Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix with a commanding run from pole to flag to take his first victory at the Marina Bay circuit on the occasion of his 250th race.
He comfortably beat the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc into second place with championship leader Kimi Antonelli third. Defending world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were fourth and fifth for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton sixth for Ferrari. Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell came through to take ninth place, having started 19th on the grid.
Antonelli now lead Russell by 102 points, meaning he can mathematically win the title at the next round in Austin if he takes victory and Russell finishes lower than eighth place.
In what was something of a pedestrian affair under the floodlights of Singapore, Verstappen was dominant from pole, in complete control despite his radio communications with the team failing. Behind him Antonelli kept his cool to claim a podium place while Hamilton conceded his strategy call was instrumental in him slipping back to sixth.
Verstappen’s first win in Singapore and Red Bull’s first here since 2022 was another demonstration of how well the car is now performing. The Dutchman has been untouchable all weekend at the Marina Bay circuit. He took pole and the win in the sprint race and then pole and the win for the grand prix, the 73rd of his career.
Recent upgrades from Red Bull have transformed what was a difficult ride to manage, even for Verstappen, into an entirely different car, comfortably on top of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren at the last two meetings. The championship is surely beyond Verstappen after their early season travails but he and the team will be hugely buoyed up by bringing performance to the car that they can feed into next year’s model.
The Dutchman just held his lead from a charging Leclerc through the opening corners, with Hamilton and Antonelli maintaining their places in third and fourth. The Ferrari looked very pacy with Leclerc climbing all over Verstappen on the opening laps.
Verstappen opened a lead of three seconds by lap 17 but Hamilton was not quick on the medium rubber and he was pitted on lap 18 for the soft tyres but with more than 40 laps still to go. Ferrari going with a counter strategy to the rest of the field and Hamilton immediately going very quickly on his new boots, setting a series of fastest laps.
Antonelli pitted on lap 23 and emerged behind Hamilton whose quick laps had paid off. Leclerc pitted a lap later, also taking the medium rubber. Hamilton was right on him as he exited the pit lane but could not pass with the British driver pointedly telling the team he had lost two-seconds over a lap behind Leclerc after Ferrari opted not to switch their drivers.
Verstappen and Norris both took stops on lap 32, with the Dutchman retaining his lead, with fresh rubber and in complete control out front, while Norris gained a place on Antonelli.
A virtual safety car was called on lap 39 when Lance Stroll came to a halt on track and Ferrari took the chance to pit Leclerc but Hamilton opted not to come in, a decision which did not pay off.
Hamilton tried to eke out his tyres to make it to the flag but with his pace dropping he was set to be caught by Norris and Antonelli. Norris went at him but in trying to pass was left vulnerable to Antonelli, who dived past to take the place and then passed Hamilton for third.
Norris followed him through a lap later and as Hamilton’s tyres fell away Piastri too took the place, providing at least an entertaining finale but one long in Verstappen’s wake as proceeded to take the flag with ease.
