Singapore: Verstappen leads every lap; behind him the VSC and Hamilton’s choice decide
At Marina Bay the win had always eluded him. Behind him, a neutralisation in the second half of the race reshuffles Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren.
Max Verstappen starts from pole and leads every lap of the Singapore Grand Prix. It is his first win at Marina Bay. Verstappen changes tyres on lap 32, from Soft to Medium, and never uses the pit lane under a neutralisation.
Charles Leclerc finishes second, 7.335 seconds behind. His best pace comes late: Leclerc sets the fastest time of the race after his second stop, when the Red Bull is already far ahead.
And Verstappen wins with a difficult radio. Gianpiero Lambiase, his race engineer, tells him he cannot understand anything coming from the cockpit.
The race turns on lap 39, with the second Virtual Safety Car. Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli use it to stop again and fit Softs. Lewis Hamilton, who had already changed tyres on lap 18, stays out and finds himself right behind Verstappen.
Ferrari had split its strategies from the start: Leclerc on the Soft, Hamilton on the Medium. After the VSC Leclerc’s tyres are much younger, and the difference soon shows. Leclerc passes Hamilton on lap 46 and sets off after Verstappen. The Red Bull’s margin, though, stays out of reach.
In the closing laps Hamilton’s plan turns against him. On older tyres than the cars chasing him, Hamilton is passed by Antonelli on lap 54, by Lando Norris on lap 55 and by Oscar Piastri on lap 61. Hamilton finishes sixth.
On who decided, the versions do not match. Frédéric Vasseur says the team had called him in and that Hamilton missed the pit entry. Hamilton, after the race, apologises to his team: staying out was his call, and it cost him valuable points. During the race, on the radio, he said he needed to use the pace he felt he had.
Antonelli finishes third, on the podium thanks to his stop under the VSC and his late overtakes. George Russell starts nineteenth and finishes ninth, a comeback worth little in the standings.
The McLarens finish with Norris ahead of Piastri. Oscar Piastri changes tyres a second time on lap 41, outside the VSC, and on new Softs climbs back until he passes Hamilton on the penultimate lap.
In the standings Antonelli has 340 points, 102 more than Russell, with 150 points still available. To be mathematically certain already at the United States round, leaving tie-breaks aside, Antonelli must leave it with more than the 125 points that will remain: he must gain at least 24 on Russell.