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Verstappen wins in Singapore at last as Antonelli moves within reach of the title
Max Verstappen led from pole for his first Singapore Grand Prix win at the 10th attempt. Kimi Antonelli's third place leaves him 102 points clear with Austin next.
Key points
- Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix by 7.3 seconds from Charles Leclerc, with Kimi Antonelli third.
- It was Verstappen's first win at Marina Bay, on his 250th Grand Prix start.
- Antonelli leads team-mate George Russell by 102 points and could clinch the title in Austin on 25 October.
Max Verstappen had never won at Marina Bay. On Sunday, at his 10th attempt and in his 250th Grand Prix, he put that right. The Red Bull driver led from pole to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 7.3 seconds, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli third for Mercedes.
It completed a clean sweep of the weekend for Verstappen, who also won the rain-hit Sprint and took his first Singapore pole with a lap of 1:31.373.
How the race unfolded
Leclerc made a good start and went alongside, but Verstappen defended the lead into the first corner. “Before releasing the clutch, it didn’t feel good. But yeah, it was just good enough,” Verstappen said afterwards. “The car was really good on the tyres.”
Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi stopped early with a suspected gearbox failure and later caught fire, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. Verstappen made his only stop on lap 33, switched to mediums and never lost the lead. A second Virtual Safety Car, for Lance Stroll’s clutch failure, let Leclerc and Antonelli take cheap second stops.
Leclerc kept the gap close enough for DRS early on but could not mount a real attack. “Today in the race, Max had a bit more pace than we did, which was expected,” he said. “I believed in it until the very end, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough.”
Hamilton’s gamble backfires
Lewis Hamilton started third and was the first driver to pit, around lap 19. He then gambled on ageing soft tyres under the second Virtual Safety Car and missed the pit entry. Without a second stop he was passed by Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the closing laps, and finished sixth.
A painful lesson today, but I take full responsibility for the decisions I made. I’m sorry for the team for the points we lost today.
Norris and Piastri, who collided on the last lap of the Sprint, finished fourth and fifth for McLaren. Liam Lawson was seventh, Nico Hülkenberg eighth, and George Russell, who started from the back after a power unit penalty, recovered to ninth. Isack Hadjar took the last point from a pit-lane start.
The title race
Antonelli admitted he had not driven his best all weekend, but third place stretched his lead over Russell to 102 points. “I know it’s very close, I know it’s there,” he said.
Verstappen, now fourth, ruled himself out. “We don’t really have anything to win in the championship, right? I think Kimi is miles ahead,” he said. “For me personally, I don’t care if I’m second, third or fourth.”
Mercedes lead the constructors’ table on 578 points, ahead of Ferrari on 444, McLaren on 339 and Red Bull on 332.
What’s next
The United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin runs from 23 to 25 October. Antonelli will be champion there if he outscores Russell by 23 points and Hamilton by 14 over the weekend.
The documents
- Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2026: Race resultFormula 1, 11 October 2026
- Max Verstappen seals commanding Singapore Grand Prix victory from Charles Leclerc and Kimi AntonelliFormula 1, 11 October 2026
- All the key moments from the 2026 Singapore Grand PrixFormula 1, 11 October 2026