Singapore Grand Prix 2025 preview: Key F1 talking points
01 October 2025As Formula 1 turns its attention to the glow of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, all eyes will be on the season’s biggest storylines, and how they look set to evolve in Singapore.
With McLaren on the brink of securing the Constructors’ title, a rejuvenated Max Verstappen stalking the drivers’ standings and midfield squads firing on all cylinders, Round 18 could prove pivotal.
Here are the main storylines ahead of F1’s original night race – the Singapore Grand Prix.
McLaren on the brink of first consecutive Constructors’ titles in 34 years
McLaren heads to Singapore with a golden opportunity and a second match point after failing to convert in Azerbaijan.
For the first time since the 1990/1991 seasons, the Woking-based outfit is on the verge of scoring back-to-back Constructors’ titles, but off the back of a disastrous weekend in Baku – by its 2025 standards – the pressure is well and truly on for McLaren this weekend.
Team papaya needs just 13 points from the weekend to clinch the 2025 Constructors’ Championship, meaning if one of its drivers puts their car in the top three, the title is theirs, regardless of how any of the other teams perform.
Mercedes and Ferrari would need massive points swings under the lights of Singapore. The silver arrows would need to outscore McLaren by 31 points and the prancing horse by 35 to keep the fight alive heading to Texas.
Can they do it?
- The MCL39 has shown strong performance in high-downforce circuits like the Hungaroring, and Singapore slots firmly into that category.
- Their recent slip in Azerbaijan – with Piastri crashing and Norris only seventh – serves as a warning: even the class-of-field car isn't safe from sub-par weekends.
- Singapore has often represented an anomaly compared to the rest of the season, where dominant cars such as the Red Bull in 2023 and many times for Mercedes, so there are no guarantees that McLaren will have the fastest car.
Max on the prowl: Is the Drivers’ title still on?
Max Verstappen’s form in Monza and Baku has brought him back into the conversation for the 2025 Drivers’ title.
In the past two rounds, he’s trimmed the deficit to Oscar Piastri by 35 points from 104 to 69, and is mounting pressure on the McLaren drivers.
The question on everyone’s lips heading to Marina Bay is whether he can keep up this momentum until the end of the season.
The stats are brutal, though:
- Without taking Sprint Races into account, he’d need to win each of the remaining seven races and for Piastri to finish third, and only then would he beat the Australian by one point. That’s also without factoring Norris into the equation.
- He’ll likely need more mistakes from McLaren, like we saw in Baku, to stand a realistic chance of beating Norris and Piastri to the title.
- Marina Bay is not a circuit that historically favours Red Bull or Verstappen. In fact, he has never won in Singapore.
In short, yes, Verstappen is still in the fight, but it’s a steep hill to climb.
Ferrari vs Mercedes vs Red Bull
The battle for second in the Constructors’ standings has intensified in recent races, and it’s a battle that looks set to continue until the end of the season.
Mercedes might’ve snatched second from Ferrari last time out after George Russell’s podium, but these two F1 powerhouses have been trading blows since the start of the year.
So far, it’s been very circuit dependent on which of the two is faster, with Ferrari mainly favouring low downforce layouts, but it seems Mercedes has unlocked more performance since the summer break.
And then there’s Red Bull, closing in on the pair of them owing to Verstappen’s back-to-back victories and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s newfound form. If they can continue that trend, Red Bull will make up the 18-point deficit to Mercedes in no time and we’ll have a tantalising three-way battle for second in the Constructors’.
Williams: A one-off or a sign of things to come?
Williams’ podium in Baku was one of the paddock’s good news stories of 2025. But the Grove outfit was also the first team in the paddock to cease development of this year’s car in April, so there was still plenty of performance to unlock in the FW47.
James Vowles acknowledged there are still limitations in overall pace and the plan is oriented toward the next regulation cycle. While not directly stating the team will struggle in the remaining races, the sharp focus on 2026 could see Williams fail to reach the same heights before Abu Dhabi.
The technical layout of Singapore doesn’t necessarily favour Williams’ straight-line efficiency, but Sainz has historically gone well at Marina Bay, famously winning in 2023 and taking a podium the year before. Another podium is a tall order, but not impossible.
