Max Verstappen wins in his 250th Grand Prix start ahead of Charles Leclerc and world championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Verstappen’s Maiden Marina Bay Victory
Despite having 72 Grand Prix wins to his name, 2026 marked the year of Verstappen’s first around the streets of Singapore. The 4 time World Champion held off the fast starting Ferrari of Leclerc off the line, squeezing him every so slightly on the inside. From there, he dominated the race with a flawless strategy. The Ferraris behind were quick through the majority of the race, but arguably fumbled through a lack of team orders and an unclear strategy plan for both drivers, especially Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari’s Strategy Frustrations
Throughout the opening stages of the race, it quickly became clear that the medium tyre was no good in comparison to the soft. Hamilton and Ferrari made the decision at the start to go onto the mediums, while Leclerc opted for the softs, giving him a better jump off the line, but in theory, Lewis would have better long term pace.
This didn’t translate for the Scuderia and they pitted Hamilton first on only Lap 19 onto the faster option. In line with the regulations, this meant that when Leclerc pulled into the pits for his service, he would be given a set of medium tyres to try and challenge Verstappen with ahead.
A string of fast laps put Lewis right on the rear wing of his teammate on 7 lap younger tyres, but it was clear Hamilton had the racier Ferrari. He voiced this over the radio but wasn’t met with much enthusiasm.
Hamilton was left behind with much more pace on the red walled tyre and the Ferraris fell further behind race leader Verstappen.
A Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 39 to recover the stricken Aston Martin of Lance Stroll who had suffered a clutch issue. Leclerc and Antonelli boxed out front but Hamilton made the call, despite the team’s advice to stay out.
His decision proved to be a big mistake as his pace dropped off drastically in the last 10 laps. He fell down to P6 after being overtaken by Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris and on the last lap, Oscar Piastri. At the end of the race, he apologised to the team for his wrong call that potentially cost the team vital constructors’ championship points.
Mercedes Damage Limitation
It was a fairly frantic race for Antonelli by the sounds of his team radio. After a mixture of calls about a long brake pedal and mysterious liquid around his heels from Kimi and a desperate plea from Bono about track limits, you wouldn’t think he’d secured P3.
Antonelli avoided a penalty after multiple warnings from both Bono and the stewards about track positions to keep third from Norris behind. He leaves Singapore with the chance of winning the title in Texas. It’s a small chance, but if Kimi wins and Russell finishes below P9, he will be crowned the youngest champion in F1’s history.
On the side of the garage, his teammate George Russell had it all to do in today’s race starting at the back of the grid for a track that is notoriously hard to overtake on. Despite an ill timed pit stop where the VSC had ended the second Russell arrived into the pits, a haul of brilliant overtakes left him P9 at the chequered flag.
Image: Formula 1 via X