George Russell has conceded the crash that ruined his second practice session at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix was “a bit of a weird one”.
The Mercedes driver missed out the final two-thirds of the most representative practice hour of the weekend under the floodlights after losing control of the rear of his W16 and spearing into the barriers.
While Russell was able to recover from the scene of the incident to get a change of front wing and replace his punctured tire, further repairs were needed and meant he could not complete the session – his car put onto the high jacks and the subject of intense focus under the resultant red flag period.
🔴 RED FLAG 🔴
George Russell hits the wall at Turn 16! He has a broken front wing and a front-left puncture, but makes it back to the pits#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/mjWKEQVPs5
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 3, 2025
It was a crucial error from Russell as it meant he was unable to run on soft tires under the floodlights ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session, leaving him on the back foot compared to rivals.
Explaining how the crash happened, Russell said: “It was a bit of a weird one to be honest.
“I am not too sure what happened. I braked a little bit earlier, went in a little bit slower and lost the rear but thankfully sort of went in front-end on and didn’t do too much damage, but obviously game over. So a bit annoying and sorry to the team for that. But better today than tomorrrow.”
Russell reveals issue with cooling vest
This weekend’s event has been declared by F1’s governing body the FIA as the first ‘heat hazard’ race, with high forecasted temperatures matched with Singapore’s intense humidity expected to challenge drivers physically.
Lando Norris, McLaren, trialling a cooling vest during Spanish Grand Prix practice, 2025. | McLaren Racing
The concept of declaring heat hazard races is part of a safety initiative triggered by extreme conditions that left drivers needing medical treatment in the aftermath of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, with Singapore often amongst the toughest races on the calendar.
Drivers now have the option of wearing a cooling system that pumps water through a vest, with anyone opting against utilizing the system being forced to carry the water tank anyway to avoid unwanted weight advantages.
But revealing an issue with his vest, Russell said: “I couldn’t get ours working in FP2. I had the vest on but it wasn’t working but it was a bit of an early bath for me.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri complained about the dial on his steering wheel to control the system being “stiff” after topping FP2 from Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar.
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