He is the ‘fantastic’ F1 driver who secured the best result of his career at the Singapore Grand Prix

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2025 marks the 16th running of the Singapore Grand Prix, which has been on the Formula 1 calendar for all but two years since 2008.

It was Formula 1’s first-ever night race, and it was made even more spectacular by the idea that it was also a street circuit.

Just two drivers who competed at the first Singapore Grand Prix are still on the grid today, and they each managed to finish on the podium.

Fernando Alonso won for Renault (although there’s an extensive story behind that), while Lewis Hamilton finished third for McLaren.

The following year, in 2009, was slightly less controversial, and Hamilton and Alonso would make the podium on machines that weren’t expected to by any means.

For the second year in a row, a German driver sat between them in second place, but a different one compared to 2008.

READ MORE: Everything to know about the Singapore Grand Prix, including Marina Bay track stats and previous winners

The ‘fantastic’ Timo Glock secured the best result of his F1 career at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix

The third driver on the podium in 2009 was Toyota’s Timo Glock. It would end up being his last podium and points finish in the sport. Glock competed in 91 races between 2004 and 2012, but the bulk of his action came from 2008. In 2004, he debuted with Jordan and scored points on his debut in Canada.

After that, came a seven-race gap, before he competed again in the final three rounds of the season, finishing 15th every time. In 2005, he went to Champ Car, finishing eighth, before coming back to Europe for GP2 in 2006 and 2007, which he won during his second attempt.

Contact with multiple teams followed, but he settled on Toyota to replace Ralf Schumacher, despite still being under contract as lead test driver with BMW. The dispute was settled by the contract recognition board, who allowed him to race with Toyota for 2008.

The best result in his rookie full-time season was second in Hungary, and the 2008 finale at Brazil is now renowned for Martin Brundle’s ‘Is that Glock?’ moment, as Hamilton claimed a first title at the final corner, on the last lap in front of Felipe Massa’s home crowd.

Glock’s second season in 2009 ended almost exactly as his first one did. 10th in the standings, with 24 points (25 in ’08). The best result of his career would be at his last race for Toyota in Singapore, as he finished second, just nine seconds behind the winner, Hamilton.

Toyota team principal, Tadashi Yamashina, was delighted with his drivers’ performance after the race, summing it up to Autosport.

“I am extremely happy to be back on the podium and fighting at the front again,” he said. “Timo did a fantastic job this weekend, as did the entire team. Everything went perfectly with Timo today; his pit stops were very good, and he drove very well.”

READ MORE: What Felipe Massa told ‘scared’ Timo Glock 10 years after infamous Lewis Hamilton title decider

What happened to Timo Glock after the 2009 Formula 1 season?

Unfortunately, after Toyota quit the championship at the end of 2009, Glock was left rushing to find a seat, settling with the new Virgin Racing outfit.

During the final three seasons of his career, he would fail to score one more point and achieved a best finish of 12th for them (also at Singapore) when they transitioned to the Marussia name in 2012.

Between 2013 and 2021, Glock went on to compete in the DTM series in Germany, before taking a break and returning in a full-time capacity in 2025.

Nowadays, he’s still only 43 years old. 51 points in 91 races wasn’t a fair reflection of his talents, but moving to Virgin in 2010 wasn’t the best move for his career.