2026 Singapore Grand Prix Sprint Review

Linus O'Howell

6 hours ago

3 min read

Verstappen Wins Singapore Sprint as McLarens Collide

For the first time in 2026, Max Verstappen took victory on a Saturday in a chaotic Singapore Sprint that featured 9 DNF’s! Ferrari secured a double Podium, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Charles Leclerc as George Russell crashed from the lead, whilst the two McLarens came together on the final lap!

What a Mess!

From absolutely nowhere, it started to chuck it down before the start of the Sprint, meaning we had a rain delay for the second-straight weekend! When the Sprint finally got underway, George Russell got a better start than Max Verstappen, taking the lead into Turn 1, whilst Lewis Hamilton shot up from 6th to 3rd! Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez came together at the end of Lap 1, whilst the first real shock came when Russell went spinning off into the barrier on the start/finish straight! Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto would also suffer failures during the Safety Car period, whilst when we got back underway, Alex Albon drove into the back of Gabriel Bortoleto, with Valtteri Bottas also getting involved! After this, the Sprint became a complete procession, with nobody able to make overtakes due to both the circuit itself and the weather! However, on the final lap, after Charles Leclerc bunched everyone together, Lando Norris sent one down the inside of Oscar Piastri into Turn 5, wiping his teammate out as Norris dropped to P8! What a mess!

The Highs and Lows of the Sprint

I’ve given out three 10’s for today’s Sprint, and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen! Max absolutely aced it today (other than the start); he looks untouchable again! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Liam Lawson, who not only finished best of the rest: he finished P5! Incredible from Lawson once again! The final driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Oliver Bearman, who pulled off a rather miraculous P6 finish for Haas! It feels like it’s been ages since we’ve been able to hype up Ollie Bearman, but his move on Pierre Gasly was absolutely excellent! Elsewhere, well done to Nico Hulkenberg on scoring a couple more points for Audi!

On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve given out three 1’s for the 2026 Singapore GP Sprint, and the first one has to be for Lando Norris! I don’t care whether he gets a penalty or not; diving up your teammates inside for P4 in a Sprint Race is one of the stupidest things I’ve seen in a while! The second driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Alex Albon, who literally drove into the back of Gabriel Bortoleto on a Safety Car restart! Considering how others have been graded for similar moments in the past, this wasn’t good enough from someone as experienced as Albon! And finally, I’ve given a 1 to George Russell as he crashed on his own! It will hurt Russell even more that he was leading this Sprint; in fact, he probably would’ve won! I also want to mention Arvid Lindblad driving backwards; that was bizarre!