Max Verstappen won his maiden race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after a dominant lights-to-flag performance at the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen took his first Singapore GP win after leading the entirety of the 62-lap race.
Charles Leclerc took the chequered flag behind the Red Bull driver, followed by championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who benefitted from a late-race scrap between Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris to extend his championship lead.
How the race unfolded
Verstappen got off to a better start from pole than Saturday’s Sprint race as the five lights went out for the Singapore GP. Behind him, Leclerc matched the Red Bull driver but was squeezed into the first chicane.
Hamilton, on the yellow-walled Medium tyres, held on to third despite Antonelli’s attempt to drive around the outside of the Ferrari. The McLarens of Norris and Piastri kept line astern to round off the top five.
Pierre Gasly lost two places at the start, dropping down to ninth as the likes of Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg got themselves into seventh and eighth, respectively.
Carlos Sainz held the final points position, as the battling Haas duo of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman kept the fans in attendance entertained with a spirited multi-lap scrap.
George Russell, starting from 19th, was already up to 17th by the end of the first lap.
Three laps into the 62-lap race, Leclerc kept his SF-26 pinned to the gearbox of Verstappen- though whether it was a lack of pace for the RB22 or the four-time World Champion managing his tyres was still to be seen.
Hamilton and Antonelli were right in the mix for the lead of the race, too; the top four separated by just under three seconds.
Russell got himself past the Williams of Alex Albon, into Turn 1, and up to 15th on Lap 5. Meanwhile, Bearman got his elbows out and muscled past Sainz and into the top 10.
Leclerc and Verstappen kept trading fastest laps, and on Lap 6, he was as close as three-tenths of a second to the Dutchman. That said, Verstappen kept his RB22 as wide as possible, keeping himself in the lead.
The longer this battle went on, the better for Red Bull as Leclerc ran the risk of disintegrating his Soft tyres in the dirty wake of Verstappen.
Gearbox issues hit Gabriel Bortoleto on Lap 8 as the Brazilian racing driver was forced to park his Audi up right at the pit exit, triggering the VSC. But as the marshals quickly pulled the stricken Audi back into the pits, the VSC was called off midway through the ninth lap.
Hamilton lost out at the restart, falling three seconds off the leaders.
Verstappen finally started pushing from the lead, as on Lap 12, he got outside the one-second overtake zone of Leclerc for the first time.
Further down the grid, after much effort, Russell finally got past the Williams of Sainz and into 12th.
Meanwhile, Verstappen had extended his lead over Leclerc to over two seconds by Lap 14. His pit wall advised him to keep leaning on the Soft tyres to build out a gap. Verstappen complied, posting the new fastest lap of the race on Lap 15.
And as Red Bull started showing its true pace at the front, the battle for third became a four-car scrap. Hamilton led Antonelli by just under a second, followed by Norris and Piastri.
Hamilton had started to struggle with his tyres on Lap 17 as he complained of having “no pace” and no rear tyres. This forced Ferrari to start considering a change in strategy.
Meanwhile, McLaren started contemplating an undercut with Norris.
Ferrari forced into strategy reshuffle at Marina Bay
Hamilton dove into the pits on Lap 19, bolting on a set of Soft tyres, and coming out in seventh. His team-mate, by Lap 20, was more than five seconds off the pace of the race leader, Verstappen.
Leclerc was lapping seventh-tenths a lap slower than the Red Bull driver, with a pit stop imminent for the Monegasque. The Ferraris were not looking too good for tyre wear on the scorching tarmac of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
On Lap 24, Mercedes pulled the trigger with Antonelli. The Italian fitted the Medium tyres and came out behind the Ferrari of Hamilton.
Meanwhile, McLaren, seeing the Ferrari committing to a potential two-stopper, went for a “target plus 15” message to Norris, essentially reverting him, and possibly his team-mate Oscar Piastri, to a confirmed one-stop strategy.
Leclerc came into the pits on the following lap for a set of Mediums, and just ahead of his team-mate in fourth.
But by Lap 27, it was clear that the Monegasque was struggling on the Mediums, just as Hamilton had done on his first stint.
Hamilton, now on preferred Soft rubber, came onto his team radio comms to initiate team orders. Leclerc was asked to pick up the pace, and he did, posting the fastest lap of the race on Lap 28.
Halfway through the race, Verstappen led the Singapore GP by a whopping 20 seconds to Norris, followed by Piastri, Leclerc and Hamilton. Antonelli was in sixth, with Lawson, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Russell rounding off the top 10.
Verstappen survives late-race scare to win at Singapore
Colapinto spluttered to a stop out on track on Lap 31 but was able to park up his stricken A526 safely. Meanwhile, Russell was up to eighth, albeit yet to make a pit stop.
Verstappen came in for his only pit stop on Lap 33, bolting on a set of brand-new Mediums. Verstappen retained his lead as Oscar Piastri took P2 from Norris, who had also made his pit stop.
The Australian made his stop on the next lap, slotting in behind Norris at the pit exit. With the top six now having all made their mandatory pit stops, Verstappen led Leclerc, followed by Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and Piastri.
By Lap 38, Verstappen had eked out a five-second gap to Leclerc. But as Stroll locked up and then came to a stop out on track with a reported clutch issue, the VSC was called again.
The VSC prompted Leclerc to bite the bullet and come in for his second stop of the race. Antonelli followed the Ferrari driver into the pits, too. Both drivers opted for the Mediums.
Russell also came into the pits, but no sooner did he hit his marks than the VSC came to an end. The Briton rejoined the race in 10th. His team-mate on the other hand, started suffering from brake issues. “I have no f***ing brakes! I just went straight [on],” he reported.
Piastri came into the pit lane on Lap 42 with a suspected slow puncture, rejoining the track in sixth. With 19 laps to go, Verstappen led Hamilton, followed by Leclerc, Norris and Antonelli.
Meanwhile, Hamilton wanted to extend his stint and end the race on a one-stopper. But either way, Hamilton found himself between a rock and a hard place: whether he pitted again or not, both Leclerc and Norris were taking chunks out of his advantage lap after lap.
Leclerc got past Hamilton and into P2 at Turn 7 on Lap 46. Norris was now just six seconds off the second Ferrari with 16 laps to go.
Russell secured ninth after a spirited battle with the Alpine of Gasly on Lap 48. The Audi of Hulkenberg and the Racing Bulls of Lawson were up next for the Mercedes driver.
Meanwhile, Antonelli was shown the black-and-white flag for track limits. One more infringement, and a five-second time penalty was on the way for the current championship leader.
With 10 laps to go, Verstappen suddenly lost over a second to Leclerc as he went wide at the final corner. The gap between the two drivers was now down to just under 10 seconds.
Red Bull came onto the team radio comms to discuss a possible late-race stop to cover Leclerc. But with static issues for Verstappen, Gianpiero Lambiase had to improvise to get an answer from his driver. “If you don’t mind pitting behind Leclerc, don’t say anything,” the Italian suggested.
Just down the order, however, Norris was right on the gearbox of Hamilton for the final podium place.
The McLaren driver made his move on Hamilton on Lap 54, but Hamilton’s staunch defence compromised Norris coming out of Turn 3. Hamilton ran straight off the road, and Antonelli got the MCL40 of the 2025 F1 World Champion and into fourth. Antonelli then got himself into P3 at Turn 16.
Norris got himself past Hamilton on the next lap into Turn 10.
Seven laps to go, and Leclerc had cut Verstappen’s advantage to nine seconds. Whatever was shedding lap time for the four-time F1 Champion had seemingly stabilised.
Antonelli was again reminded of the impending time penalty for track limits with four laps to go.
Isack Hadjar completed his recovery drive from the pit lane and into the points on Lap 59 with a sleek move on Gasly.
At the chequered flag, Verstappen took his first-ever F1 win at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, making it back-to-back wins in 2026. Leclerc came in second for Ferrari.
Antonelli took his 14th podium of the season, extending his championship lead by 92 points heading into the US GP weekend in two weeks’ time.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Singapore GP – Race Results
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