Max Verstappen Finally Wins in Singapore on His 250th Grand Prix Start

SINGAPORE. Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday night, leading throughout at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for his first win at the track in his 10th try. The Red Bull Racing driver beat Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 7.335 seconds on his 250th Grand Prix start. Kimi Antonelli finished third for Mercedes and stretched his championship lead.

It was Verstappen's 73rd career win and his second in a row, a week after his first win of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. He also won a dramatic, rain-hit Sprint (opens in a new tab) on Saturday, in which George Russell crashed and the two McLarens collided, and took his first pole at the circuit a few hours later.

"It's taken a while, but I think this race was very good," Verstappen said. "We had pace when we needed to have it on the soft tyre and on the medium, even though I think the medium tyre for everyone was a bit more of a struggle. It worked out, so of course I'm very happy to win here."

Holding off Leclerc at the start

Verstappen defended against Leclerc into the first corner, a getaway he called "just good enough," and came out in front. Leclerc stayed close early before Verstappen built a significant gap. A smooth stop from softs to mediums kept him in control, even after radio problems forced Red Bull to use the pit board to communicate with him.

Verstappen had four previous podiums at Marina Bay, including second places in 2024 and 2025. He said Red Bull's recent run came after significant updates in Azerbaijan. Of the tracks on the current calendar, he has now won everywhere except the new Madring.

The rest of the order

The McLaren drivers were next, with Lando Norris fourth and Oscar Piastri fifth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Liam Lawson took seventh for Racing Bulls, with Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Audi.

Russell, who started 19th after an engine penalty, recovered to ninth, and Isack Hadjar came from the pit lane to take 10th. Pierre Gasly was 11th, ahead of the Haas pair of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and Arvid Lindblad.

Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto and Gabriel Bortoleto retired with mechanical problems. Russell's ninth place came a week after his engine failure in Malaysia, and Hadjar's weekend was compromised by problems on his Red Bull. With Russell ninth, Antonelli left Singapore able to clinch the title at the next round in Austin.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 17 of the 2026 season. It came after Max Verstappen's win at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and before Antonelli's win in Austin. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Oracle Red Bull Racing via X