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<\/a><\/p>\nThe race for the championship continues under the lights on Sunday, as Formula 1 returns for what should be an exciting event in the annual Singapore Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
With just 25 points separating the two McLaren drivers at the top of the F1 standings, the tension in the Drivers\u2019 Championship is beginning to mount ahead of Sunday\u2019s crucial Singapore Grand Prix at the spectacular Marina Bay Street Circuit.<\/p>\n
McLaren will be hoping for a much better display after a disastrous showing last time out at the Azerbaijan GP, which saw championship leader Oscar Piastri suffer a first-lap crash.<\/p>\n
Lando Norris was unable to fully capitalise on his teammate and title rival\u2019s misfortune, finishing in a disappointing seventh. Max Verstappen claimed a second successive victory to keep alive the Red Bull driver\u2019s outside hopes of retaining his crown.<\/p>\n
The F1 Singapore Grand Prix will air on ESPN<\/p>\n
What: Formula 1, Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix<\/p>\n
When: Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025<\/p>\n
Where: Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore<\/p>\n
Time: 8 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
TV: ESPN<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the one race on this year\u2019s Formula 1 calendar that Max Verstappen has never won. It could be crucial to his chances of a series comeback.<\/p>\n
Verstappen is at the Singapore Grand Prix following back-to-back wins which have made a fifth consecutive world title go from near-impossible to merely unlikely.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, standings leader Oscar Piastri had an awful weekend at the last race in Azerbaijan, title rival Lando Norris couldn\u2019t capitalize, and their McLaren team has started making mistakes at pit stops.<\/p>\n
Leclerc was fined 10,000 euros ($11,700) for crashing into Norris while leaving his garage during second practice. Norris was pushed into the wall. Norris placed fifth and suggested to the team over the radio that he was frustrated with his own driving.<\/p>\n
The stewards determined Leclerc was given unclear instructions to leave by a team member responsible for his safe conduct who misjudged the situation.<\/p>\n
Piastri led the way in an incident-packed second practice under lights by 0.132 of a second from Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls, while Verstappen was .011 further off as he placed third for the second session running.<\/p>\n
There were two red flags, the first for George Russell hitting the wall and losing the front wing of his Mercedes, the second when Hadjar\u2019s teammate Liam Lawson crashed and stopped his heavily damaged car at the pit lane entry.<\/p>\n
In the daytime first session, Aston Martin\u2019s Fernando Alonso was surprisingly fastest by .150 from Leclerc, with Verstappen .126 further back and Lewis Hamilton in fourth in the other Ferrari.<\/p>\n
As he has done all season, Verstappen played down his title chances, saying he\u2019s just taking things race by race and not thinking about the championship.<\/p>\n
Verstappen is 69 points behind Piastri with seven races to go, and 44 behind Norris. That\u2019s still a big gap but his recent form, combined with glaring errors at McLaren, suggests the momentum has swung.<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s first title in 2021 came down to a controversial last-lap call against Lewis Hamilton, but before that he had a modest lead for much of the season. His titles in 2022 and 2023 were displays of record-breaking dominance. Last year he was the front-runner and Norris the underdog.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little doubt Verstappen has the mindset to chase down the McLarens. \u201cWe all know Max and how dangerous he is when there\u2019s something to grab,\u201d Haas driver Esteban Ocon said.<\/p>\n
After two-time world champion Fernando Alonso went fastest in Friday\u2019s first practice, normality was restored when Piastri and Max Verstappen took top honours in the subsequent two sessions.<\/p>\n
But it was British Mercedes driver George Russell who was the star of qualification with a stunning lap that put him on pole. He\u2019s joined on the front row of the grid by champion Verstappen, with the title chasing McLarens of Piastri and Norris in third and fifth respectively.<\/p>\n
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is always a hot and humid test and temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s today. The track\u2019s twists and turns mean there\u2019s a only a tiny margin for error \u2013 the drivers will certainly know that they\u2019ve been in a race by the time this evening rolls around.<\/p>\n
The Australian has been a picture of consistency in 2025 and currently holds a 25-point lead over his teammate. However, lurking on the periphery is a resurgent Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver won the last two races in Monza and Baku and will be hoping that the inter-team battle between the Papaya duo allows him to sneak into contention.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, tributes have been pouring in this week for Lewis Hamilton\u2019s dog, Roscoe, who was sadly put to sleep last Sunday. The 40-year-old will be hoping to deliver a strong performance this weekend in honour of his beloved bulldog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1 takes on Marina Bay Street Circuit in the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix Sunday at 8…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-475707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115321240575847062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}