SingaporeGP: Verstappen 'Perfect Victory' at Marina Bay

Max Verstappen won the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2026 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, leading every lap from pole position to finish 7.335 seconds clear of Charles Leclerc, as Kimi Antonelli's third place stretched his championship lead to 102 points.

The result was Verstappen's 73rd Formula 1 victory, achieved in his 250th Grand Prix start, and his first at Marina Bay. It was also his second win of 2026 after Bahrain and his fifth podium in a row. The four-time World Champion completed a perfect weekend by adding the race win to a rain-affected Sprint victory and his first pole at the circuit, collecting the maximum 33 points available and moving from 188 to 221 in the standings.

Hot and humid conditions returned for the 62-lap, with the rain that disrupted Saturday's Sprint staying away. The 22-car field split evenly between softs and mediums for an expected one-stop race, with Verstappen on the softs and Lewis Hamilton, third on the grid, on the mediums.

Verstappen's pole time of 1:31.373 was 0.054 seconds quicker than Leclerc, with Hamilton third, Antonelli fourth and the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fifth and sixth. George Russell, whose 1:31.747 was the sixth-fastest time in qualifying, started 19th after a 60-place grid penalty for additional power unit elements. Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll all started from the pit lane, with Hadjar permitted to start by the stewards after his qualifying troubles. Hadjar and Alonso were sent there for Parc Fermé modifications plus extra power unit elements, Stroll for Parc Fermé modifications alone.

Leclerc got a good launch from second, but Verstappen moved across to hold the lead into Turn 1 and the Ferrari settled in behind. Norris and Piastri ran close without repeating their Sprint collision, and Norris set off after Antonelli in fourth. Liam Lawson gained a place to run seventh, Nico Hulkenberg moved up to eighth and Carlos Sainz to 10th, while Haas teammates Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman scrapped over 11th, with Bearman coming out on top. Russell was already up to 15th by Lap 5.

Leclerc stayed within 0.6 seconds of Verstappen early on, close enough to use Overtake Mode, and was still only 0.8 seconds back after 10 laps, but Verstappen eased the gap out to 2.6 seconds by Lap 15. Before that, Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi, which completed just seven laps, pulled off with an apparent gearbox problem and brought out a Virtual Safety Car. The car later caught fire in the pit lane, with marshals putting out the flames while pit entry was briefly closed. Sainz was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after a first-lap move that angered Arvid Lindblad, but no further investigation was deemed necessary.

The strategy picture opened up on Lap 19, when Hamilton became the first of the leaders to stop, swapping mediums for fresh softs and rejoining seventh behind Lawson, whom he passed for sixth on Lap 21. Antonelli stopped for mediums on Lap 24 and rejoined sixth behind Hamilton, with Leclerc following a lap later to emerge fourth, just ahead of his teammate. With Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli the only top-10 runners to have stopped, Verstappen led Norris by 17.9 seconds on Lap 28, with Piastri third. Pierre Gasly pitted on Lap 30, and Franco Colapinto pulled off the next lap with a suspected driveline problem.

Verstappen made his only stop on Lap 33, switching from softs to mediums and keeping the lead, with Norris following soon after. Piastri's slow stop left him six seconds behind his teammate, and Russell, running seventh, was the last top-10 runner yet to stop. Stroll's Aston Martin then stopped at Turn 15 with a suspected clutch problem, bringing out a second Virtual Safety Car. Leclerc and Antonelli used it for second stops, while Russell pitted for his only stop just as the VSC ended and could not make full use of it, rejoining 10th. Leclerc came out third, about 10 seconds behind Hamilton, with Antonelli fifth between the McLarens. Piastri made a second stop on Lap 42 after a slow puncture.

Antonelli's afternoon was unsettled. Mechanics had worked on his brakes on the grid, and he later reported brake struggles and fluid around his feet, which Mercedes put down to heat soak. He was warned twice for running wide at Turn 2, shown a black-and-white flag by Lap 37 and appeared at risk of a penalty on Lap 48 after another track-limits offence. No penalty appears in the final classification, which remains subject to routine technical checks.

At Ferrari, the team believed Hamilton was a few laps short of making his Lap 19 softs last to the end, but he stayed out. Leclerc passed him on Lap 46 on fresher tyres yet was still 15 seconds behind Verstappen. Russell, meanwhile, had swept past Ocon at Turn 16 for 11th and passed Gasly at Turn 7 on Lap 48 for ninth. By Lap 52 Verstappen led by just under 10 seconds, with Hamilton 11.8 seconds behind Leclerc and Norris within half a second of Hamilton, followed by Antonelli, Piastri, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Russell and Gasly.

The fight for the last podium place then boiled over. Hamilton ran wide defending from Norris, which let Antonelli sweep past the McLaren, and he took third from Hamilton at Turn 16 moments later. Hamilton was investigated for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but no further action was taken. Norris then passed the struggling Ferrari for fourth, and Piastri, after Norris asked whether he could help him, got past Hamilton into Turn 16 for fifth on one of several attempts.

Verstappen took the chequered flag in 1:42:00.785, an average of 179.586 km/h, despite radio problems that left the team using the pit board to communicate and engineer Gianpiero Lambiase struggling to hear him late on. Leclerc set the fastest lap, a 1:35.202 on Lap 41, a full second quicker than Verstappen's best of 1:36.201 on Lap 44. Antonelli finished third, 24.573 seconds behind the winner, ahead of Norris (+40.506) and Piastri (+49.644). Hamilton was sixth, 3.544 seconds behind Piastri, and apologised to the team over the radio in a message that appeared to suggest the decision to stay out had been his.

Lawson was seventh, 1:21.666 behind the winner, with Hulkenberg eighth, Russell ninth after climbing 10 places from 19th on the grid, and Hadjar tenth. Hadjar, who started from the pit lane, set the fourth-fastest lap of the race, a 1:35.917, on his way to the final point.

Gasly missed out in 11th, ahead of Bearman, Ocon, Sainz, Lindblad and Alonso, all one lap down, with Sergio Perez 17th two laps down. Alex Albon was classified 18th after retiring in the closing stages, and Valtteri Bottas was 19th, three laps down. Three drivers did not finish: Stroll with a suspected clutch problem, Colapinto with a driveline problem and Bortoleto with a gearbox problem.

FULL RACE CLASSIFICATION

Not Classified: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin Aramco, 36 laps), Franco Colapinto (BWT Alpine, 29 laps), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi Revolut, 7 laps).

Pole Position: Max Verstappen, 1:31.373. Fastest Lap: Charles Leclerc, 1:35.202 on Lap 41 (186.311 km/h).

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: ANTONELLI'S LEAD STRETCHES TO 102 POINTS

Antonelli's 340 points give him a 102-point cushion over Mercedes teammate Russell (238) with six rounds remaining, and the 19-year-old has now won eight of the 17 races so far and stood on the podium in 14. Behind them Hamilton (229), Verstappen (221) and Leclerc (215) are separated by just 14 points, with Norris on 201 and Piastri on 138. Verstappen trails the leader by 119 points.

Constructors' Standings: Mercedes lead on 578 points, 134 ahead of Ferrari (444), with McLaren (339) and Red Bull (332) next. Red Bull now trail McLaren by just seven points in the fight for third, down from 18 before the weekend, while Racing Bulls are fifth on 100.

Credit Photo : Red Bull Racing