Brundle Calls Norris's Lunge on Piastri 'A Lunge Too Far' as Verstappen Rules Singapore
Max Verstappen and Red Bull owned the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, with the Dutchman winning both the Sprint and the Grand Prix from pole position — a result that, combined with his victory in Sepang a few days earlier, made it three wins in a row. Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle gave his verdict on an action-packed few days at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Brundle noted it was a full-on weekend, with a Sprint added to the street circuit schedule at the end of a demanding run of six Grands Prix in seven weeks, and a record combined crowd of more than 300,000 underlining the event’s appeal. He also flagged that unusually poor air quality caused by crop burning in neighbouring countries took some of the shine off the occasion.
Russell’s Sprint crash sums up his season
After a surprise storm delay and a couple of laps behind the Safety Car, the Sprint finally got under way. George Russell made an impressive start to take the lead from second on the grid, but carried too much speed and throttle into the pit straight at the end of the opening lap, spinning into the concrete barriers.
With major power unit penalties already looming for the Grand Prix, Brundle argued this was Russell’s best opportunity to make an impact, and that the images of him sliding across the white line and wet kerbs felt like a fitting summary of his season so far. That left Verstappen out in front, with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari keeping him honest while Charles Leclerc began to drop back as he struggled more than most with his worn intermediate tyres.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris kept a close watch in their McLarens, with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes also drawn into the battle. Brundle observed there was little incentive to take unnecessary risks with the main qualifying session and Grand Prix still to come.
Norris’s overtake attempt on Piastri ‘a lunge too far’
Norris had other ideas. Heading into Turn 5 on the final lap of the Sprint, having seemingly been sizing up the move for several laps, he sliced down Piastri’s right-hand side to claim the corner. The pair touched and spun in a synchronised pirouette, with Piastri’s car hitting the wall.
Brundle was blunt in his assessment of the move. “Whilst there was a gap against his team-mate, who could perhaps have given more space assuming he even saw it coming, it was a risky move and a lunge too far from Lando,” he wrote, adding that McLaren team bosses were understood to be “extremely unhappy with that one.”
He noted McLaren are now in a battle with Red Bull for third in the championship when not so long ago they were catching Ferrari for second — positions that mean huge prize money for 2027 along with kudos, pitlane position and likely partner bonuses. The only consolation was that Norris recovered for a point in eighth. Through the chaos, Antonelli steered nicely around everything to claim a fortunate third from seventh on the Sprint grid, extending his championship lead yet again.
Verstappen had all bases covered
Having never taken pole position in Singapore before, Verstappen followed up his Sprint success by securing pole for the main race. Brundle noted that the data suggested either Ferrari could have claimed pole had they extracted the full potential from their laps, but that Leclerc — who came close to beating Verstappen to the first corner — was squeezed into submission by the Red Bull driver’s fresh set of soft tyres.
Out front, Verstappen had the Grand Prix firmly under control. Although Leclerc kept him honest early on, the Dutchman eventually built a comfortable gap, giving Red Bull greater flexibility with its strategy and the freedom to react calmly to rival tactics or a potential Safety Car.
Brundle also reserved praise for Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, who finished seventh in the challenging conditions at Sepang the previous week, followed that up with fifth in the Singapore Sprint and then secured another seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Grand Prix — the highest-placed driver outside the top four teams across a demanding run of races.
Hamilton’s costly one-stop call
Hamilton started on a fresh set of medium tyres but began to struggle as the race progressed. Apparently on a clear two-stop strategy, he pitted as early as lap 18 for soft tyres, but then did not stop again despite the opportunity for a relatively cheap pit stop under a Virtual Safety Car when Lance Stroll’s stricken Aston Martin had to be cleared from the circuit.
Hamilton then endured a relentless slide down the order, eventually losing fifth place to Piastri’s McLaren in the closing stages, despite the Australian having made an unscheduled stop for a slow puncture. After the race it emerged that switching to a one-stop strategy — requiring him to complete 44 laps on the same tyres — had been Hamilton’s own decision, and he apologised to the team for the call.
“It is difficult to run a modern F1 car and manage the team’s strategy from behind the wheel, and the incident was telling,” Brundle wrote, noting that Ferrari had seemingly expected Hamilton to pit under the VSC.
Verstappen’s victory lifted him to fourth in the standings, eight points behind Hamilton and 17 behind second-placed Russell. He remains 119 points adrift of championship leader Antonelli, with 150 points still available, assuming all remaining races go ahead amid ongoing global conflicts.