00:00And the Singapore Grand Prix is underway, let's watch the reaction time, it's not the launch that Max Verstappen was looking for, Oscar Piastri playing it safe, Lando Norris has got himself up to fourth position, might be third position, he's side by side with his teammate and Oscar Piastri is millimeters away from the wall as Lando Norris gets by in a crucial move for the world championship and is the damage to one of the McLarens.
00:26Yeah I think they touched actually, there was definitely a little jump from Piastri's car and that would indicate to me, and it looks like the front wing end plate might be a little bit damaged on Lando.
00:36Yeah Norris has a damaged front wing end plate where he's had that brush with Piastri, got an amazing launch, got feisty in the first couple of corners, how badly will that affect him because we've seen some cars actually lose that part entirely for a race and it not slow him down and Norris is now heads down looking at Verstappen.
00:51Isaac Hadjar got past Fernando Alonso to reclaim the eighth position that he lost, there's low grip out there and it's Max Verstappen trying to fire up those tyres.
01:00Charles Leclerc climbed two places, he's up to P5, Lando Norris said he had a contact, keep an eye on everything especially, keep an eye on that front wing end fence.
01:10This is on board with Lando Norris, he's got his teammate on the right hand side, super aggressive into this one, he hit, he hit Max Verstappen.
01:18So are we cool with Lando disparaging me out of the way or what's the go there?
01:24So we're looking at it, let me get back to you.
01:25Oh come on guys.
01:26So there you know what that is, you know what that is, it's like well hold on we should reverse positions.
01:32Let's cut back to Charles Leclerc, look at all the guys on the inside, Hamilton goodbye we're going to pass him, Antonelli is now struggling as well from the inside.
01:39So Verstappen then just using the soft to hold position, even further back the guys were struggling away, that's a nice move from Leclerc.
01:45Now we'll look forward, that is in the realm of hard racing on the first lap.
01:51No further action from the stewards, as a team we can see Lando has to avoid Verstappen, so we won't take any action during the race, we can review further afterwards.
02:00Mate that's not clear, I'm sorry that's not clear.
02:02Oscar will have the opportunity to review together afterwards, focus on this race mate, we can still have a good result here.
02:09Yeah but if he has to avoid another car by crashing into his teammate then that's a pretty good job of avoiding.
02:16Lando the gap to Oscar is 4.7, he's going to have to pit soon to cover Leclerc, are you willing to let Leclerc pit, sorry let Oscar pit the lap before you?
02:26Yep, no I would not.
02:28And McLaren hoping that this time it's a good stop for Lando Norris.
02:33It's an identical scenario to Monza, this time Norris has said no, don't pit me second just in case, pit me first, take no chances, and he'll cover off Piastri who will have to pit on the next lap as well, and it's a clean stop, this time for Norris too.
02:47Oh they were looking for that, they really were looking for the clean stop, 2.1 is exactly what he needed, as you can see Max Verstappen making his way by into the braking zone of turn number one.
02:57He's got the track position, Norris has the fresher tyres.
03:01Okay listen carefully, we have an engine issue, 3, 2, 4, 10, sell up.
03:04Wait what the hell is wrong with this engine again?
03:06Hello from downtown, that's a late braking move for Oliver Behrman who kept it within the white lines.
03:18Beautifully positioned it, he'll be looking for some slick work, not quick, not quick, we've talked so much about Lando Norris' slow pit stops, 5.2.
03:26They've got this issue where their equipment doesn't seem to be firing, it's the left rear, there we go, finally we can see it behind the front.
03:35There's another front right issue, that wheel gun not giving that mechanic love.
03:40That's really going to cost Fernando Alonso, 9.2.
03:43I think if I was his race engineer I'd be unplugging the radio at this point.
03:4734 to go.
03:52If you speak to me every lap I will disconnect already.
03:55I'm going to ask Palmer for the lottery numbers in a minute.
03:59It's going to be turn 14, this is where Lando Norris nearly came a cropper last year and a lock up for Verstappen.
04:05So Fernando Alonso had that slow stop that put him behind Isaac Hadjar, but Hadjar has a problem with his engine and Alonso's in the DRS zone.
04:19Alonso's trying to move ahead and take the position but he hasn't got the inside line and that shows you how hard it is to overtake around here.
04:27He's got a softer compound, a tyre on, the car ahead has a problem and still he can't fight his way by.
04:32Yeah, Hadjar there, he's just being totally compromised.
04:35You can see the clear signal off the back of his car to tell Alonso that he's not getting full deployment.
04:42Defending hard though.
04:44Well, if I mention the yellow nose of Verstappen being a tiger, Fernando Alonso has won as well and here he goes.
04:49Squirreling all over the road as he applied the power.
04:51He's got more of it than Hadjar has and Fernando Alonso gets by.
04:56Trophy for the hero of race.
04:58Obviously calling out Hadjar for defending so aggressively with clearly an issue with his car.
05:08Further battling out of the points includes Kolopinto in 15th and it's Hulkenberg ahead of Bortoleto, Gasly and there's debris there on the racetrack.
05:17And there might be more if you go side by side through that turn.
05:19It's getting very, very tight between the Alpine and the sauber of Bortoleto, Gasly trying to rescue something from his weekend.
05:28Nico Hulkenberg following into turn seven and is, no, I wondered if that was the moment.
05:33I wonder if it is Hulkenberg. Is it going to be on the exit here? There it is.
05:37And this was the lockup for Alex Albon battling up against Fernando Alonso.
05:41A new set of tyres for Albon.
05:43And finally, he's just come into the pits to get rid of that set of mediums.
05:48It just seems that that dirty air, turbulent air we've been talking about is just enough.
05:52Oh, off the road goes Hulkenberg.
05:55And that's been threatening to happen for a number of laps now.
05:58Crucially, he keeps the car running.
06:02Coming from a long way back if he's just going for this.
06:04Oh, it is. It's a rear lock early on in the braking.
06:07Yeah, I think he might have been slightly surprised by the entry speed of the Alpine.
06:14So we have Antonelli chasing down Charles Leclerc.
06:17He's been within DRS for a while now.
06:20And there is the first offensive move for Max Verstappen.
06:23Verstappen versus Norris for second position.
06:26And for the first time, Verstappen had to drive on his mirrors.
06:31So this is going to be the overtake that Antonelli did many moons ago on Charles Leclerc.
06:35Oh, lovely, lovely stuff.
06:38How about that? Late lunge again.
06:40He's made that a habit of his rookie season.
06:43He was in contention a couple of years ago.
06:46But in 2025, George Russell wins the Singapore Grand Prix.
06:52He'll take the checkered flag ahead of Max Verstappen in second.
06:55And McLaren will cross the line in third and fourth.
06:59McLaren will retain their crown.
07:01They are the Constructors' Champions of 2025.
07:06McLaren, World Champions once again.
07:10Yes, mate.
07:11Well done.
07:12Woo!
07:12Well weakened.
07:14Well done.
07:14Oh, yeah.
07:15Come on.
07:16Come on.
07:18George, that was mega today.
07:20Driver-car combination.
07:22Perfect.
07:23I'm pretty tired, man.
07:24I didn't drink, I couldn't, I felt too bad.
07:27But who cares?
07:28We all won another World Championship for McLaren.
07:32For George Russell, when the Mercedes isn't always the fastest car, you have to take your chance.
07:37And he has done so.
07:39The satisfaction of a great year, now featuring two Grand Prix victories.
07:44And that helps Mercedes in their quest to seal second in the Constructors' Championship.
07:502024 and 2025.
07:53It's McLaren who have swept all before them out of the way to claim the largest trophy at the end of the season.
08:00There will be celebrations for Zac Brown, for Andrea Stella.
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