Five Singapore GP storylines: Verstappen’s win, Mercedes’ update and Antonelli’s lead

Max Verstappen’s first win of 2026 in Malaysia put a second straight victory at the centre of the Singapore conversation. In a preview published on 7 October, Formula 1 contributor Chris Medland set out five storylines: Verstappen’s momentum, Mercedes’ update troubles, Kimi Antonelli’s championship lead, Fernando Alonso’s points hopes and the season’s final Sprint weekend.

That victory was also the first for Red Bull Ford Powertrains as a power-unit manufacturer, while Malaysia brought the season’s first pole by a team other than Mercedes. Verstappen had come close to beating George Russell in Baku before winning in Malaysia.

Mercedes had its own question to answer: Toto Wolff had expected the new package to deliver around 0.3 seconds per lap, but after qualifying in Malaysia he felt it had set the team back by a similar amount. The race offered a counterpoint. Mercedes still put pressure on Verstappen at points and appeared on course for a double podium before Russell retired late with a suspected power-unit problem.

Singapore gave Mercedes only one practice session to seek answers, while Russell was due to start from the back after the team confirmed a grid penalty.

Antonelli’s second place in Malaysia earned him 18 points as Russell failed to finish, leaving him 84 points clear in the Drivers’ Championship. After Russell’s retirement, Antonelli worried that a similar reliability problem might hit his own car. With 183 points still available, Medland noted that the Italian could retire from three consecutive races and still lead even if his closest rival won all three. The margin had already tightened once: Antonelli entered Baku earlier in the season with an 81-point advantage, then lost 15 points from it in a weekend he acknowledged was not his best.

Fernando Alonso offered a more hopeful thread. Aston Martin had made progress after a new chassis in Hungary, with further gains from an updated Honda power unit in the Netherlands. In Malaysia, Alonso finished in the top eight for his third points result of the year. He started on slicks at the restart, when intermediate runners opened a large advantage, then had to hold off Lando Norris late in the race. Alonso warned that Aston Martin’s form would vary by circuit, but had identified Singapore as a venue where the team hoped to fight for points.

Singapore was also due to host the final Sprint weekend of 2026. The Sprint was scheduled for 17:00 local time before sunset, while the Grand Prix was set for 20:00 under floodlights—a contrast Medland expected to bring different track conditions. Through the 2026 Sprint weekends held so far, the Sprint and Grand Prix had different winners; Lando Norris’s São Paulo sweep in 2025 remained the most recent. Drivers would have only one practice session to get up to speed on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which demands commitment and confidence.