Verstappen Breaks His Singapore Curse: Lights-To-Flag Win As Hamilton Falls Victim To Strategy

Max Verstappen has finally ended his long run of bad luck in Singapore. The Red Bull driver led the 62-lap Singapore Grand Prix from lights to flag to take his first Grand Prix victory at Marina Bay. Having already taken pole and won Saturday’s sprint, Verstappen completed a perfect weekend. It was his second consecutive Grand Prix win, following his victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia a week earlier. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished second, 7.3 seconds behind, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli third.

Door shut at the start

Starting alongside Verstappen on the front row, Leclerc made the better launch, but the Red Bull driver squeezed the Ferrari to the inside and held the lead around the outside into Turn 1. In the midfield, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg jumped ahead of Pierre Gasly. Carlos Sainz made a superb start to climb into 10th, while Arvid Lindblad dropped from ninth to 13th on the opening lap. Haas team mates Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon fought for several laps before Bearman came out on top, and the Briton then dived past Sainz at Turn 8 to take 10th.

Early Virtual Safety Car

On lap 7, Gabriel Bortoleto’s gearbox failed completely and the Audi driver pulled off near the pit exit. A Virtual Safety Car followed, but nobody used it to pit. Isack Hadjar, who started from the back of the grid, immediately passed Alonso and Perez at the restart, then picked off Albon and Lindblad as he began his climb.

Hamilton’s strategy backfires

Lewis Hamilton, starting third, was the only driver in the top six on medium tyres. After dropping more than 10 seconds behind the leader in the first stint, he switched to softs on lap 18. That triggered a chain of pit stops: Antonelli came in five laps later and Leclerc a lap after that, emerging just ahead of his team mate. When Colapinto stopped at Turn 7, Verstappen, both McLarens, Lawson and Hulkenberg all pitted. Verstappen kept the lead from Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and Piastri.

The turning point came with the second Virtual Safety Car. After locking up at Turn 15, Lance Stroll was told to stop his car because of a clutch problem. Leclerc and Antonelli took the chance to switch to fresh softs, while Hamilton stayed out on a one-stop strategy. Oscar Piastri had to pit on lap 41 with a slow puncture but held on to sixth.

Leclerc charges, Hamilton fades

On much fresher tyres, Leclerc closed in fast and passed Hamilton at Turn 7 on lap 46 to take second. The Monegasque then turned his attention to Verstappen, and although the leader ran wide at the final corner and lost more than a second, he kept Leclerc behind.

The final laps turned into a nightmare for Hamilton. Struggling on old tyres, he came under pressure from Norris and Antonelli. When Norris attacked into Turn 1, both ran off the track, and Antonelli seized the moment to pass Norris and then Hamilton on the straight. Norris followed him past a lap later on the exit of Turn 9. On the penultimate lap, Piastri passed Hamilton at Turn 15, dropping him to sixth. Having started third, Hamilton finished sixth.

Antonelli stretches his lead to 102 points

Antonelli’s podium did not come easily. The Mercedes driver struggled with track limits and brake problems, reporting fluid around his feet and a long brake pedal. Still, he extended his lead from 89 to 102 points over team mate George Russell, who started 19th because of a power unit penalty and recovered only to ninth.

Strong drives in the midfield

Liam Lawson finished seventh and Nico Hulkenberg eighth, both earning valuable points for their teams. Russell went down the inside of Gasly for ninth once the Frenchman dropped out of overtake mode. Hadjar, who started from the back, passed both Haas drivers and then Gasly in the closing laps to take 10th and the final point.

Formula 1 continues with the United States Grand Prix on October 25.