#F1 #SingaporeAirlines #SingaporeGP 2025 Preview.
Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2024 Race Start, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore, Singapore. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2025 Singapore GP Preview, Singapore Grand Prix Preview, F1 Singapore GP Preview, 2025 F1 Singapore Preview, Formula 1 Singapore Preview.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – After Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory at the Azerbaijan GP as championship title contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris faltered with the Australian crashing out on the opening tour and Norris failing to capitalise on his team-mate’s DNF to wound up seventh, round 18 of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the to the streets of Marina Bay in Singapore under the lights this weekend for the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2025. This will be the sixteenth running of the Singapore Grand Prix as part of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. This is the weekend where McLaren can secure their 10th World Constructor’s title and back-to-back titles 2024-25.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – A look at the Marina Bay Street Circuit
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a street circuit around Singapore’s Marina Bay in a harbour-side similar in style to the Circuit de Monaco (Monaco Grand Prix). The circuit is designed by KBR.inc, a modification of the original one first proposed by Hermann Tilke.
It is a twisty circuit that is the slowest in Formula 1 running at normal race distance above 305 kilometres (190 miles) which features walls leading to frequent safety cars, regularly nudging the race distance above two hours. The bumpiness, heavy braking zones, lack of daylight and humidity makes the 61-lap race very demanding for both man and machine. It has some 90-degree turns, but is pretty variable, featuring technical sections and quick direction changes. Overtaking is mostly done at the end of the first sector, where top speeds are at their highest. Runoff areas exist at the end of the long straights but are very short by Formula 1 standards. At most parts of the circuit, cars run very close to the walls.
The Marina Bay Street Circuit has undergone a couple of changes since being part of the Formula 1 Calendar since 2008 including a slight re-profiling of the circuit in 2009 where turns 1, 2 and 3 were modified to aid overtaking and also turn 10 (formerly Singapore Sling) where high kerbs caused many accidents. In 2013, a configuration change of the “Singapore Sling” turn 10 with a single apex left hand bend which has seen corner entry speeds up to 40km/h faster. This year it has undergone minor changes ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the modifications run from turn 11 to 13; drivers will still turn right at turn 11 but it will now kink to the left slightly on entry with the track shifting to the left-hand side of Fullerton Road. This will change the profile of turn 12, as drivers will now use the other side of Anderson Bridge while the turn 13 hairpin has been widened by a metre to increase overtaking opportunities.
Following a modification before this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, a long straight on Raffles Avenue replaces corners 16-19, bypassing the technical Float sequence. Previously turn 20, turn 16 is now a massive braking point, turning hard right before slinging back left for the 17th corner. How fast the cars approach turn 18 is determined by the turn 17 exit, therefore most of the drivers will exit turn 17 within millimetres to the wall to gain a speed advantage. The run down towards turn 18 passes the 165 metre (541 foot) tall Singapore Flyer, where turns 18 and 19 are taken flat-out at about 180 kph (110 miles per hour) before getting on the throttle again towards the main-straight across the start/finish line.
While in Monza the cars ran in a low downforce configuration, Singapore requires a high downforce configuration. The cars run at 46% full throttle over a lap and the circuit is one the least fuel-efficient races of the year due to its stop-start nature. Marina Bay is also very tough on brakes, with about a quarter of the lap spent braking and while wear is not a major difficulty, problems are caused by the temperatures the brakes reach due to a lack of opportunities for cooling.
The Marina Bay Street Circuit is 4.928km (3.062mi) in length with 19 corners and runs in an anticlockwise direction.
Race distance is 308.706km (191.821mi) in length with 62 laps in total.
Sebastian Vettel holds the record for most victories at the Singapore Grand Prix with five to his name.
Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful constructor in Singapore with five victories to their name.
The fastest lap of the Marina Bay Street Circuit was set by Daniel Ricciardo at the 2024 event with a 1:34.486 in his Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team Honda-RBPT VCARB01 racer.
Last season’s pole position lap time was set by Lando Norris in his McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes MCL38 racer with a 1:29.525.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2024: Lando Norris, McLaren Mercedes. 2023: Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari. 2022: Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing. 2021-20: Not Held. 2019: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Marina Bay, the softest compounds in its range; the white-side walled P Zero C3 Hards, the yellow-branded P Zero C4 Mediums and the red-marked P Zero C5 Soft tyre along with the green-marked Intermediate and blue-branded full wet tyre in case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the C5 softs, three sets of the C4 mediums and two sets of the C3 hards.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be three DRS Zones at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the first detection point is turn four with the initial activation zone 48 metres after turn five. The second detection point is 102 metres before turn 13 with the second activation zone 78 metres after turn 13. The third detection point 105 metres after the apex of turn 17 with the third activation zone at the exit of turn 19.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – Pit-Lane Speed Limits
Pit-lane Speed Limits are 60km’s during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen cruises to dominant Azerbaijan GP victory as Piastri crashes
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant Azerbaijan GP victory ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell who took second and Carlos Sainz who scored his first podium for Williams. Championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed out on the opening lap after an horrific start as his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris came home seventh to cut the Australian’s advantage in the World Drivers’ Championship standings.
This was Verstappen’s 67th-career victory as the Dutchman lead a flawless drive from beginning-to-end whilst the situation in the Constructor’s Championship – McLaren’s title celebrations were put on ice after today’s Grand Prix and will most likely be wrapped up in Singapore next time round.
In terms of the World Driver’s Championship, Piastri holds a 25-point advantage over Norris (324-299) as they head to Marina Bay in a fortnight.
When the 51 lap Azerbaijan GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen got a great start into turn one covering Sainz as further behind them championship leader Piastri had a poor start falling to the back of the pack.
Mercedes’ George Russell made a late dive up the inside of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda at turn three whilst Piastri suffered a heavy crash after suffering a front-left lock-up and went straight into the wall at turn five bringing out the safety car.
Both MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Alexander Albon both took the opportunity to pit for a set of the C5 yellow-branded mediums.
The top ten order under the safety car was as follows: Verstappen, Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli, Russell, Tsunoda, Hadjar, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton.
Replays showed Piastri jumped the start and the Australian immediately stopped and then everyone went past as he restarted his procedures. Then crashed at turn five.
The McLaren driver also suffered anti-stall whilst on the grid as the cars flew past into the opening corner.
Ocon pitted a second time to put on another set of the C3 white-branded harder tyres.
Further replays showed contact between Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Ocon.
Stewards noted the jump starts for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who was up to 11th and also Piastri.
When the safety car came in to begin the fifth tour, race leader Verstappen waited right until the safety car line to get a brilliant run to turn one, getting a good gap between him and Sainz.
Behind them Russell got it horribly wrong and dropped back behind Tsunoda in sixth place after the former has a brief fight with team-mate Antonelli.
Leclerc also made his way ahead of Norris to move up to seventh as Alonso was hit with a five grid-placed-penalty for his jump start.
Lap six saw Verstappen’s lead at 1.280 seconds over Sainz with Lawson third, Antonelli fourth, Tsunoda fifth, Russell sixth, Leclerc seventh, Norris moved up into eighth passing Hadjar around the outside into the opening corner as the Frenchman managed to cover Hamilton to keep the other Ferrari in tenth.
On the seventh tour – Verstappen lead increased to 1.5 seconds, with Sainz having Lawson and Antonelli in DRS range for company behind. Behind Tsunoda is holding up a frustrated Russell, who was weaving and trying to find a way past the RB21. Leclerc had two seconds to get to the back of that fight, as Hadjar continued to somehow hold up his childhood hero Hamilton in the SF-25.
Lap eight – Sun and cloud were overhead, no sign of any rain just yet at this stage of proceedings. But there was more than enough jeopardy on the track. Verstappen could not pull a bigger gap on Sainz, in fact the Williams man had pulled back a couple of tenths on the Dutchman. Hamilton then made his way ahead of Hadjar to move up into ninth place.
On lap nine – Tsunoda was holding up Russell beautifully and had not put a foot wrong in defence of the Mercedes. But this was allowing the front four to getaway.
Verstappen set a new fastest lap to pull back a few tenths on the Spaniard, but Sainz was still holding Lawson at bay himself.
Lap 10 in the battle for fifth, Russell with DRS assistance made a move around the outside of Tsunoda to reclaim the place from the Japanese driver.
Out-front, Verstappen’s gap to Sainz on the 11th lap was at 2.4 seconds with Lawson holding third, Antonelli and Russell fourth and fifth respectively, Tsunoda sixth, Leclerc seventh, Norris eighth, Hamilton ninth whilst Hadjar rounded out the top ten as the teams were reporting the rain could hit in 20 minutes.
On the 13th lap, gaps were starting to form on track – there was a small gap behind tenth-placed Hadjar, and also behind Alonso with Colapinto holding up a train of back markers.
The gap behind Alonso was not far off the pit stop window for Verstappen at this stage of proceedings.
The current situation on lap 14 for championship contender Norris – was how much can he dent into his team-mate’s championship lead today? P8 is only worth four points, and that is not enough.
Piastri’s lead was 31-points so he will remain in the Championship lead regardless today, but Norris had been presented a golden chance today to really steal some points back on the Australian.
Lap 15 – with a view to getting a pit window, Verstappen continued to charge and now had a 3.9 second lead over second-placed Sainz, who was doing very well on those used C5 medium compounds.
Behind Lawson, the Mercedes boys were starting to squabble – will Russell start calling to be let through and passed the Italian? Both were in the DRS range of the VCARB02.
On the 16th lap – in the battle for the final podium place – Lawson was looking good so far, but could not break away from Antonelli, but nor has he given him a chance. Russell was there too, so could Mercedes pull off a trick.
Albon pitted again for hards – which should see the Thai-Briton driver through to the end providing no safety cars etc.
The 17th tour – Russell was pushing for a swap with Antonelli, but Mercedes were yet to confirm or commit to it. So Antonelli remained fourth ahead of his team-mate, both were in DRS range of Lawson and the final podium place up for grabs.
Behind them, Hamilton had just had to save a sliding moment, coming so very close to the walls.
And even further back, Albon and Colapinto have come together and sent the Alpine into a spin.
On lap 19, Antonelli pitted from fourth for a fresh set of C4 hards to allow Russell to attack Tsunoda and the Italian came out in 12th place behind Alonso.
Lap 20 saw Leclerc pit from sixth to get out of the Tsunoda train for his new set of hards to emerge in 11th place behind Antonelli.
Albon was given a 10-second time penalty for his collision with Colapinto.
Lawson stopped from third for his fresh set of hards as it released Russell into the position and the RB driver came out just in-front of Antonelli in tenth place to hold that net third place once the cycle of pit-stops come through.
Lawson kept weaving to try and get temperature into those harder compounds and managed to keep the Mercedes at bay into turn three.
On lap 22, Antonelli then made his way ahead of Hadjar to move up into ninth place with DRS.
The 23rd tour – plenty was going on behind, but up-front, race leader Verstappen had led this one from the beginning. The reigning world champion built a 6.7 second lead over Sainz, who had been running a very solid race in second place. Sainz was on C5 medium rubber as well, so was running well to keep his tyres going at this stage.
Russell was 4.1 seconds back in third, in-front of Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton.
On lap 24 – Alonso had served his five-second time penalty for his jump start and pitted for hards and was down in 18th behind Albon, who was yet to serve his 10-second time penalty at this stage.
Antonelli in ninth was the first car on track to have pitted, ahead of Lawson and Leclerc.
The situation with Sainz on lap 25 – the Spaniard in second could either run long and try to have a tyre offset later on, or pit sooner to avoid the undercut risk with Antonelli behind having already stopped. Russell behind was closing in, and there was still the risk of rain.
At the halfway point of the Grand Prix, Verstappen’s gap to Sainz was at 8.424 seconds with Russell third, Tsunoda fourth, Norris fifth, Hamilton sixth, Hadjar seventh as Antonelli picked off Bortoleto for eighth whilst Lawson completed the top ten runners.
Bortoleto on the 27th lap stopped from ninth and emerged in 16th place behind Gasly as the Brazilian bolted on a set of C5’s on his C45 entry.
A tour later, Sainz pitted from second for his fresh set of C4’s and came out in sixth place behind Hamilton and crucially ahead of Hadjar and Antonelli with his 2.6 second stop – with the top five runners still yet to stop as the teams were watching the weather closely.
On lap 29 – Three of the hard-running starters were in the top three at this stage. Verstappen’s gap out front was 12 seconds over Russell, with Tsunoda having a strong race in third. They all still need to pit.
Norris was up to fourth on his C5 mediums, in-front of Hamilton who had Sainz six seconds behind as now the lead car to have pitted.
Hadjar then came in on lap 30 from seventh to put his fresh set of C4 harder rubber to be in ninth place behind Leclerc.
On lap 31 – Verstappen in the lead, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris and Hamilton have all yet to stop. All but Norris were on the harder tyres.
No sign of the rain at this stage, as Russell reported to the team on the radio to say his tyres felt good and they should “just keep extending.” the team agreed with the Briton.
Lap 32 – Verstappen was in total control at this stage, but the podium spots were up for grabs. Sainz lead Antonelli by 3.5 seconds with an offset, so the Spaniard was looking good.
But it was all going to depend on how long Russell and Norris could extend their stints, and how much pace they’ll have at the end. And Tsunoda could not be discounted also.
On the 33rd tour – Verstappen still held the lead and there was no signs of any pit stops for the top five at this stage, with the drivers potentially extending for when the rain might arrive,
Lap 34 – Norris was the only front runner on the mediums – they were a fresh set. But the McLaren driver could not find a way past Tsunoda and had fallen 1.7 seconds behind the Red Bull driver.
Fourth would be 12 points, which would be handy in the Championship fight with team-mate Piastri.
On the 35th lap – Leclerc was pushing on in the fight for eighth and had DRS in his battle with Lawson, but he could not find a way past the VCARB02. Lawson was now 5.7 seconds back on Antonelli, so that podium does look to have disappeared up the road for the Kiwi.
And Sainz’s pace was genuine, as Antonelli had not really closed the gap on the Williams driver.
On lap 37 – Hamilton stopped from sixth for his fresh set of mediums and emerged in ninth behind team-mate Leclerc.
Lap 38 – fourth-placed Norris was told to box and when he came in – the Briton suffered a slow 4.1 second pit-stop for his fresh set of hards and came out behind both Lawson and Leclerc in eighth place.
A tour later – Tsunoda pitted from third for his new set of the C5’s and came out just ahead of Lawson and on the run-down to turn three Lawson made his way ahead of the Japanese driver to take fifth place.
On the 40th lap – Russell boxed for his set of the medium rubber and came out 1.975 seconds ahead of Sainz to remain in second as further behind them Leclerc managed to keep a charging Norris behind into turn one to hold seventh.
Lap 41 – race leader Verstappen finally pitted for his fresh set of the C5’s to keep his solid lead and in the battle for seventh – Norris with DRS on the main-straight and fresher rubber made his way past Leclerc to take the position from the Ferrari.
Albon reported on the radio light rain at turn 16 on the 42nd lap.
On lap 43 – Hamilton switched positions with Leclerc to try and catch up to the Lawson, Tsunoda and Norris train up ahead.
Lap 44 – Russell was now in Sainz’s race. This was all about holding Antonelli at bay. The gap was sitting at 1.4 seconds, and Sainz’s tyres were nine laps fresher. Both were on the harder compounds.
Further back, a DRS train was forming behind Lawson – who did well in the early stages to hold some faster cars behind and needs to do the same to hold onto a season-best fifth.
On lap 45 – Tsunoda had a close look on Lawson into turn one, but the former covered the latter whilst out-front – Verstappen posted another fastest lap on his medium tyres, and he was cruising.
With five laps remaining – Verstappen’s lead over Russell was 14.137 seconds with Sainz holding third, Antonelli fourth, Lawson fifth, Tsunoda sixth, Norris seventh, Hamilton eighth, Leclerc ninth as Hadjar completed the top ten.
The weather was holding off – for now at this stage. And Hamilton was in DRS range. This was now a four-car fight for fifth place. Lawson from Tsunoda (those two fighting for their F1 futures), Norris fighting for the Championship and Hamilton battling for form.
On lap 48 – Sainz was still holding Antonelli at bay and only had four more laps to survive. Verstappen and Russell have cleared away.
Lawson still managed a good first corner, and a good exit. He had no DRS and yet was defending brilliantly.
With three laps remaining – Lawson again made it through the first four corners ahead of his little train of cars to keep a-hold of fifth place.
Verstappen crossed the line on the penultimate lap, 13.4 seconds in-front of Russell, and had likely turned his engine down and was heading for a second straight victory following his success in Monza last-time out. This would be his second win at this circuit, after his triumph in 2022.
Sainz was 1.7 seconds ahead of Antonelli whilst again, Lawson held on.
Verstappen reached the chequered flag to take his seventh-victory of the season 14.609 seconds clear of Russell as Sainz completed the top three in his first podium for Williams.
Antonelli finished fourth and ahead of Lawson who took fifth and Tsunoda who placed sixth in the classification.
Championship contender Norris was seventh and in-front of Ferrari duo Hamilton and Leclerc who ended the race eighth and ninth respectively whilst Hadjar rounded out the top ten.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – The Situation
The 2025 season resumes this weekend with the Singapore Grand Prix under the bright lights on the streets of Marina Bay.
A disastrous weekend for McLaren last time out in Baku saw championship leader Oscar Piastri’s World Driver’s Championship lead cut to 25 points over team-mate Lando Norris, whilst Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinching a second-consecutive victory to ignite hope of a large charge towards title-contention.
Having missed the chance to wrap up the Constructor’s title at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a record number to spare, McLaren almost appear certain to confirm their retention of the title in Singapore.
Mercedes must outscore the Woking based-squad by 31 points to remain in mathematical contention, whilst Ferrari need to outscore them by 35 points.
Piastri returns to Marina Bay sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 324 points and a 25 point-advantage over McLaren team-mate Norris who is second on 299 points whilst Verstappen is a further 69 behind the Australian in third on 255 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team come to Singapore comfortably at the top of the Constructors Championship with 623 points and a massive 333 point-lead over nearest rival Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team who are second on 290 points whilst Scuderia Ferrari are third and a further 337 behind the Woking based-outfit on 286 points.
2025 Singapore GP Preview – F1 Quickfire News
- Reigning world champion Max Verstappen alongside team-mate Chris Lulham scored victory at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with the former winning on debut in a Ferrari 296 GT3 for Verstappen.com Racing in the ninth round of the NLS (Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie).
- Scuderia Ferrari driver Sir Lewis Hamilton announced his beloved dog Roscoe had passed away a few days after being admitted to hospital due to serious illness. Our thoughts and prayers are with the seven-time world champion.
- Former MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean admitted he was overcome with emotion as he drove a Formula 1 car for the first time at the Mugello Circuit in a TPC test since the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix when the Frenchman crashed through the barrier.
- Formula 1 announced on the 16th of September the six races that will host a Sprint round in the 2026 campaign which include the Chinese (March 13-15), Miami (May 1-3), Canadian (May 22-24), British (July 3-5), Dutch (August 21-23) and Singapore (October 9-11) Grands Prix.
- The award-winning Formula 1 Exhibition will open its doors in November at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia beginning on 29 November 2025.
- On September 16, the FIA and Formula 1 announced the race start times for the 24-round 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar which you can see here: Official Grand Prix start times for 2026 F1 season confirmed
Click here for Formula 1 2025 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2024 weekend begins Friday October 3 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 4 and the 61 lap Race Sunday October 5.
