The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team ended a tough triple-header with a hard-fought race that saw both cars gain a place on their starting positions, bringing home a decent haul of points for fourth and fifth.
The race was something of a slow burner, with the top six starters pulling away as a block in the early laps. Lando and Oscar, starting P5 and P6 respectively, held those positions through the first stint. They started the race on a Soft tyre, in common with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead. Only Lewis Hamilton of the front runners elected to start with a Medium tyre. While the cars ran close together, the order was static, without any attempted overtaking.
The race became interesting when Hamilton was the first to pit, coming in on Lap 18 from P3, struggling with the Medium, with the Soft runners behind looking like they had the better tyre. After he dropped out of P3, the pace was raised, until Antonelli pitted on Lap 23 and Leclerc on Lap 24 to retain their positions. At this point, Lando and Oscar had no incentive to pit, and instead looked to extend their opening stints, now running P2 and P3 respectively in clean air, hoping for a possible Safety Car to minimise the pit stop time loss.
They took the Soft tyre as far as it would go, pitting for Medium on Laps 32 and 33 respectively, slotting back into P5 and P6, but with a significant tyre delta with which to attack the cars ahead. That would have made the end of the race very interesting indeed, with both catching the cars ahead at a good pace, though that plan was dashed when a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 39 allowed Leclerc and Antonelli a cheap pit stop. Leclerc came out ahead of Lando, with Antonelli slotting in between Lando and Oscar.
Oscar was then unlucky to pick up a slow puncture on his front right tyre. He was forced to pit on Lap 41 to swap back to a set of Used Softs but was far enough ahead of the midfield runners to retain his P6. He wouldn't have a sufficient pace delta to catch the cars ahead, so his race became one of looking after the tyres, keeping brake temperatures under control, and hoping for a Safety Car, or someone ahead to experience difficulties.
Lando had his sights set on Hamilton, who hadn't stopped during the Virtual Safety Car. He was catching the Ferrari on older tyres but was in turn being caught by Antonelli on younger tyres. The three cars compressed in a battle for P3, nine laps from home. Lando attempted to pass Hamilton on Lap 54 of the 62, but both ran wide at T1. Antonelli exploited the opportunity and climbed to P3, overtaking Hamilton. This was then imitated by Lando on Lap 55.
The battle had cost the group significant time, and allowed Oscar to close in. Hamilton was clearly struggling on his older rubber, and Oscar, 11 seconds behind, sensed an opportunity. Lando, convinced he could not catch Antonelli ahead, offered to drop back and hold-up Hamilton, but the strategist could see Oscar had enough pace to close the gap without assistance. Oscar caught and passed Hamilton to take P5 on the penultimate lap. A few laps from the end, Lando's MCL40 started to experience a sensor failure, which he was able to manage to bring the car home.
Andrea Stella: "All in all, today's result reflects the current level of performance of our car: it's no coincidence that it's very similar to what we saw yesterday in Qualifying. Perhaps there was a chance for Lando to take third place, but after a challenging Saturday and a few races where we didn't get the results we'd hoped for, picking up these points is a small consolation. It gives us confidence as we prepare for the next trio of races and focus on introducing updates that, we hope, will enable us to fight for the podium. We know that although Red Bull have taken a step forward, this result confirms that we are right in the thick of the battle with our current main rivals in the championship and that the gap to the front-runners is one we believe we can close.
"As for what happened yesterday in the Sprint race, I said that it was an unacceptable incident, and I was very pleased that our drivers also took this view. So, we're on the same page about how we want to move this team forward, in a joint effort. We'll discuss it further, but not because we need to revisit the 'why' or 'how' of the contact, but to reflect together on what sort of team we want to be. We must be aware that, whether we're at the factory, in the pit lane or in the cockpit of a car, the team's interests take precedence over any individual's interests. There is still a great deal we can do to become an even more united and stronger team. This is what I, and everyone who works at McLaren Mastercard, expect from our drivers. I was therefore pleased with what Lando said during the final laps of the race, and I expect to see more examples of this in the future, whether expressed over the radio during the race, behind closed doors in our meetings, or when we discuss strategies."
Kimi Antonelli finished third with George Russell a battling ninth in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix. In a race shaped by differing strategies up and down the field, both cars were tasked with making positions on track in the closing stages. Kimi was able to chase down the McLaren of Lando Norris, having ceded track position under a Virtual Safety Car in order to move to a fresh Soft tyre, the preferred compound on the night, along with the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. That ensured that Kimi took his 14th visit to the podium this season by claiming P3 and extending his championship lead. For George, the race was all about damage limitation having started P19 following a grid penalty for exceeding the allowed number of power unit components. He made good progress on his opening stint on the Medium compound, before switching to the Soft tyre to attack cars ahead. He successfully passed the Alpine of Pierre Gasly but, with overtaking a real challenge, couldn't jump ahead of the Audi of Nico Hülkenberg and had to settle for P9.
Toto Wolff: We knew that it was going to be a difficult race this evening with our cars starting from P4 and P19. Overtaking is notoriously tricky here in Singapore and the race was therefore shaped by strategic decisions. We tasked both cars with needing to make passes on track to gain positions in the closing stages and happily they were able to do that. Kimi had the pace to claim the final podium spot, passing both a McLaren and a Ferrari to do so, with George making some great moves throughout the race. He got up to P9 where his progress stalled but it was a good effort, nevertheless. To come away with P3 with Kimi and valuable points from George is a good result in a Grand Prix that we knew was about damage limitation.
We have spent this weekend comparing the update package with the previous specification and that has been a useful experiment. By qualifying yesterday and as we saw in today's race, we have managed to get it working much better and saw a little more of its potential. It is no doubt a little trickier to get in the right set-up window, but it clearly has goodness and we need to build on that moving forward.
Andrew Shovlin: Coming away from Singapore with a podium for Kimi and points for George is a solid outcome, particularly given where we started the race. We knew overtaking would be difficult, so a lot of the opportunities were going to come through strategy and making the most of the tyre performance in the closing stages. Kimi drove a very mature race, managed his tyres well, and then had the pace to make the moves that secured the podium. George's race was always going to be challenging starting from the back, but he fought hard throughout, made some brilliant overtakes and got himself back into the points.
One of the main objectives this weekend was to continue our evaluation of the update package and build our understanding of how to get the most from it. We learned a lot over the three days and, importantly, saw encouraging signs in both qualifying and race conditions once we were able to move closer to the right operating window. By the end of the weekend, Kimi's package was clearly the faster of the two which gives us confidence that we are heading in the right direction from a development perspective. There is still work to do, but the data we've gathered will be valuable as we prepare for Austin. We now have a clearer direction on where the performance is and what we need to focus on to unlock more of its potential over the final races of the season.
Laurent Mekies: "Max delivered another outstanding performance today. The Team did a fantastic job to give him a car capable of fighting at the front throughout the weekend and, once again, Max got the maximum out of the package available to him.
To come away with Pole and victory in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix is a tremendous result for the whole Team. The pace we showed tonight was very impressive, and it was a very well-executed race, as the team has delivered so many times this season.
It is also a special moment to see Max finally adding Singapore to his list of victories.
It is never straightforward, however, and we knew the start would be critical. We know it is an area where we still have work to do and we understood the risk going into the race, but Max and the team managed it well enough to retain the lead. From there, he controlled the race exceptionally well and made the most of the pace we had.
Isack also delivered a very strong drive from the back of the grid. He was committed throughout, raced aggressively when he had opportunities and showed strong pace. After a difficult weekend, where we did not give him a real chance to fight because of the issues we had on his car, it was good to see him come away with a reward for his efforts.
Credit must also go to the entire crew in the garage. They responded brilliantly well to every challenge that came our way this weekend and worked tirelessly to get the cars back out on track, session after session. It was an extraordinary Team effort that makes us all proud.
It has been a very positive weekend for the whole Team, especially following what we achieved in Sepang, and it shows that we are becoming competitive across a wide range of circuits and conditions. That is a credit to the hard work of everyone in Milton Keynes. The important thing now is to keep learning and keep pushing. Even on a weekend where we achieved two poles and two wins, there are still areas we want to improve, both for the remaining races this season and for next year."
Charles Leclerc finished the Singapore Grand Prix where he started, in second place, to claim Scuderia Ferrari HP's 11th podium finish of the season, the Monegasque driver's fifth. From third on the grid, Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line in sixth place. Tyre performance was something of a mystery for all teams going into the race, with only one hour of free practice and the Sprint race being run on Intermediate tyres in the rain. The Hard tyre had been ruled out, so the Scuderia, wanting to put pole sitter Max Verstappen under as much pressure as possible, took the decision to split its strategy, putting Charles on Soft tyres for the first stint and Lewis on Mediums.
When the lights went out, the two SF-26s maintained position after Leclerc had managed to pull alongside Verstappen going into turn 1. It became clear that the Soft was the best race tyre tonight and so Lewis pitted on lap 19 to get rid of his Mediums, dropping to seventh place. On lap 24, it was Charles' turn to pit, taking on Mediums, coming out in fourth place, one ahead of Lewis. After the McLaren pair pitted, the Ferrari pair were back in their grid positions.On lap 39, the race was neutralised as a Virtual Safety Car was called to retrieve Lance Stroll's stricken Aston Martin. Leclerc took the opportunity to make a cheap pit stop to go back onto the Softs, while Hamilton missed the pit entry and decided to stay out. On fresher tyres, it took Leclerc just five laps to catch and pass his team-mate while Lewis, with a very long 44 lap stint on Softs, was powerless to fend off first Kimi Antonelli, then Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, eventually coming home sixth.
Overall, this second consecutive weekend in the tropics has been a positive one for the Scuderia, with a double podium finish in yesterday's Sprint race, a front row start today and another second place in the race. It means the team leaves Singapore with a total of 39 points to further consolidate its second place in the Constructors' championship. Next on the calendar it's Austin in a fortnight's time for the US Grand Prix, the start of another triple header, all in the Americas.
Fred Vasseur: Overall, it was a strong weekend for us. We finished P2 and P3 in the Sprint, P2 and P3 in qualifying, and today Charles was P2 while Lewis was very close to the podium. Max (Verstappen) had a little bit more pace than us across the weekend, so we still have work to do to close the gap, but the team delivered a solid performance and we scored good points.
On the strategy side, everyone went into the race with very little information on the tyres. The Soft turned out to be stronger than expected compared to the Medium, so starting from P2 and P3 it made sense to split the strategies and keep our options open against Max. That's why Lewis had a more difficult first stint, but it gave him more flexibility later in the race.
We also kept both the one-stop and two-stop scenarios open depending on how the race evolved and whether a Safety Car or a VSC came into play.
When the VSC was deployed, we called both cars in while running P2 and P3. Lewis unfortunately missed the pit entry, and that probably cost him the opportunity to fight for the podium. These things can happen during a race. Now the focus is on understanding everything from this weekend, taking the positives, and coming back stronger in Austin.
James Vowles, Team Principal: "Tough day. Not the car pace we were hoping for, and ultimately even though Carlos had a great start, you can see we just fell back relative to the Haas and other teams. With Alex, he was suffering warm brakes and it really just meant a lot of management all race to try and get to the end. There weren't points to fight for with either car today and without a safety car, we weren't able to roll the dice for a better outcome. There are tracks this year that will be more suited to us and we need to go away and just understand whether there's more we can eke out of this package."
Alan Permane: "A very strong race today, especially for Liam. Once he got past Gasly in Turn 1 in the first lap, he pulled away comfortably and maintained a gap all race managing his tyre wear nicely. We reacted when Gasly and Hulkenberg pitted, going onto the Medium tyre for the rest of the race and minimising any exposure to Safety Car risks; from there, it was a fairly straight forward to the flag. Arvid had some struggles and lost some pace at the start with too much wheel spin. He also had some power unit consistency issues, which hurt him slightly and effected his pace.
"We end this triple header on a high and it's a testament to the hard work that has been put in both here at the track and back in Faenza and Milton Keynes - A huge well done to everyone. We now look forward to a very short break before we head into the next triple header."
Mike Krack: "If you start from the pitlane on a circuit like Singapore it was clear that we were going to have a very challenging evening. Both drivers pushed hard and extracted everything they could from the car. Fernando climbed to P16, while Lance unfortunately had to retire with a clutch issue. We will regroup, continue pushing and be ready to go again in Austin. To the whole team, but especially the crews in the garage and hospitality, thank you for the hard work and commitment over the last three weeks."
TGR Haas F1 Team finished with Ollie Bearman 12th, and Esteban Ocon 13th, at the Singapore Grand Prix - Round 17 of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday night at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Bearman took the start from 11th position on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires, with Ocon, also on the softs, starting from 12th. The pair exchanged positions on the opening lap, before cleanly battling for several corners, after which Bearman ultimately moved ahead. The Briton then sliced past Carlos Sainz a couple of laps later, with Ocon following suit shortly after, to run 10th and 11th respectively. A recovering George Russell overhauled Ocon on lap 23, putting him into 12th place.
Ocon pitted on lap 28 for Yellow medium tires, cycling back into 12th on track, though the Frenchman lost a position to the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. Bearman pitted on lap 33, taking on the medium compound, and dropped to 11th as Russell was able to partially benefit from a Virtual Safety Car phase a few laps later when he made his stop. Bearman was later passed by Hadjar, and came home 12th overall, with Ocon following behind his teammate in 13th place.
TGR Haas F1 Team maintains seventh position in the Constructors' Championship on 30 points.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It was a tough race today. We got boxed in at the start and lost position, and although we had decent pace, we couldn't use it during the first stint. On the second stint, we weren't quick enough to get back into contention for points. There are lots of positives this weekend, such as we operated and executed the race very well, we couldn't have done anything differently there, and the pit stop crew responded well to the late call for Ollie to come in. Another positive is that Ollie was very confident and happy with the car from the get-go, so there are a lot of positives to take forward, and I'm very proud of the whole team's effort. It's been a tough triple-header, but we've scored in two out of the three races, which is a huge positive, and we're looking forward to the next triple-header. With the learnings from this weekend, I'd like to think we can make another step of improvement for Austin."
Audi Revolut F1 Team celebrated an outstanding performance by Nico Hulkenberg, as the German finished eighth in the Singapore Grand Prix. Starting in P10, Nico gained places at the start and controlled the race before resisting the assault of Mercedes's George Russell in heroic fashion.
Under the Marina Bay floodlights, Nico had to call upon all his skill, experience and fighting spirit to deliver a superb performance, one that combined pace, tyre management, racecraft and defensive nous. Despite the jubilation for the strong result, however, it was a bittersweet day for the team, as Gabriel Bortoleto, starting in 14th position, had to retire in the opening stages with a suspected gearbox issue. It was a disappointing outcome for the Brazilian, who anyway had his work cut out on a track where overtaking is challenging and in a race that saw little attrition.
The four points gained tonight, in addition to the two from yesterday's Sprint, crown a busy weekend on and off the track and see the team's total climb to 23 points, with the gap to seventh place in the championship reduced to seven points.
Allan McNish, Racing Director: "It was one of the best races I have seen Nico drive. He was superb from start to finish and did a fantastic job to bring us into the points, securing some critical points in our championship fight.
"Overall, I think we can be quite proud of how we approached this weekend, both in qualifying and in the races. It is the first time we have scored points in both the Sprint and the main Grand Prix, so a very positive weekend on that side of the garage.
"Unfortunately, Gabi was unable to compete due to what we suspect is a gearbox issue, which makes the result somewhat bittersweet for the team. However, that should not take anything away from the outstanding drive Nico delivered today.
"Today's result is important, not just for the points and their impact in the battle for the championship positions, but particularly for the momentum that we've got leading into the next few races. It's a big reward for the whole team and something to build on for the rest of the season."
Steve Nielsen: "The race in Singapore today, and the triple-header as a whole, did not go as we would have hoped for. The result speaks for itself, and we unfortunately do not have anything to show for it in terms of points, and it naturally makes our job tougher in the championship. Only looking at the points standings does not make for particularly good reading, but what makes me and the team optimistic is that we have shown good pace and the car is generally working well at most tracks. So, I think we can approach each of the coming races in a positive mindset knowing we can fight for points and hopefully start chipping away and reduce the gap to our rivals, which remains our objective for the remainder of the season. Not only do we need to keep bringing performance to the car for both drivers, which we will do with more parts in the pipeline, we also need to understand what caused us to stop twice on track this weekend. Reliability has been a strong point of ours this season and it is important we get back on top of it to ensure we have two cars in the fight and competing for points."
The Cadillac Formula 1® Team concluded the Singapore Grand Prix with Checo Pérez finishing P17 and Valtteri Bottas P19 after a demanding race under the lights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Checo started and finished P17, gaining a position in the closing stages following Alex Albon's retirement on the final lap. The Mexican driver ran ahead of Lance Stroll before the Aston Martin driver retired, and completed a two-stop race, switching from Soft to Medium tires, before returning to Softs to take the checkered flag.
Valtteri started from P18 and crossed the line in P19 after a challenging evening. The Finn started on the Medium tire which turned out not to be the optimal choice for the conditions. The race was tough on brakes and grip was limited throughout. With both cars finishing the race, more valuable data was gained for the team on its inaugural visit to the city.
Attention now turns to the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas (23-25 October). The event will mark the team's second home race of the season, as the championship returns to North America for the next round and another triple header.
Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal: "It is the end of a demanding triple header and a tough weekend for us here in Singapore. We had a few incidents and crashes during the weekend. Both cars finished the race - we were hoping for a bit more attrition and incidents to keep our hopes alive for some points, but it didn't quite go this way.
"Checo had a very strong first stint on the Soft tire. We were fighting with other cars and playing with the strategy to try gain some positions, but it wasn't sufficient to compensate for our pace deficit. On Valtteri's side, he started on the Medium tire which was a bit worse on pace than expected and detached him from the pack. We finished with both cars so we'll take that positive and move onwards to the next triple header very soon."
Max Verstappen capped a perfect weekend with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, the first of his career on the Marina Bay street circuit. The Red Bull driver had already secured pole position for the Grand Prix, Sprint pole and victory in the Sprint race.
Today, he completed the clean sweep by adding success in Sunday's race. Behind the Dutchman, Charles Leclerc finished second, while Kimi Antonelli claimed third place.
The Italian further extended his advantage in the World Championship standings, thanks in part to the ninth-place finish of his closest title rival and team-mate, George Russell.
The strategies adopted by the top three finishers differed slightly. Verstappen opted for a one-stop race, while Leclerc and Antonelli took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car period to make a second pit stop.
All three drivers on the podium started on the Soft before switching to the Medium. After the first tyre change, Leclerc and Antonelli pitted again on lap 39 to fit a fresh set of Soft tyres during the neutralisation. Verstappen did not take advantage of the VSC and, after completing 32 laps on his starting Soft compound, switched to the Medium and took it all the way to the chequered flag.
Only the Soft and Medium compounds were used during the race. Russell completed the longest stint on a single set of Medium tyres, covering 39 laps. Lewis Hamilton, who finished sixth, completed the highest number of laps on a set of Soft tyres, managing 44.
Antonelli therefore strengthened his lead in the World Championship, moving on to 340 points. Russell remains second on 238, while Hamilton is third with 229.
Dario Marrafuschi: "As widely expected, regardless of the neutralisations, the one-stop strategy proved to be the most competitive, with the Soft-Medium combination emerging as the most effective option.
The C5 was the star of the race, as it delivered very long stints while maintaining a strong level of performance and offering the advantage of greater grip than the other compounds available. Drivers who used it for around half the race only experienced a performance drop-off in the closing stages.
The Hard tyre was not a strategically attractive option for the teams, as it offered less grip than the C4 which, despite being the softer compound, exhibited virtually no degradation, without providing any tangible advantages in a race already firmly geared towards a one-stop strategy. As a result, although the C3 has proven effective at other circuits, it was not selected by any driver in Singapore.
Tyre degradation was in line with what we had already observed during free practice, and the visual condition of the tyres at the end of the stints was also very encouraging, even over the longest runs. Wear was manageable, although it required a degree of attention, particularly on the rear-right."
