional nerves or any additional pressure. It just felt like another race, and I knew I had a chance to win, and I felt comfortable with that. So, you know, I’ve said it for a while — I feel ready to fight for a championship. I feel ready to take it to my next step.
“I think it comes with experience, just knowing how to maximise every situation. Probably a couple of years ago I was driving a bit more tense and probably over-pushing in circumstances when I shouldn’t have been. Now I just feel much more relaxed. Going into the race, I was relaxed. When it was raining an hour before the race, I just said, you know, it is what it is. It’s the same for everybody.
“There’s nothing I can do, so there’s no point stressing about it. I think myself a few years ago would have been slightly different,” summed up Russell. Team boss Wolff was in praise of the Brit after a dominating performance. He thought both the driver and the car was in-sync and that they hit the sweet spot with the tyres to extract the maximum.
“You tell me,” started Wolff with media. “That was never a nice place for us in terms of car performance, always a great place other than driving. And if you would have told me that we were dominating in the way we did today, I would not have believed it. But from the get-go, on both tyres, driver and car were just in sync and not a bit different.
“Yeah, I think we’ve seen George in the past, these moments, but not recently. That’s a step up that he has made also this year, that these things don’t happen again. He was in control of the race, eking out an advantage, managing it when Max was a bit closer. And there was not at any moment a doubt that there was any risk in his driving,” summed up Wolff.
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-singapore-grand-prix-russell-leads-as-norris-jumps-up-to-p3-on-the-race-start.1845144149468310790
Here’s George Russell after winning: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-singapore-gp-russell-crosses-the-line-to-take-his-second-victory-of-the-season.1845153434966353772
Here’s how F1 Singapore GP panned out
