By: After a thrilling qualifying session, it was time to return to the track for the race: here is what happened during the Singapore GP, where Max Verstappen claimed his first victory at Marina Bay.
The start
When the lights went out, Verstappen made a good start, as did Leclerc, who attempted an overtake at Turn 1. However, the Dutchman produced a sensational braking manoeuvre to retain the lead. The positions behind them remained unchanged, with the exception of Russell, who was already down in 17th. Looking at the tyre choices, all the front-runners started on softs except Lewis Hamilton, who opted for mediums. Russell and Hadjar made the same choice as they worked their way back towards the top 10. In the midfield, Ollie Bearman impressed with some incredible overtakes that allowed him to reach the points positions.
On lap 9 of 62, Bortoleto was forced to retire with a power unit problem. His R26 was parked at the pit-lane exit so that the marshals could remove it without too much difficulty, prompting a brief Virtual Safety Car. On lap 10 of 62, the top 10 was: VER-LEC-HAM-ANT-NOR-PIA-LAW-HUL-GAS-BEA.
Max looks to pull away, Hamilton on the defensive
Verstappen began to open up a gap to Leclerc, while Hamilton had to start defending from Antonelli and Norris who, on soft tyres, had significantly more pace than the number 44, who had never got his medium tyres working.
Ferrari played the pit-stop card, bringing Hamilton in on lap 19 to switch from mediums to softs; he rejoined in seventh position. Shortly afterwards, Antonelli (lap 24) and Leclerc (lap 25) also came in, changing from softs to mediums. The Bologna-born driver rejoined in sixth behind Hamilton, while Leclerc emerged ahead of his team-mate and within range to attempt an overtake.
Verstappen, meanwhile, retained the lead with an 18-second gap over Norris. The Dutchman was showing excellent pace on soft tyres which, considering the times of those on mediums, were the better-performing compound. Both made their first stops on lap 32 of 62: Verstappen retained the lead, Norris dropped to fifth and Piastri, who stopped a lap later, fell to sixth. At this stage, the top 10 was: VER-LEC-HAM-ANT-NOR-PIA-RUS-LAW-HUL-GAS-BEA.
Stroll out, Leclerc tries a wildcard
Lance Stroll was forced to retire with a clutch problem. A brief Virtual Safety Car was deployed to allow the car to be removed safely, and Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli came into the pits for their second stops. Both fitted soft tyres and rejoined in third and fifth respectively. Russell, meanwhile, made his first stop and dropped from seventh to 10th.
Leclerc quickly caught and passed Hamilton to return to second position, with a 14.5-second deficit to Verstappen. Further back, Lawson was enjoying an excellent race in seventh, as was Hulkenberg in eighth.
The final 10 laps
Leclerc believed, reducing the gap to Verstappen lap by lap. Thanks to backmarkers and a mistake by the Dutchman, the gap came down to 8.5 seconds. Meanwhile, Hamilton found himself without pace: Norris tried to attack him, but Kimi Antonelli got the better of both by taking advantage of a weak moment from each of them to move up into third. In two laps, Hamilton dropped from third to fifth.
Verstappen slowed his pace slightly while maintaining a nine-second gap over Leclerc. In the midfield, Russell and Hadjar managed to break into the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively. At the chequered flag, Max Verstappen claimed his second consecutive victory, and his first at Marina Bay. He was followed by Leclerc and Antonelli, with the Bologna-born driver set to have his first championship match point at the next round in Austin. The full classification is shown below.
