Martin Brundle left very surprised by George Russell stat that emerged after his Singapore GP win

Follow us on Google Discover

George Russell claimed his and Mercedes’ second win of the 2025 season at the Singapore Grand Prix in fine style.

The Brit put on a dominant display in the W16 as he took pole position over Max Verstappen and won the race after only briefly losing his lead in the pit stops.

Russell was ‘nervous’ about Verstappen as the Red Bull driver gambled on soft tyres at the start. But it did not pay off for the Dutchman as he did not have the pace to match the Mercedes.

The Singapore Grand Prix has not been Russell’s ‘best friend’, by his own admission, with the memories of his crash in 2023 plaguing him coming into the race. It looked as though his woes would continue after he found the barriers on Friday.

But the 27-year-old put that behind him to set a blistering time in qualifying for pole position. Russell commanded the field to win by more than five seconds, much to the surprise of Mercedes staff, given their track record at Marina Bay.

Martin Brundle left very surprised by George Russell’s win record after the Singapore Grand Prix

It was a deserved victory for Russell and Mercedes as they extracted the maximum from the car. Interestingly, it was only the Brit’s seventh career pole and fifth victory since joining F1 in 2019.

Writing in his column for Sky Sports, commentator Martin Brundle was taken aback by the statistic. He says it serves as a ‘reminder’ that he struggled at the back with Williams in his early years before stepping up to Mercedes.

“Qualifying and the race in Singapore belonged to George Russell and the Mercedes team,” he wrote.

“It was a dominant performance reminiscent of Canada earlier in the year, two mightily fast laps in qualifying and a perfect launch from the grid gave George control of the race. And he knew exactly how to handle that for the next 62 laps.

“It’s surprising that it was only George’s seventh pole position and fifth GP victory. It would be easy to suspect a higher number, but that’s a reminder that he spent much of his early career in the wilderness of a then struggling Williams team before moving upstairs to the works Mercedes gang.”

READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height

George Russell praised by F1 champions after Singapore Grand Prix win

Toto Wolff felt Russell was ‘unstoppable’ as Mercedes’ rivals threw up ‘surprises’ with their cars. Singapore is the third race in a row where McLaren have not been the dominant force, as they have been for much of 2025.

Mercedes gained huge praise up and down the paddock for their victory at Marina Bay. Lewis Hamilton applauded Russell’s ‘mega’ drive in Singapore as he moves 36 points behind Verstappen in the standings.

Damon Hill compared Russell to Verstappen with his win in Singapore. His race was free from errors as he stormed away from the field and was unchallenged by his rivals.

Jenson Button claims no driver has been better than Russell this season. He is certainly one of the sport’s top talents on the grid, making it all the more bizarre that he does not yet have a contract for 2026.