Formula One Preview: Singapore Grand Prix
Max Verstappen looks to go back-to-back after his first victory of the season last weekend, while Kimi Antonelli could take the World Championship to match point at Marina Bay.
Circuit Guide
Since its debut in 2008, the Singapore Grand Prix has become a staple of the Formula One calendar, barring Covid-induced absences in 2020 and 2021. The circuit has also witnessed a couple of tweaks along the way.
In 2013, the infamous Singapore Sling chicane was removed, making way for a faster, more sweeping left-hander, which has been responsible for far fewer crashes since its introduction. Just don’t ask George Russell about the final lap in 2023…
In 2023, due to work on the seafront, the Turn 16-19 right-left-left-right complex was removed and was replaced with a longer straight, which has enabled closer racing in recent years.
The circuit as a whole is illuminated by 1600 LED floodlights, which pave the way for the drivers to cut through the Singapore night.
Drivers sometimes choose to wear special, often glittery, helmets at Marina Bay, which add an extra splash of colour to proceedings.
Weekend Format
All the recent headlines around Monaco being selected to host a sprint race in 2027 were reminiscent of discussions just over a year ago, when the announcement that Singapore would be hosting a sprint this year raised similar eyebrows.
The Marina Bay street circuit is often considered one of the more difficult tracks to overtake at, but last year’s race saw the same number of passes (26) as the British Grand Prix and had more than both Spa (25) and Monza (20) last season.
With the sprint this weekend likely to be wet, though, do not expect to see a figure remotely close to that.
Weather Forecast
It is set to be a soaking wet weekend in Singapore, with thundery showers likely to disrupt all three days of running.
Temperatures are also set to peak at between 32 and 34 degrees Celsius across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which may well result in the declaration of a heat hazard race.
With the sprint and main race not taking place until the evening, the worst of the weather should have passed by lights out. However, if last weekend’s race in Malaysia was delayed by well over an hour, don’t be surprised to see something similar in Singapore.
Hopefully the technology fixes made last weekend mean we won’t say half the field grinding to a halt on the formation lap this time around.
Major Talking Points
Russell to start from the back: As long as it remains mathematically possible, George Russell will still be considered a “challenger” to Kimi Antonelli in this year’s title race, however distant his prospects may seem.
Following the engine failure six laps from home at Sepang that leaves Russell 84 points down on his teammate, the Brit now must take a long-anticipated grid penalty for exceeding the permitted number of engine components.
Regardless of his retirement in Malaysia, Russell has had this penalty hanging over him for a while, with Antonelli having suffered a similar inconvenience at Monza. However, it certainly does not help his chances of mounting a championship comeback, which is frankly very unlikely anyway.
Antonelli approaches match point: From championship leader Kimi Antonelli’s perspective, Russell’s penalty is likely to accelerate his coronation date.
Following the Brit’s power unit failure in Malaysia, unless he can significantly outscore his teammate in the sprint, anything less than a P5 finish on Sunday may give Antonelli the chance to win the title next time out at COTA.
For that to happen, the Italian would need a 125 point lead after the US Grand Prix, so the gap to Russell would need to be 100 or more points after this weekend for that to be possible.
That means Antonelli needs to outscore Russell by 16 points at Marina Bay to take this year’s world championship race to match point. Don’t rule it out – it’s happened three times already this season.
Verstappen and Hamilton blast “Lego” cars: Much was made of old rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton lining up alongside each other on the front row of the grid in Malaysia, but it was almost the case that neither of them made it there.
Both ground to a halt during the formation lap behind the safety car, much to the confusion of the rest of the pack behind them, several of whom also suffered similar issues. While all 22 cars eventually made the race start, it was Hamilton who looked in most danger of retirement.
The seven-time champion said: “I had to stop on track and stop the car and engine and restart it. I’ve never had to do that before.”
Verstappen likened the drama to that of F1’s Lego races at Miami last year and at Silverstone back in July, saying the chaos was “not what you want for the sport.”
The FIA confirmed the issues were due to a software glitch in the hybrid engines that was exacerbated by the rain and Sepang’s rough surface and that a full investigation will take place.
Red Bull and Ford make history: For all of Verstappen’s well-documented disdain for the new engine regulations for 2026, the Dutchman helped to create a little bit of history in Malaysia.
Red Bull and Ford’s engine partnership, new for this season, has long been considered by the FIA to have produced the best power unit of anybody, but there has until recently been little evidence of that.
However, the Dutchman was in a class of his own across the weekend at Sepang to give Red Bull Ford Powertrains (RBPT) its first ever victory as an engine manufacturer.
Given the rate at which RBPT has closed the performance gap to the Mercedes engine throughout this year, another couple of big results for Verstappen in the coming weeks may make him and Red Bull early favourites for 2027.
Bottas loses two wheels for journey south: While many F1 drivers, crew members and other parts of the sport’s travelling circus will make the 350-kilometre hop from Sepang to Singapore by air, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas has opted for a rather more scenic route.
The Finn is a keen cyclist away from the track and earlier this year qualified for the Gravel World Championships, which clash with this weekend’s race. Still keen to get those miles in on the bike, Bottas is cycling to Singapore in just three days, in time to arrive at the track for Thursday’s media day.
According to Strava, his progress so far has been strong, as the Cadillac man completed the first 162 kilometres – almost half the journey – on Monday.
Past Singapore Grands Prix
Sebastian Vettel is the most successful driver in Singapore Grand Prix history, with five victories. Hamilton (4x), Fernando Alonso (2x), Carlos Sainz, Russell and Norris (once each) have also won at Marina Bay.
There is arguably no Singapore Grand Prix more memorable than the inaugural running of the event in 2008. Nelson Piquet Jr., driving for Renault, deliberately crashed at Turn 17 to trigger a Safety Car. The timing of the Safety Car’s deployment played perfectly into the hands of teammate Alonso, who went on to win the race.
Flavio Briatore, Renault’s Team Principal, was banned from F1 for life, a sentence since overturned. He has now returned to his position at the Enstone-based team under its current guise of Alpine.
Meanwhile, a decisive moment in that year’s title race occurred, with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari exiting a pit stop with a fuel hose still attached. Massa went on to lose the World Championship to Hamilton by one point, and has since sought legal action to “annul or amend” the result of the 2008 race in light of “Crashgate”.
The Singapore Grand Prix has been kind to Hamilton on other occasions, too. Another decisive World Championship moment came at Marina Bay in 2014, when an early retirement for Mercedes teammate and championship rival Nico Rosberg handed the Briton a huge boost.
Hamilton profited in 2017, too, when a memorable first-lap pile up involving the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikönnen and the Red Bull of Verstappen aided the Mercedes driver to victory.
The 2019 event was kinder to Vettel, who undercut new teammate Charles Leclerc to claim his 53rd and final victory in F1.
Ferrari went well in 2023, too, with Sainz’s slender victory ahead of Norris and Hamilton the only race that season not won by Red Bull.
Russell won last year’s race by five seconds ahead of Verstappen, who curiously has never won at Marina Bay.
Drivers to Watch
Max Verstappen: The four-time world champion was knocking on the door of the top step for some time before he eventually broke his duck for the season in Malaysia. Verstappen has now achieved a podium at each of the last seven races in which he has seen the chequered flag and, with two consecutive second-placed finishes in Singapore, looks good to make that eight this weekend.
However, apart from the Madring, which only joined the calendar this season, Marina Bay is the only circuit at which Verstappen has never won. In 2023, it was the only race all season where he didn’t finish on the podium. However, having just ended one winless streak, you wouldn’t bet against him doing so again here.
Liam Lawson: The young Kiwi is having the best year of his motorsport career, scoring points in 11 of the 16 races so far this season. This week he returns to the venue where he picked up his first ever points in F1, which came with a ninth-placed finish in 2023 in just his third Grand Prix start.
Lawson only finished 15th at Marina Bay last season, but has raised his game so much in 2026 that he was even tussling for third place with Verstappen at the start of last week’s Bahrain Grand Prix. We are living in times when it would be more of a surprise for the Racing Bulls driver not to score points, and on recent form he looks good to do so again this weekend.
Kimi Antonelli: Not since Lewis Hamilton in 2018 has the World Champion won that year’s Singapore Grand Prix. However, with teammate and closest title challenger George Russell starting from the back of the field at Marina Bay, a victory for Kimi Antonelli would all but seal the drivers’ title for the young Italian.
If Antonelli wins and Russell is unable to recover to the top five, the championship could be settled in Austin, with a full five races still to go.
Session times (BST)
Practice 1 Fri 09:30-10:30
Sprint Qualifying Fri 13:30-14:14
Sprint Sat 10:00-11:00
Qualifying Sat 14:00-15:00
Race Sun 13:00
Edited by Tarun Suresh
Comments