Max Verstappen led every lap of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, and for much of the night his team could not hear a word he said. With a safety car call to make, his engineer asked him to answer by staying silent.
Verstappen won at Marina Bay by 7.335 seconds from Charles Leclerc, with Kimi Antonelli third, completing a weekend in which he took pole, the Saturday sprint and the Grand Prix. It was his first win in Singapore and his second Grand Prix victory in a row after Sepang.
Verstappen started from pole with a 1:31.373, just 0.054 seconds quicker than Leclerc. Leclerc made the stronger launch, but Verstappen defended into turn one, and that was the last time anyone was close to him for long. Leclerc sat within a second for the first few laps before the gap opened again, and by lap 28 Verstappen was 17.9 seconds clear of Lando Norris.
He started on softs and made a single stop, on lap 32 by the official pit timing, for mediums. The problem was the radio. Early on, Red Bull switched some of its messages to the pit board, and late in the race Verstappen's replies were still not getting through.
That turned a routine contingency into something stranger. With two virtual safety cars already behind them, Red Bull had to agree with its driver what to do if a full safety car came out in the closing laps.
"Max, under a safety car, we would lose position to Leclerc, but I'm worried about restarting on this tyre, sir," his engineer said. Then the workaround: "If you would accept pitting behind Leclerc, say nothing. If you don't want to pit, key up on the radio, try to say so".
No safety car came. When Verstappen crossed the line, the team still had no idea what he was saying back.
"Well done Max, it's a shame we can't hear you, but everyone is screaming at you to say well done, you've completely dominated that one".
Two virtual safety cars shaped the podium
The race had no full safety car, but it had two virtual ones, and the second decided who finished second and third.
The first came early, when Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi stopped with a gearbox problem after seven laps and later caught fire. The second came after Stroll stopped at turn 15 with a suspected clutch problem, 36 laps in.
Ferrari and Mercedes used it. Leclerc had stopped on lap 24 and Antonelli on lap 23, and both made a second, cheaper stop under the VSC on lap 39. Fresh tyres were worth a lot at the end. Leclerc set the fastest lap of the race on lap 41, a 1:35.202, and Antonelli's 1:35.589 was second quickest.
Antonelli's afternoon was not smooth. Earlier, his engineer had sounded relaxed about the tyres.
"Degradation looks low, we're happy for you to lean on this tyre and see what we do". Two stops later, at around the same point as Leclerc's fastest lap, the car had a different problem.
"Wait, there's no f***ing brake!" he shouted, after going straight on. Mercedes told him heat soak had put fluid around his feet, he collected track limit warnings and a black and white flag, and he still passed Norris and then Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps to take third.
Leclerc's verdict from the pit wall was honest.
"Well done Charles, nicely driven race, it was a good race but we were just not fast enough, I think good job for the strategy, it was a good call, at least you tried something different".
Hamilton's one-stop ran out of laps
Hamilton started third, on mediums, and Ferrari split its strategies. He was the first of the leaders to stop, on lap 18, and took softs he would need to run for the remaining 44 laps.
By the second VSC he was asking how much the cars on fresher tyres were finding.
"How was everyone's pace at the end of the run?" he asked. "It's high 36, high 36," came the answer, at a time when his own tyres were already old.
His engineer told him "We are on plan B" and that "we are six laps short to do plan C". So he stayed out. Leclerc passed him on lap 46, and in the last ten laps Antonelli, Norris and Oscar Piastri all came by as well. Second on Saturday in the sprint, he finished sixth on Sunday.
Russell and Hadjar from the back
George Russell started 19th after an engine penalty, a week after his power unit failed while he ran third at Sepang. His qualifying lap of 1:31.747 had been quicker than Piastri's 1:31.860, which started sixth.
He made one stop, on lap 39 as the second VSC ended, passed Pierre Gasly for ninth on lap 48 and scored two points. Isack Hadjar, out in Q1 after car trouble, started from the pit lane after his own power unit changes and finished tenth.
2026 Singapore Grand Prix result
Gaps from the official classification. Grid positions after penalties.
Pos
Driver
Team
Grid
Gap
Points
1
MaxVerstappen
Red BullRBR
1
1:42:00.785
25
2
CharlesLeclerc
FerrariFER
2
+7.335
18
3
KimiAntonelli
MercedesMER
4
+24.573
15
4
LandoNorris
McLarenMCL
5
+40.506
12
5
OscarPiastri
McLarenMCL
6
+49.644
10
6
LewisHamilton
FerrariFER
3
+53.188
Gasly was 11th for Alpine, a lap down, ahead of Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Arvid Lindblad and Fernando Alonso. Sergio Perez was 17th for Cadillac, ahead of Alexander Albon, classified 18th despite retiring late on, and Valtteri Bottas. Stroll, Franco Colapinto, who stopped with a driveline problem, and Bortoleto were not classified.
Piastri's fifth came despite a slow first stop and a second one on lap 41 for a slow puncture.
What it does to the championship
Singapore was a sprint weekend, so Verstappen took 33 points from it: eight for the sprint and 25 for the race. Antonelli took 20, and Russell, who crashed out of the lead of the sprint at the final corner of its first lap, took two.
Drivers' championship after the Singapore Grand Prix, including sprint points.
Pos
Driver
Points
1
KimiAntonelli
340
2
GeorgeRussell
238
3
LewisHamilton
229
4
MaxVerstappen
221
5
CharlesLeclerc
215
6
LandoNorris
201
Antonelli now leads by 102 points. Verstappen has climbed from sixth to fourth in a week, and in constructors' terms Mercedes lead on 578 from Ferrari on 444, McLaren on 339 and Red Bull on 332. The full tables are on our 2026 F1 standings page.
Two wins in eight days have not changed the shape of the season: Verstappen is still 119 points behind with six rounds left. They have changed the shape of Red Bull's, and after years of finishing nowhere better than second at Marina Bay, he finally has the Singapore record to go with the rest.
The radio is the part the timing screen misses
The classification says Verstappen won by 7.335 seconds. It does not say that his team spent the night talking to a driver who could not answer, or that the plan for a late safety car came down to whether he pressed a button.
Every message from the race, both sides of each conversation, with the transcript colouring itself by who is speaking, is on the Singapore Grand Prix race radio page.
Want the radio live, as it happens? The Formula Dream app plays driver radio during the session with the transcript running beside the audio, alongside live timing, every FIA document as it is published, and the full weekend timeline. Download Formula Dream for iOS and Android.
Singapore Sprint 2026 Results: Russell Crashes From the Lead
Russell took the lead at turn one and crashed at the final corner of the same lap. Verstappen won, Hamilton charged to second, and the McLarens hit each other.
Max VerstappenRed Bull · Singapore Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 21:28:32 local
EngineerMax, under a safety car, we would lose position to Leclerc, but I'm worried about restarting on this tyre, sir. Not more, I promise. If you would accept pitting behind Leclerc, say nothing. If you don't want to pit, key up on the radio, try to say something. Okay, mate, understood. Thank you.
Max VerstappenRed Bull · Singapore Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 21:46:30 local
EngineerYes Max, been a very long time in the bank with that one, pleased to see you've got it, well done Well done Max, it's a shame we can't hear you, but everyone is screaming at you to say well done, you've completely dominated that one
Charles LeclercFerrari · Singapore Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 21:47:47 local
EngineerWell done Charles, nicely driven race, it was a good race but we were just not fast enough, I think good job for the strategy, it was a good call, at least you tried something different
Lewis HamiltonFerrari · Singapore Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 21:06:06 local
DriverHow was everyone's pace at the end of the run?
EngineerIt's high 36, high 36.
DriverWhat's high 36? It's the pace of the other car, they are doing 36, 5, 7, 8. Yeah, they got new tyres, like I said, at the end of their stint, how fast were they going?
EngineerPace will be similar by the end of the race, at the moment we don't think we have the life.
