'Papaya rules' still in force; Russell up there with the best

So, with third and fourth places in a race in which nobody could really challenge George Russell and his runaway Mercedes, and Max Verstappen kept hold of second place despite the return of Red Bull's gearshift problems and less-than-perfect race setup, McLaren duly clinched their second consecutive world championship for constructors under the lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Oct 5.

- David Tremayne

The famed team — Formula One’s second oldest — had not achieved that feat since 1991, with Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger.

But there was hair on the celebratory cake at the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix.

I agree with the race stewards — Gerd Ennser, Loic Bacquelaine, Natalie Corsmit, Derek Warwick and Paul Ng - that the moment between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on the first lap was a racing incident.

Norris had slipped inside Piastri in Turn 3 after a great start, then had to jink round Verstappen as the Dutchman himself got a wee bit too close to Russell. Norris clipped the Red Bull, leaving his own left front wing end plate at an odd angle. And just as a snap of oversteer had put Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz together in Zandvoort, so this time Norris banged wheels with Piastri as he inadvertently (though conveniently) biffed him out of third place.