Singapore GP 2026: Verstappen's first Marina Bay win leaves Antonelli 102 points clear

Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix from pole, taking his first victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit at the 10th attempt there. Charles Leclerc finished 7.335 seconds behind, and Kimi Antonelli took third after passing Lando Norris and then Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps 1.

The win came on Verstappen's 250th Grand Prix start, a day after he had won the rain-hit Sprint from the same grid slot. Red Bull have now taken two rounds in a row, after their first victory of 2026 at Bahrain in Malaysia 2.

Antonelli's championship lead over Mercedes team-mate George Russell grew to 102 points. Russell started 19th, after a 60-place grid penalty for additional power unit parts 34.

Three drivers retired: Lance Stroll with a clutch problem, Franco Colapinto with a driveline failure, and Gabriel Bortoleto with what appeared to be a gearbox fault 2. Alex Albon stopped in the closing laps but was classified 18th, and Valtteri Bottas finished 19th, three laps down 1.

Russell and Hadjar both scored from the back of the grid. Russell climbed from 19th to ninth, and Hadjar recovered from a pit-lane start to take the final point 2. Hulkenberg's eighth place equalled Audi's best grand prix result, and the six points he took from the weekend were his best of the season 5.

Verstappen had taken Sprint pole on Friday, ahead of Russell, Leclerc and Oscar Piastri 7. A downpour shortly before the scheduled start soaked the first and third sectors, and the 20-lap race began about half an hour late, with every driver on intermediate tyres 7.

Russell passed Verstappen into the first corner and then lost his car at the final corner of the opening lap, hitting the wall. "I'm fine. Sorry, sorry, sorry," he said over the radio 7. That crash and the five points Antonelli took for fourth left the Mercedes team-mates 89 points apart before the Grand Prix 7.

The opening lap also took out Sergio Perez and Stroll, who collided under braking at Turn 16, and Hadjar and Colapinto stopped on lap 2. Five cars were out within five laps 7. When racing resumed on lap 7, Bortoleto ran into the back of Albon and Bottas ran into Bortoleto, putting Bortoleto and Bottas out on the spot and leaving Albon to retire late on with the damage 7.

McLaren lost its best result of the weekend late on, when Norris moved on Piastri into Turn 5 and the two cars touched. Both spun, Piastri ended up in the wall and was classified 14th, and Norris slipped to eighth 7. The stewards reviewed that incident and the Albon contact after the race and issued no penalty for either 7.

Verstappen's lap was good enough for his first pole at Marina Bay, 0.054 seconds clear of Leclerc 8. Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and Bortoleto went out in Q2, and Colapinto, Fernando Alonso, Albon, Stroll, Perez and Bottas went out in Q1 8.

Russell paid the heaviest price of anyone for a new power unit. His 60-place penalty dropped him from sixth on the grid to 19th, behind both Cadillacs 4. Stroll, Alonso and Hadjar all began from the pit lane, after their cars were modified under parc ferme conditions; Alonso and Hadjar also took new power unit parts, and Hadjar was allowed to start despite setting no qualifying time 4.

Leclerc made the better start and drew alongside Verstappen on the run to Turn 1, but Verstappen held the inside line and the lead. Verstappen said he had to do all he could to make the corner "very difficult for Charles to go deep into" 29.

The race nearly turned in those same laps. Verstappen's car lost deployment for a spell, and Leclerc said he came close to taking the lead into Turn 7 before deciding the problem was a one-off and saving his battery for later 9. Verstappen said he still needed to understand why the car did not feel right before he released the clutch 9.

The first Virtual Safety Car came on lap 7, when Bortoleto stopped his Audi near the pit exit. His car caught fire while it was pushed back towards the garage, and the pit entry was briefly closed 2.

Hamilton was the first of the leaders to stop, taking fresh softs on lap 19. Antonelli, Leclerc and Verstappen followed between laps 24 and 33, and Verstappen kept the lead through his switch from softs to mediums 2. He had built a 17.9-second lead over Norris before his stop, with Norris still on his first set 2.

Stroll's clutch failure at Turn 15 stopped his Aston Martin and brought the second Virtual Safety Car. Ferrari called both its cars in, and Leclerc took a second set of softs while Antonelli stopped again for Mercedes 2. Piastri needed a second stop of his own on lap 42, after picking up a slow puncture 2.

With ten laps left the top three were Verstappen, Leclerc and Hamilton, with Antonelli fifth. Antonelli passed Norris, then took third from Hamilton at Turn 16, and Norris and Piastri each followed him past the Ferrari to leave Hamilton sixth 2. Verstappen crossed the line 7.335 seconds clear of Leclerc for a lights-to-flag win, using his pit board once his radio failed 110.

The grid was split evenly between softs and mediums for a race expected to run to one stop. Verstappen started on the soft tyre, and Hamilton, third on the grid, chose the medium 2.

Ferrari split its cars deliberately. Fred Vasseur said the soft turned out stronger than expected compared with the medium, so running one car on each tyre kept the team's options open against Verstappen 11.

Hamilton said the decision to start on the medium was his, to go long and try to make a one-stop work. Under the Virtual Safety Car the team called him in, but he missed the pit entry and then chose to stay out to hold track position 11. His tyres faded badly over the closing laps, and he lost three places before the finish 11.

Leclerc took a second set of softs under that same caution and passed Hamilton for second on lap 46 2. Verstappen made one stop in the whole race, on lap 33, and said the car was "really good on the tyres" 9.

Russell's only stop came as the Virtual Safety Car ended, so the caution brought Mercedes nothing. He said afterwards that "that type of luck sums up my season" 11.

Antonelli arrived in Singapore 84 points clear of Russell and leaves it 102 clear, after a weekend worth 20 points against Russell's two 13. Russell, second in the table, would have to outscore Antonelli by more than 17 points a round over the six rounds left to catch him.

Verstappen's 33 points for the weekend lifted him past Leclerc into fourth, eight behind Hamilton 3. Red Bull's 34-point weekend cut McLaren's hold on third place to seven, and Ferrari now sits 134 behind Mercedes 10. Racing Bulls stayed 32 points clear of Alpine in the fight for fifth, with Alpine now three races without a point 510.

The season resumes at the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 23-25 October, the first of six remaining rounds 1213.