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SINGAPORE: George Russell drove a flawless race from pole position to win the Singapore Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday, leaving Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen and the two McLarens to fight it out for the other podium spots.

Briton Russell took the checkered flag under the lights of the Marina Bay street circuit 5.4 seconds clear of Verstappen to claim his second victory of the season.

“It feels amazing,” said Russell. “We don’t really know where this performance came from, but really, really happy.

“I was really nervous at the beginning when I saw Max on the soft (tires), but that first stint was great from us.”

Lando Norris put pressure on Verstappen toward the end of the race but had to settle for third ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, the pair earning enough points to seal a second consecutive constructors’ title for McLaren.

“It was a tough race,” said Norris. “Max didn’t make any mistakes. I gave it my all today, and got close.

“I’m happy with today. I got forward two positions. We won as a team, the constructors’ once again.”

Piastri’s lead over Briton Norris in the drivers’ standings was cut to 22 points, while Verstappen is 63 points behind the Australian with six races remaining in the season.

“I think second was the maximum result today,” said Verstappen. “I think the whole race was quite difficult, more difficult than I hope for, for a lot of different reasons.”

The celebrations for the constructors’ title in the McLaren garage might be muted, however, with Piastri fuming at the way Norris forced his way past his teammate on the opening corner.

Kimi Antonelli was a distant fifth in the other Mercedes with Charles Leclerc finishing sixth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton was later docked a five-second penalty for repeatedly leaving the track as he struggled with a braking issue, dropping him to eighth with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso moving up to seventh.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman was ninth and Carlos Sainz, who started at the back of the grid after the Williams cars were disqualified from qualifying, took the final points in 10th.

COLOMBO: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Pakistan counterpart Fatima Sana skipped the customary handshake before a women’s cricket World Cup match on Sunday amid ongoing tensions between the rivals that plagued the men’s Asia Cup last month.
India-Pakistan relations have significantly deteriorated following military conflicts in May that nearly escalated into a full-fledged war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
India beat Pakistan three times in the men’s Asia Cup, including in the September 28 final in Dubai, but refused to shake hands with their counterparts before or after the matches.
They also declined to receive the winners’ trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi, who is Pakistan’s interior minister.
The frosty relations were evident in Colombo too where Kaur and Sana did not shake hands at the toss, nearly ignoring each other’s presence.
Sana won the toss and elected to field against India, who have never lost to Pakistan in a women’s one day international.
“We’re going to bowl first, looks like there could be some moisture on the wicket,” Sana said.
“On this wicket, anything under 250 would be a good total to defend and hopefully we can restrict them.”
India won a tri-series in Sri Lanka, also involving South Africa, in May and captain Kaur said that experience would stand them in good stead.
“It was a good series for us,” Kaur said.
“We played a lot of cricket here and, yeah, we have experience. Now it’s only about staying positive and playing good cricket.”
Bilateral cricket remains suspended between India and Pakistan, who play each other only in multi-team events at neutral venues.
India are the hosts of the ongoing women’s World Cup but Pakistan will be playing all their matches in Colombo under an agreement approved by the International Cricket Council.