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Verstappen wins Singapore GP as Antonelli extends F1 championship lead

Verstappen wins Singapore GP as Antonelli extends F1 championship lead

Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time as he beat Charles Leclerc by 7.335secs at Marina Bay.

Verstappen led from pole and was never headed, following his victory at Sepang last weekend with another win for Red Bull. Kimi Antonelli finished third for Mercedes after starting fourth, ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Lewis Hamilton had started third for Ferrari but slipped to sixth by the finish.

Verstappen finally wins in Singapore

Singapore had been one of the few races missing from Verstappen’s record. He had already put that partly right on Saturday, winning the rain-hit Sprint to take his first victory of any kind at Marina Bay. A few hours later, he beat Leclerc to Grand Prix pole by 0.054secs.

Leclerc was alongside him again but could not find a way past at the start. From there, Verstappen began to edge away. Leclerc remained second throughout and set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:35.202, but finished more than seven seconds behind.

The win came on Verstappen’s 250th Grand Prix start and was the 73rd of his Formula 1 career. More telling for the rest of the season is the timing. Red Bull had gone without a Grand Prix victory in 2026 until Verstappen won at Sepang. Seven days later, he won again.

Antonelli gains more ground

Antonelli followed fourth place in the Sprint with his first podium of the weekend. The Mercedes driver started fourth and finished third, 24.573secs behind Verstappen.

Hamilton had lined up one place ahead of him but fell behind Antonelli and both McLarens before the finish. Antonelli therefore added 15 points to the five he had already scored on Saturday.

His nearest championship rival George Russell had a much longer afternoon. Starting 19th after his power-unit penalties, Russell recovered to ninth and took two points. Antonelli leaves Singapore having added 18 points to his advantage over the course of the weekend.

McLaren brings both cars home in the top five

There was no podium for McLaren, but Norris and Piastri both moved forward from their starting positions. Norris took fourth, finishing 15.933secs behind Antonelli, while Piastri followed in fifth.

Hamilton was sixth, more than 50 seconds behind Verstappen after starting on the second row. Behind him, Liam Lawson finished seventh for Racing Bulls and Nico Hulkenberg took eighth for Audi. Russell and Isack Hadjar completed the top 10.

Singapore GP final classification

PosDriverTeamGridGapPts
1Max VerstappenRed Bull11:42:00.78525
2Charles LeclercFerrari2+7.33518
3Kimi AntonelliMercedes4+24.57315
4Lando NorrisMcLaren5+40.50612
5Oscar PiastriMcLaren6+49.64410
6Lewis HamiltonFerrari3+53.1888
7Liam LawsonRacing Bulls8+1:21.6666
8Nico HulkenbergAudi10+1:23.3864
9George RussellMercedes19+1:24.6772
10Isack HadjarRed Bull—+1:30.8621
11Pierre GaslyAlpine7+1 lap0
12Oliver BearmanHaas11+1 lap0
13Esteban OconHaas12+1 lap0
14Carlos SainzWilliams13+1 lap0
15Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls9+1 lap0
16Fernando AlonsoAston Martin—+1 lap0
17Sergio PerezCadillac17+2 laps0
18Alex AlbonWilliams16DNF0
19Valtteri BottasCadillac18+3 laps0
NCGabriel BortoletoAudi14DNF0
NCFranco ColapintoAlpine15DNF0
NCLance StrollAston Martin—DNF0

Fastest lap: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) — 1:35.202

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Gary is an experienced football journalist who has written for, among many others, BBC Sport and The Metro, and is now the editor of ReadEverton.com. He leads daily coverage of Everton news, transfers and analysis as part of the dave.sport network. He also writes for ReadManCity.com, ReadMotorsport and ReadNorwich within the same network. When not writing, he enjoys a nice cold pint of Guinness and trips to the cinema ... not always at the same time.

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