Max Verstappen won Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix for the very first time on Sunday, leading Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli under the chequered flag.

Verstappen’s withstood an early challenge from Leclerc and proved quicker over the remainder of the race.

Strategy cost Lewis Hamilton dear, allowing Antonelli to finish on the podium and further extend his championship lead – to the extent he will get a first chance to clinch the title in Austin. Main rival and Mercedes team-mate George Russell fought to a lowly ninth from 19th on the grid.

Verstappen holds off Leclerc at lights out

Front-row starter Leclerc had the best getaway at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but polesitter Verstappen ever so narrowly held him off in Turn 1. Hamilton maintained third place despite using the medium compound unlike his rivals on softs, followed by Antonelli, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – the order of the top six on the grid was unchanged.

Leclerc remained within touching distance of Verstappen until Gabriel Bortoleto stopped on the start/finish straight with a suspected gearbox issue, causing a virtual safety car intervention, but nobody pitted with the Audi potentially blocking the pitlane exit.

By lap 11, Hamilton’s deficit to Leclerc had reached three seconds, with the Briton closely followed by Antonelli and the McLarens; however, that was when the Monegasque started consistently lapping half a second slower than Verstappen. On lap 18, he was four seconds down.

That was when, despite having started on mediums, Hamilton was the first driver to pit, switching to softs; on the previous tour, the Briton had lapped 1.8s slower than Verstappen and 1.4s slower than Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images

Antonelli was the first frontrunner to move from softs to mediums on lap 23; Leclerc did likewise on the next tour and narrowly rejoined ahead of his Ferrari team-mate, who was not overly happy to be stuck behind – he complained several times on the radio.

“I feel something leaking between my feet,” Antonelli reported on lap 32 – but Mercedes wasn’t concerned – as Verstappen pitted, safely rejoining in the lead.

On lap 35, the Red Bull racer enjoyed a five-second advantage over Leclerc; Hamilton was seven seconds down, Antonelli 11s adrift, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri respectively 21s and 28s away from the leader, after a 4.2s stop for the Australian.

Hamilton decides not to pit under VSC

The race was neutralised by the virtual safety car on lap 39 as Lance Stroll pulled aside with a suspected clutch issue; Leclerc and Antonelli made the most of it to switch back from mediums to softs, but Hamilton intriguingly chose to stay out on used softs.

“Mate, I have no fucking brakes! I just went straight! The pedal was so long!” shouted an aggrieved Antonelli, as Piastri pitted again on lap 41 due to a slow puncture.

Having rejoined from his second pitstop 10 seconds behind Hamilton, Leclerc caught his team-mate in just five laps and swiftly overtook him. He was 15 seconds down on Verstappen, who was experiencing radio issues, with 15 laps remaining.

Leclerc brought his deficit down to 8.3 seconds on lap 55 of 62, after which it just hovered around hat gap, and Verstappen comfortably prevailed by 7.3s.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

Struggling on his mammoth 44-lap stint on softs, Hamilton came under pressure from Norris, but Antonelli picked up the pieces, overtaking both cars on his way to the podium. The seven-time world champion collapsed to sixth under the chequered flag, behind Piastri.

Russell struggles to ninth

Starting from 19th owing to a power unit grid drop, Russell made steady progress through the pack, albeit slow, failing to break into the top 10 before pitstops allowed him to do so.

The Mercedes racer was the last driver to change tyres, doing so during the VSC intervention, but the timing wasn’t right and the neutralisation ended shortly after he entered the pitlane.

Russell therefore rejoined behind Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, only overtaking the Alpine to finish ninth.

It was an underwhelming day for Gasly, who had qualified an impressive seventh but lost two spots to Lawson and Hulkenberg at the start and eventually dropped out of the top 10 altogether, to Isack Hadjar’s benefit. Red Bull’s Frenchman scored one point from a pitlane start, after a nightmare Saturday when he was struck by mechanical woes.

A punchy drive from Oliver Bearman, with breathtaking wheel-to-wheel racing against Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon and a bold down-the-inside overtake on Carlos Sainz, went unrewarded in 12th place, ahead of the Frenchman and the Spaniard. Arvid Lindblad, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez followed.

Valtteri Bottas was nearly lapped by his Cadillac team-mate, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto retired due to a suspected driveline issue. Alexander Albon also failed to finish the race.

F1 Singapore GP results

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