Max Conquers Singapore, winning for the first time

This weekend, heading into Singapore, Max Verstappen has never won at this circuit despite racing there 10 times in previous years; his best result was a second-place finish in 2025, 2024, and 2018. This was the only course outside of the Madring circuit that he never won on.

Max Verstappen at a promising start to the weekend with a sprint pole position and a win in the sprint race. In all of the qualifying sessions, he was one of the fastest drivers on the track and took Pole position with his first run of Q3. Then came Sunday night in Singapore. At the start of the race, Charles Leclerc, who started second launched into turn one; however, Max defended well and kept the lead. Lewis Hamilton, who qualified third held lead initially, with Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli close behind. Throughout the entire race for stopping and gain the lead and took control and the Red Bull pace was unstoppable. Even during the two safety car periods, where he had a big lead, nothing could derail Max’s race even when Max’s radio stopped working. For the other teams, it was complete chaos. After last troll retired a virtual safety car was set on track and had a valuable pitstop opportunity for Ferrari Charles Leclerc decided the pit successfully Hamilton missed the pit entry and later decided to stay out which the mistake left it with vulnerable old tires with this costing him at the end because he didn’t he didn’t lose track requisition as he gained one place over Charles, however dude, the Hamilton racing on older tires compared to other drivers Kimi and we snatched food from Hamilton and Lando Norris an Oscar Piastri would take fourth and fifth dropping Hamilton down to 6th as that’s where he would finish for the day. With this win, Verstappen wins his 73rd race in Formula One and a second of the 2026 season, moving up to fourth place in the WDC standings with Kimi Antonelli getting closer to history, as he could win the title in Austin, Texas the next race.

2026 F1 Driver Standings