Formula One Gradebook: Singapore Grand Prix
For Round 17 of the 2026 Formula One world championship, and the final race in this triple header, F1 returned to racing under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix. Home of the original night race, the Marina Bay Street circuit hosted a sprint race for the first time since the format was introduced in 2021.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen raced ahead of the rest of the field to take his first Grand Prix victory around the circuit on his 250th Grand Prix appearance. Having qualified on pole for the Grand Prix and the sprint race as well as winning Saturday’s Sprint race, it was the four-time former world champion’s most successful weekend so far in 2026.
Elsewhere on the grid, concerns about the reliability of this generation of cars prevailed with many struggling as the battle in the midfield continued to change. Here’s how all 22 drivers performed on race day:
Mercedes
George Russell: B+
The British driver started the Grand Prix in 19th after taking a grid penalty for using engine parts outside of his allocation. After an excellent start, making quick work of the backmarkers ahead, Russell moved up into 17th by the end of the second lap.
Having started on the soft tyres, Russell and the Mercedes pit-wall opted to call him into the pit-lane under Virtual Safety Car conditions for a cheaper pit-stop. However, VSC conditions were suspended just as he came into the pit-lane which caused him to filter out in ninth instead of seventh as had been projected. Once he was back out on-track, despite the impressive progress he had made earlier in the race, he struggled to get past the Audi ahead and had to settle for ninth.
Kimi Antonelli: B+
After his worst qualifying of the season, Antonelli started in fourth on the soft tyres; the Italian driver retained his position on the opening lap. In his first stint, Antonelli was able to keep within the mix for podium contention and the call to pit under VSC conditions further boosted his chances due to a cheaper pit-stop.
On fresher tyres, and closing in on the cars ahead, Antonelli was able to make quick work of the McLaren ahead making a mistake and Ferrari losing their pace advantage to move into the podium positions. Having crossed the line in third place, the Italian driver extended his championship lead to 102 points and could seal his maiden title next time out in Austin.
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc: A
After one of his better qualifying sessions this season, Leclerc started the Grand Prix in second and a tremendous start meant that he was able to keep the pressure on the Red Bull for the race lead. With Ferrari opting to split their strategies, the Monegasque driver’s soft tyres were only swapped once under VSC conditions.
After emerging from his pit-stop, Leclerc was able to pass his teammate, who was struggling on his own tyres, but ultimately had no answer for Red Bull’s pace and could not continue his challenge for the win. Crossing the line in second place, Leclerc collected his first podium since the Japanese Grand Prix in March.
Lewis Hamilton: B-
With split strategies, Hamilton lined up in third on medium tyres for the start of Sunday’s Grand Prix. After a decent start, the British driver encountered his first problem of the evening as he was forced to come in for a stop earlier than anticipated due to tyre degradation which put him out of synch with the rest of the pack.
Although questions were being raised about Hamilton potentially being committed to a two-stop strategy, he opted not to pit under VSC conditions which he later confirmed that this was his choice. As a result, his pace slowly began to drop off due to tyre degradation and those behind him capitalised on this opportunity. In the closing stages of the race, the seven-time former world champion lost positions to both of the McLarens behind and came home in sixth.
McLaren
Lando Norris: B+
The reigning world champion started fifth on the soft compound tyre and retained his position off the line. On his first stint, Norris demonstrated good pace and radio messages revealed that McLaren were expecting to extend their first stint due to low tyre degradation.
Once he swapped his tyres behind the safety car, Norris found himself in a position to challenge for the podium with Hamilton quickly losing ground ahead. However, with Antonelli under a second behind, Norris lost out on the potential podium after a mistake from the British driver saw the Italian move ahead. In the closing stages of the race, Norris was able to overtake Hamilton and secured his fourth place finish.
Oscar Piastri: B
Starting behind his teammate in sixth, Piastri’s soft compound tyre worked well for him in the opening stages as he retained his position and remained within touching distance of Norris ahead. Under VSC conditions, Piastri came in and it seemed that both McLarens were forgoing the option for a second stop, keeping them on the same strategy.
However, the pit-wall soon realised that Piastri had to be brought in for a second-stop due to a slow leaking puncture which was revealed through data. When he came back out onto track, it seemed that a sixth place finish would be the best that the Australian could hope for. However, with a slow Hamilton ahead, Piastri overtook the former world champion to come home in fifth.
Red Bull
Max Verstappen: A+
In a drive that seemed reminiscent of his domination in 2023, Verstappen had almost a picture-perfect weekend. Having started on pole position, his first at this circuit, the Dutch driver took an aggressive line against Leclerc to defend his lead which he successfully did. Within a few laps of the race, it became clear that Verstappen would face little challenge at the front and built up a considerable advantage.
Although he suffered with radio issues which made communication with the pit-wall difficult, particularly in the closing stages, this did not stop his charge to victory. Having crossed the line ahead of the rest of the field, Verstappen’s win reaffirmed that Red Bull’s Baku upgrade package has certainly put them back in the fight at the front.
Isack Hadjar: B+
In the other Red Bull garage, Hadjar struggled during the race as he had done all weekend. After failing to set a lap-time during qualifying, the team opted for a pit-lane due to set-up changes made under parc ferme conditions. Like Russell, Hadjar steadily made his way through the field and used the VSC conditions to his advantage for his pit-stops.
As one of the better runners on the soft tyres, and using the pace of the Red Bull engine, Hadjar balanced his driver between attacking and defending for a 10th place finish. With his total points tally for the season rising to 97, the French driver will be a key part of Red Bull’s bid to finish third in the World Constructors’ Championship standings.
Haas
Ollie Bearman: A-
The British driver started in 11th and by the pace of his opening stint, it seemed that he was set for a points finish. After an excellent set of opening laps, including a sequence of hard but fair racing against his teammate on Lap 3, Bearman made his way into the top 10.
For the first part of the Grand Prix, it looked as though Bearman would be able to keep up with the other points-contenders but soon, Haas’ clear pace deficit made itself known and Bearman was unable to hold off the faster cars behind. Given the difficulty in overtaking in Singapore, paired with the lack of pace, the British driver was overtaken in quick succession by the faster Mercedes and Red Bull behind. This meant that finishing 12th was the best that the British driver could manage.
Esteban Ocon: B
The French driver started the race in 12th and was soon caught up in a battle with his teammate in the opening stages of the race where he lost out in track position. Like Bearman ahead, the faster cars behind were able to ease past Ocon with little difficulty as the Haas car did not have the pace needed to hold or defend position.
Once Ocon had been overtaken by Bearman he was involved in little on-track action, coming in to swap his tyres only once on the preferred one-stop strategy. Having crossed the line in 13th, behind his teammate, their battle from the opening stages of the race proved that track position is key to being successful around this circuit.
Racing Bulls
Arvid Lindblad: B
With yet another top 10 start in ninth place, it seemed all but certain that Lindblad would finish with points this weekend. However, the British driver got caught out in an incident on the opening lap where taking avoiding action meant he dropped down the order and was not able to recover.
Given the nature of the circuit, Lindblad was caught in a train of midfield cars which he was not able to break over the course of the race as they all followed similar strategies with similar pace. Ultimately, the rookie crossed the line in 15th for his fifth points-less finish of the season.
Liam Lawson: A+
After starting in eighth, Lawson demonstrated excellent pace across all stages of the race. Although he wasn’t able to attack ahead due to the significant cap in pace to the front-runners, the driver from New Zealand was able to hold off against all the midfield runners behind.
Lawson finished the race as ‘best of the rest’ in seventh for one of his best races of the season and collected his 75th point of the season. After a very successful triple header, with many of their points coming from Lawson, Racing Bulls now have a total tally of 100 points and seem well on their way to securing a fifth place finish in the WCC standings.
Audi
Gabriel Bortoleto: B-
On an up and down weekend in Singapore for the Audi team, the Brazilian driver started Sunday’s Grand Prix in 14th. While the team did not have the most promising pace, any opportunity for Bortoleto to turn things around was quickly dashed as he became the race’s first retirement on Lap 8 and triggered the first VSC. Having failed to score in Singapore, Bortoleto’s points-less streak extended to seven races.
Nico Hülkenberg: A
Out of sync with the rest of the field, Hülkenberg opted to utilise the medium tyres for his 10th place start in Sunday’s Grand Prix. Although they weren’t the preferred race tyre, the German driver was able to make them work when the five lights went out and stayed within the top 10 against the likes of the Racing Bulls and Haas cars behind.
In the closing stages of the race, Hülkenberg was able to defend against the faster Mercedes behind and retain his position. When the chequered flag was waved, the German driver crossed the finish line in eighth for his fourth points-finish of the season so far.
Alpine
Pierre Gasly: C+
On a weekend where Alpine seemed to struggle compared to their midfield competitors, Gasly did an excellent job to secure a seventh place start. However, it was not the French driver’s best start as he dropped down a handful of positions on the opening lap which he found difficult to recover from.
Whilst running in the top 10 in Singapore for the first time in three years, Gasly came into the pit-lane for a change of tyres on Lap 30. For the rest of the race, it became a battle to the line between Gasly and the other points-contenders but as the French driver’s tyres began to give out, the hopes of a top 10 finish soon diminished. Ultimately, Gasly lost positions to Russell, Hülkenberg and Hadjar which caused him to finish in 11th.
Franco Colapinto: C
Colapinto’s race also represented the struggles of the Alpine in Singapore as he started in 15th and seemed to struggle for pace immediately off the line. Like many of the other drivers on the grid who struggled with reliability this weekend, small issues began to show up on Colapinto’s car.
On Lap 31, suspected issues with Colapinto’s driveline saw him remove his Alpine from the track and retire from the race. Due to the placement of his car away from the track, a VSC was not called which benefited his teammate who had already made his pit-stop only a lap before.
Williams
Carlos Sainz: B
The highlight of Sainz’s race was no doubt his start where he moved from 13th up into the top 10 after an excellent getaway from the opening lap. Although he was one of the cars caught up in the opening lap incident with Lindblad and the incident was noted, this was not investigated by the stewards and the Spanish driver was free to continue challenging for points.
Despite the upgrade package introduced in Baku, the Williams clearly did not have the pace to battle with the other cars in the top 10 and the Spanish driver failed to retain his position. Sainz’s issues were made worse by a difficult second stint on the medium tyres which caused him to drop further back down the order. In the end, the four-time Grand Prix winner crossed the line in 14th.
Alex Albon: C
Having started in 16th, Albon did not have the excellent start of his teammate but was able to keep up with the likes of Racing Bulls and Aston Martin. Like his race start being less than ideal, the untimely end to Albon’s race came one lap before the end.
He confirmed post-race that he was dealing with brake issues as well as fuel pump issues which hindered any potential progress forward that he could have made. With this retirement, Albon has failed to finish the last three races, highlighting how difficult reliability has been for the Grove-based team in 2026.
Cadillac
Sergio Pérez: C
With Cadillac opting to split their strategies, Pérez started Sunday’s Grand Prix in 17th and on the preferred soft compound tyre. With the Mexican driver confirming that Cadillac’s pace deficit to the other runners is “one to one-and-a-half seconds”, there was little for him to do.
The American outfit committed Pérez to a two-stop strategy, with the second stop occurring after the last VSC, which meant that he lost track position towards the end of the race. Failing to recover those positions, he crossed the line in 17th but the team will be hoping to improve their fortunes ahead of their home Grand Prix.
Valterri Bottas
With his teammate on the soft tyres, Bottas started Sunday’s Grand Prix in 18th and on the medium compound tyres. On the slower tyre, the Finnish driver was soon overtaken by the much-faster Mercedes and Red Bull coming up from behind and making their way through the field.
Once he was overtaken by the faster cars, and with a significant gap to his teammate ahead, Bottas was set for a lonely race with little action. In the end, he finished in 19th as the final car to take the chequered flag. With no upgrades in the works for the remainder of this season, Cadillac will have to hope that they have built a strong foundation to continue to build on for 2027 and beyond.
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso: C
Like he has on multiple occasions so far this season, Alonso opted for a pit-lane on soft tyres to give him the best chance of turning things around. However, he failed to make much progress forward and did not come into the pit-lane when his teammate’s retirement caused the second VSC of the evening.
It was a relatively lonely race for the former two-time world champion who revealed post-race that he had been struggling with drivability issues amongst other things. In the end, Alonso finished in 16th which is no doubt the maximum that the Spanish driver could have achieved given the pace deficit of the Aston Martin and the fact that Singapore is a circuit where overtaking is difficult.
Lance Stroll: C-
Like his teammate, Stroll also started in the pit-lane with the Aston Martin team making changes to his car under Parc Ferme conditions. In what has come to be understood as Aston Martin’s maximum pace, the Canadian driver had little to do from the back and had a relatively lonely race at the back.
However, his race was cut short when he found himself in the run-off area due to a clutch issue on Lap 39. Unable to make his way back onto the track, Stroll retired from the race for the 12th time this season and caused a VSC.
Looking Ahead
F1 will be back the upcoming week for another second triple header starting at the Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix. With a new record waiting to be broken, all eyes will be on the Silver Arrows driver and team to see if they have what it takes to go back to championship-winning ways.
Edited by Marit Everett
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