The 2025 Singapore Grand Prix will certainly be remembered as the race in which McLaren won its tenth World Championship title, but there is someone else who deserves a special mention. We are talking about Spain, which played a leading role at Marina Bay with both Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, symbols of two teams that are waiting for the regulatory revolution to return to the top but which, in the meantime, are enjoying the exploits of their respective standard-bearers.
The lion of Asturias
Let's start with Aston Martin's #14, who doesn't seem to feel the weight of his 44 years. The weekend just gone perfectly sums up what Alonso is all about: a driver who, despite his age, is still capable of making a difference whenever he gets his hands on a car that has even the slightest hint of competitiveness.
Since Friday, the Oviedo native has shown great pace at the wheel of the AMR25, even finishing the first free practice session in the lead. The fourth position with which he then concluded the first day of track activity bode well for qualifying; however, FP3 did not give Fernando the same feeling, partly due to a car that seemed unable to make the same leap forward as its direct rivals.
Despite this, the Spaniard was still able to secure a place in Q3 and finish the session in tenth place. This result allowed him to fight consistently for a points finish on Sunday in a race that is historically one of the most physically demanding, originally finishing in eighth place, then moving up to seventh due to the post-race penalty imposed on Hamilton's Ferrari.
The Marina Bay specialist
At this point, it is more than fair to call Sainz the Singapore specialist, given what the Madrid native achieved on Sunday. Like his compatriot, Carlos also proved to be at ease on the Marina Bay street circuit, consistently finishing in the top 10 in all practice sessions.
However, qualifying did not go as planned, first with the premature elimination in Q2 and then with the disqualification late in the evening due to the DRS irregularity found on the FW47 number 55. Despite this, race control accepted Williams' request to have Sainz start from the back of the grid instead of the pit-lane.
It would be superfluous to say that the Madrid native was able to take full advantage of this scenario, given that he still managed to finish the race in tenth position. Of course, a significant amount of luck was also necessary, given that Sainz himself benefited from the electrical problem that affected Hadjar; however, the Spaniard was skilful in getting himself into that position, which then allowed him to take advantage of the Racing Bulls' mishap, making an impressive 5 overtakes in the last 6 laps (on a circuit that is not exactly conducive to battles) and thus securing a top ten finish that the Grove team had not achieved in Singapore since 2017.
Inside photo cdn.williamsf1.tech
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All the news, photos, weather, session times and times from the Singapore GP 2025
