Formula 1 arrives in Singapore with the title picture reshaped by one failure. Five days ago at Sepang, George Russell was on course for a podium in the closing laps when his Mercedes power unit failed. Max Verstappen converted pole into his first win of 2026, Kimi Antonelli finished second, Lewis Hamilton third — and Antonelli’s lead over his team-mate grew from 66 to 84 points.

The bill for that failure lands this weekend. Mercedes has confirmed Russell needs a new power unit in Singapore, beyond his season allocation, and he will start Sunday’s Grand Prix from the back of the grid. Saturday’s Sprint is unaffected — and on a weekend with only one practice hour, that Sprint becomes his best chance to limit the damage.

What Sepang changed

Sepang’s return to the calendar — as the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix — gave Red Bull-Ford its first win as a partnership, a day after Verstappen took the season’s first pole for a non-Mercedes-powered car. Verstappen led from the front and beat Antonelli by 2.307 seconds, with Hamilton a further 2.6 seconds back after starting alongside the Red Bull. Charles Leclerc was fourth, Isack Hadjar recovered from his five-place grid drop to finish fifth, and McLaren had a quiet afternoon: Oscar Piastri sixth, Lando Norris ninth.

Russell had started only seventh, so a podium would already have been a recovery. Instead he was classified 20th with no points while Antonelli banked 18 — and with a back-of-grid start to come on Sunday, Singapore is a second straight weekend where Russell starts on the back foot.

Russell’s penalty: Sunday only, and it was always coming

Russell had already used his permitted power-unit elements for 2026, so any further change triggers a grid drop of at least ten places — and Mercedes says the number of new parts means a start from the back. Formula1.com reports that the team had planned to take that hit later in the year, when it fits an upgraded engine. The Sepang damage forced the change forward to Singapore.

“Unfortunately, these things are part of the sport.”

— Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, via Formula1.com

Marina Bay is a poor place to start last: the walls are close, the circuit is long and twisty, and the safety car is a regular visitor. That last point is Russell’s hope. Antonelli showed at Monza that a win from 19th is possible in this car, but Monza rewards slipstreams in a way Singapore never will. Expect Mercedes to build Russell’s Sunday around strategy and neutralisations rather than outright overtaking.

The first Sprint at Marina Bay

Singapore hosts a Sprint for the first time, which squeezes the usual three hours of practice into a single session on Friday afternoon. Teams will go straight from FP1 into Sprint Qualifying under the lights, then race 21 laps on Saturday before the main qualifying session.

Pirelli brings its three softest dry compounds — C3, C4 and C5, a step softer than Sepang — with 12 dry sets per driver instead of 13 because of the Sprint format: six softs, four mediums and two hards. Pirelli expects a one-stop race to be the default, given the time lost in the pit lane and the likelihood of neutralisations. With no mandatory stop in the Sprint, the soft could decide Saturday’s 21 laps.

Heat first, then storms

Singapore is always among the most physically demanding races of the year, and the weekend forecast adds a twist. At the time of writing, Open-Meteo projects around 33°C for the start of FP1 on Friday, with storm risk rising through Saturday afternoon — the rain probability peaks close to the Sprint start — and still around 50% for Sunday night’s Grand Prix. A wet Sprint on a street circuit, after one practice hour, would be the most unpredictable session of the season so far.

Who to watch

Verstappen arrives with momentum: pole and victory at Sepang, and a good record here — second last year behind Russell. Hamilton is the most successful active driver at Marina Bay with four wins (2009, 2014, 2017, 2018) and comes off a front-row start and podium in Malaysia. McLaren needs a reset after Sepang; Norris won here in 2024 and finished third last year. And Antonelli, eight wins from 16 rounds, has the simplest brief of all: finish ahead of Russell, and the title fight tightens around him.

Sources

Results and standings: Jolpica F1 API — Sepang classification, 2026 driver and constructor standings, 2025 Singapore result and Marina Bay winners list.

Session times: OpenF1, Singapore Grand Prix meeting 1296.

Russell penalty: Formula1.com, Motorsport.com, RACER.

Tyres: Mercedes — tyre options for the 2026 Singapore GP (Pirelli data).

Circuit: Williams circuit guide.

Weather: Open-Meteo hourly forecast for Marina Bay, retrieved October 9, 2026.