Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix, scoring maximum points across the Sprint weekend, but remains too far behind in the championship to challenge for the 2026 title. Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers' championship and can clinch it at the next race in Austin on October 23-25 if he outscores Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 23 points and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton by 14 points.
Antonelli finished third in Singapore after a strategy call by Mercedes gave him fresh soft tyres to overtake McLaren's Lando Norris and Hamilton late in the race. He told Sky Sports F1 it would be "very scary" if Verstappen remained in contention. "All in all I feel like we are doing a great job," Antonelli said. "At the end, you look at the season, and we have always been there."
Mercedes introduced new upgrades in Malaysia that have not yet delivered the expected performance gain. Antonelli said the team pushed through difficulties and is starting to see progress. "Now we go to Austin, a normal weekend, where we can hopefully do a lot of changes and understand the package more," he added.
At 20, Antonelli is set to become the youngest F1 world champion, breaking Sebastian Vettel's record. He has six races remaining to secure the title. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the probability of Antonelli winning is "probably almost 100 per cent" but cautioned that motor racing carries inherent risks. "We need to look at it race by race, make sure that we are continuing to score the points, and eventually hopefully it's going to come towards him," he told Sky Sports F1.
Verstappen's Singapore win was his second consecutive victory after Malaysia. He experienced radio communication issues throughout the race, unable to transmit to engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, though he could receive. He managed a critical start against Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by pinching inside and forcing Leclerc to back out. "The start was critical, so that was just good enough," Verstappen said. Once deployment problems cleared, he controlled the race. "The car was really good on the tyres. I could really manage them well," he added.