Max Verstappen won the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time, leading Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli to the checkered flag.
Verstappen resisted an initial challenge from Leclerc and was faster for the rest of the race.
The strategy cost Lewis Hamilton dearly, allowing Antonelli to finish on the podium and further extend his championship lead – to the point where he will have a first chance at the title in Austin. Mercedes’ main rival and teammate George Russell battled to a modest ninth place despite being 19th on the grid.
Verstappen holds off Leclerc at lights out
Front row starter Charles Leclerc had the best getaway at the Marina Bay Street circuit, but pole sitter Verstappen narrowly held him off in Turn 1. Lewis Hamilton retained third place despite using the medium compound unlike his rivals on the softs, followed by Antonelli, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – the order of the top six on the grid remained unchanged.
Leclerc remained within touching distance of Verstappen until Gabriel Bortoleto stopped on the start/finish straight with a suspected gearbox problem, prompting a virtual safety car intervention, but no one objected to the Audi potentially blocking the pit lane exit.
By lap 11, Hamilton’s gap on Leclerc had reached three seconds, with the Briton closely followed by Antonelli and the McLarens; However, that’s when the Monegasque began to consistently lap half a second slower than Verstappen. By lap 18 he was four seconds ahead.
It was at this point that, despite starting on mediums, Hamilton was the first driver to pit, switching to softs; during the previous lap, the Briton had lapped 1.8 seconds slower than Verstappen and 1.4 seconds slower than Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Antonelli was the first favorite to move from soft to medium on lap 23; Leclerc did the same on the next lap and joined narrowly ahead of his Ferrari teammate, who wasn’t too happy about being stuck behind – he complained repeatedly on the radio.
“I feel something leaking between my feet,” Antonelli reported on lap 32 – but Mercedes were not concerned – as Verstappen stopped, safely regaining the lead.
By lap 35, the Red Bull driver had a five-second advantage over Leclerc; Hamilton was seven seconds behind, Antonelli 11 seconds behind, the McLarens of Norris and Piastri respectively 21 and 28 seconds behind the leader, after a 4.2 second stop for the Australian.
Hamilton fails to stop under VSC
The race was neutralized by the virtual safety car on lap 39 as Lance Stroll pulled away with a suspected clutch problem; Leclerc and Antonelli took the opportunity to move from mediums to softs, but Hamilton stayed out of the used softs.
“Dude, I don’t have any fucking brakes! I just went straight! The pedal was so long!” shouted a disgruntled Antonelli, as Piastri stopped again on lap 41 due to a slow puncture.
Returning from his second pit stop 10 seconds behind Hamilton, Leclerc caught his teammate in just five laps and quickly overtook him. He was 15 seconds behind Verstappen, who was experiencing radio problems, with 15 laps to go.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
Leclerc reduced his deficit to 8.3 seconds on lap 55 of 62, after which he was hovering just around the hat gap, and Verstappen comfortably won by 7.3 seconds.
Struggling during his mammoth 44-lap stint on softs, Hamilton came under pressure from Norris, but Antonelli picked up the pieces, passing both cars en route to the podium. The seven-time world champion collapsed to sixth place at the checkered flag, behind Piastri.
Russell struggles to place ninth
Starting from 19th place due to a drop in the power unit network, Russell progressed steadily through the field, albeit slowly, failing to break into the top 10 before pit stops allowed him to do so.
The Mercedes driver was the last driver to change tires, when the VSC intervened, but the timing was not good and the neutralization ended shortly after he entered the pit lane.
Russell therefore joined Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, only overtaking the Alpine to finish ninth.
It was a disappointing day for Gasly, who had qualified in an impressive seventh place but lost two places to Lawson and Hulkenberg at the start and ultimately dropped out of the top 10 altogether, in favor of Isack Hadjar. The Frenchman from Red Bull scored a point from his start in the pit lane, after a nightmare on Saturday where he was struck by mechanical problems.
A punchy drive from Oliver Bearman, with breathtaking wheel-to-wheel racing against Haas teammate Esteban Ocon and a daring pass from the inside on Carlos Sainz, went unrewarded in 12th place, ahead of the Frenchman and Spaniard. Arvid Lindblad, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez followed.
Valtteri Bottas was nearly overtaken by his Cadillac teammate, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto retired with a suspected transmission problem. Alexander Albon also failed to finish the race.
Singapore F1 GP results
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