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# Everything we learned from F1's 2026 Singapore GP weekend
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-we-learned-from-f1s-2026-singapore-gp-weekend/
- Published: 2026-10-12T14:52:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T14:52:59.000Z
- Description: From a result that fell way short of expectations to upgrades delivering unwelcome answers, Formula 1's Singapore Grand Prix taught us plenty
- Author: Josh Suttill
- Tags: Formula 1, #max-verstappen, #red-bull, #ferrari, #lewis-hamilton, #mclaren, #lando-norris, #oscar-piastri, #mercedes, #valtteri-bottas, #singapore-grand-prix, #williams, #aston-martin, #alpine, #primary_homepage_feature

From a result that fell way short of expectations to upgrades delivering unwelcome answers, [Formula 1's 2026 Singapore Grand Prix](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/max-verstappen-breaks-singapore-win-drought-while-lewis-hamilton-nosedives/) taught us plenty.

Here's everything we learned from the Singapore weekend…

## Verstappen's Singapore 'curse' is over

Singapore was always a bit of a bogey track for both Red Bull and Max Verstappen even in the most dominant years of the ground effect era. Sergio Perez inflicted a rare intra-team defeat to win in 2022, and Singapore was the only weekend Verstappen was beaten in 2023.

But the weaknesses that stopped Verstappen from conquering Singapore in the previous era - the raised ride height for a bumpy track knocking Red Bull's aero balance out of its killer sweet spot - looked dead and buried in 2026.

Even if Charles Leclerc had slipped past Verstappen on the opening lap (some vintage Verstappen manoeuvring ensured he didn't, despite Leclerc having a good run at it) the sheer race pace Verstappen and Red Bull had means he could have won anyway with an aggressive undercut, or he might have had enough of a pace advantage to just blast past the Ferrari on-track.

It looked very much like the Verstappen and Red Bull of old. It was probably no coincidence that team-mate Isack Hadjar in the sister car never looked closer to him (even if his weekend was marred by multiple reliability problems). Verstappen looked on top, untouchable form with a Red Bull once again doing exactly what he wanted.

The Red Bull RB22's developments through the season, in particular the Baku upgrade, have transformed it into what George Russell now feels is F1's benchmark car.

It's too early to say that with certainty given the troubles Mercedes has had with its upgrade package. Austin will be a proper test of that.

But Verstappen leaves this Asian triple-header having been just half a second from three grand prix wins out of three.

It won't change the outcome of the 2026 title race but it could be an interesting preview for 2027\. **\- Josh Suttill** 

## Ferrari can't win right now (in more ways than one)

**"**Don't blame the team, guys. Clearly on the radio, \[Lewis Hamilton\] said, ‘I apologise, I let you down, that it was my call'." 

There was a clear frustration from Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur at the barrage of questions about the team's Singapore strategy and [why Lewis Hamilton had finished sixth](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-lewis-hamilton-singapore-gp-really-imploded/) instead of third.

That's consistent with recent frustration from both Vasseur and his drivers that they get a disproportionate amount of criticism when things go wrong. Vasseur even asked the media at one point in his post-race session, "Did you ask so many questions to McLaren yesterday?" after its drivers collided on Saturday.

In Singapore, the media intrigue was partly fed by missing radio messages around the time of the virtual safety car that weren't available, which made things seem worse than they perhaps were. But Ferrari also left itself exposed by a key unanswered question.

Ferrari had called Hamilton in, but "He missed the pit entry". That was referenced in Ferrari's press release and by Vasseur himself, but Hamilton needed medical attention after the race, so he couldn't explain exactly what that meant to the media on Sunday night.

His onboard clearly showed he did not attempt to pit, so did he forget or overrule the team? 

We'll likely have to wait until Austin for more answers on that, but in the meantime ‘driver doesn't follow the team's instruction' is added to the growing list of why Ferrari isn't winning races.

Now Hamilton wouldn't have won the race even if he had followed that instruction, but the situation threw away a double podium finish.

Add that to baffling strategy calls (see Hungary and Zandvoort), drivers not working well together on track (see Monza), and an underpowered power unit (see Baku), and it's clear why it's been three months since Ferrari's won, even if it's got a car which isn't far off doing so. **\- JS**

## McLaren's been exposed in development war…

McLaren concluded a rubbish triple-header with its best result but even that was a limp P4-P5 combination with its lead car 40 seconds adrift of race winner Verstappen. 

It has dropped from the front of the leading pack before these three weekends to the back of it. Slowest of the top four teams more often than not in qualifying, race pace has been the same story. And Singapore unfortunately underlined this after some variables in Azerbaijan and Malaysia made it hard to draw definitive conclusions.

It was a weak McLaren track on paper due to its propensity of short, slow corners. And team boss Andrea Stella puts the swing partly down to the season's "ping-pong" of upgrades given Red Bull moved the goalposts with a successful update back in Baku and the 0.3s deficit McLaren had in Singapore is in "a range that you can add with an upgrade". 

But this race also rammed home some hard truths. Norris says "you have to force the car" too much and it "makes it impossible to put laps together in qualifying". And Stella accepts the parts coming soon won't change that because "we need something more fundamental than simply adding some downforce to the car" and that fix arrives "at the earliest, I would say with the MCL41 for 2027". 

There are some upgrades coming to "track test some of the fundamentals we carry into next year" and these will have to be effective to address where McLaren's been exposed in the development war. **\- Scott Mitchell-Malm**

## …and driver clash consequences aren't over

Norris taking out team-mate Oscar Piastri in the Singapore sprint also gave McLaren yet another problem to address.

His futile attempt at passing Piastri on the last lap of the sprint, in damp conditions, put Piastri out of the race and dropped Norris to eighth. McLaren was rightly livid about this and, after initially being unrepentant, Norris [eventually backed down and accepted blame](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lando-norris-now-accepts-blame-for-oscar-piastri-clash-f1-singapore/). 

But [McLaren's furious reaction](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-mclaren-reacting-to-unacceptable-f1-driver-clash/) to this means that matter's still not completely resolved. It's something McLaren says apologies alone can't fix and the team is planning further discussions in the week off before the next triple-header begins.

"The conversations that we are having, they are not finished," said Stella.

"But it's not because we need to go back discussing if Lando was alongside Oscar \[and therefore who was responsible\], that's not the interesting bit.

"For me the interesting bit is a reflection that all the stakeholders, the team, the drivers will have to make around leading together the team, embracing constantly from inside the cockpit the interest of the team as something that is superior to any particular singular individual interest."

McLaren was willing to slap Norris with a small sporting sanction when he hit Piastri in Singapore a year ago, changing the order the cars were meant to run on track in qualifying so Piastri theoretically had a minor advantage. 

This was a more egregious offence so McLaren may decide to go even further this time. **\- SMM**

## Mercedes' upgrade answers are a mixed bag

Mercedes left Malaysia properly confused about whether its new upgrade was actually a step forward or not, hence the radical decision to split specification across its cars in Singapore.

That experiment proved to be a success from a data-gathering standpoint, as Kimi Antonelli said: "If in Malaysia we were a bit lost, now we have the head a bit more clear." 

Things [looked worrying on Friday](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/big-weakness-with-new-mercedes-upgrade-has-been-exposed/) when Antonelli was almost seven tenths of a second off pole position, but overnight progress - and some differential switch changes during the sprint races - unlocked more performance, and Antonelli was much closer in grand prix qualifying (two tenths from pole) and the race.

"The window is very small at the moment where the car operates and is very sensitive to the way you drive it, the way you take a corner, the way you brake," Antonelli explained on Sunday.

"Hopefully now in Austin \[where both drivers should run the upgrade\], we have three practices, so we can be very open-minded with set-up and hopefully we can find a way and we can use the full potential of the package and finally see the gains."

Mercedes has more answers, but it's still not wholly satisfied with the upgrade, as team boss Toto Wolff said: "Does it have the performance that we were hoping the upgrade would bring?, I don't think so yet, but it was a step in the right direction". **\- JS** 

## Bottas had another confusing howler

**"**Valtteri started from P18 and crossed the line in P19 after a challenging evening" is how Cadillac's press release described Valtteri Bottas's Singapore Grand Prix, where he wasn't far off being lapped by his team-mate Sergio Perez.

It [felt similar to Baku](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2026-worst-race-drive-cadillac-valtteri-bottas/ ), as Bottas was once again on average over a second and a half per lap slower than Perez in Singapore, with no clear explanation post-race of why that was the case.

Bottas was having to lift and coast more than usual in the first stint to manage brake temperatures, but he admits that "doesn't explain it".

"Eventually things stabilised, and I didn't need to do any lift and coast for a while, then we came back, but \[I had\] no pace at all in the first stint…pretty much the same story all through the race.

"I was getting all the feedback from the team where I was potentially trying to gain laptime, I was trying everything I could. 

"If I'm lacking pace on the entry or mid-corner, then I can do that, but then I lose in the exit or some other phase of the corner. So a bit of an odd one." **\- JS** 

## What saved Singapore's sprint debut 

Holding a sprint race in Singapore where it's so difficult to overtake was always a risk, but the rain on Saturday arguably bailed [Singapore's sprint debut](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-wins-delayed-singapore-sprint-russell-crashes-from-lead/) out.

You had George Russell taking the lead, Russell crashing out of the lead, some good midfield squabbling in tricky conditions and a controversial last-lap McLaren collision. 

That's got to be on the upper end of expectations for what a 20-lap Singapore sprint race was going to produce, with drivers properly challenged by the conditions, rather than just running in formation. 

"We shouldn't host a sprint where you can't pass," Verstappen said on Saturday. "You have tracks where you can race and can overtake, but of course, in some places you cannot pass and we are going to have sprints there also next year."

That's a clear reference to Monaco being a sprint next year, where we can only hope there's either rain or an overambitious team-mate move to also liven things up. **\- JS** 

## Williams upgrade backs up drivers' pessimism 

The messaging from Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon about Williams's much lighter car before its debut in Baku a fortnight ago was clear: it's a small step forward, not a transformative B-spec, and Baku is probably the best-case scenario for it.

This triple-header seems to have proved exactly that with a point in Azerbaijan followed by two much tougher weekends in Malaysia and Singapore.

"Getting the car onto the weight limit was going to get us into a better position, fighting for maybe Q2s, like we are doing in these three races, while definitely before Madrid we were not even getting in Q2s," said Sainz.

"So getting the car to the weight limit definitely improved the situation. But we lack so much downforce that as soon as you have a downforce-sensitive track like Malaysia or Singapore, we don't have the tools to get points this year.

"Unfortunately, it's going to be like that until the end of the year." 

Sainz was hampered by battery issues that meant he lost the top 10 place he'd fought hard for on the opening lap far too easily, but the Williams didn't look quick enough to hold on anyway. 

As team boss James Vowles said, "Not the car pace we were hoping for". The story of Williams's 2026 **\- JS** 

## Aston Martin's confidence was misplaced

Off the back of its strongest weekend of the year yet in Malaysia, where Fernando Alonso was eighth, on Thursday in Singapore, Aston Martin's chief trackside officer Mike Krack said "We are quite confident for this weekend." 

But on Sunday Alonso only finished ahead of the Cadillacs. 

Exactly why Aston Martin struggled more than expected isn't entirely clear but both drivers complained of driveability issues with the Honda power unit. 

"There is something on the power unit that is not performing as it should on this weekend and we need to understand why because obviously there are a couple of tough races coming," Alonso said.

"Mexico will be the next one with very slow-speed corners, maybe Vegas and some other street circuits. We need to get on top of the issues: drivability, turbo lag.

"There are a couple of things that are costing us a lot of laptime and we discovered on the hard way this weekend."

Alonso's feeling is that the issues were "very specific on this track", but there was a clear sense of disappointment that what was supposed to be one of Aston Martin's strongest tracks on paper didn't deliver what was expected in reality. **\- JS**

## Why another Alpine Q3 turned to dust 

When Pierre Gasly won the midfield fight and made it to Q3 for the third consecutive race on Saturday he warned: "Somehow we haven't scored that much because it's always gone wrong on Sunday for whatever reason".

Things went wrong again on Sunday in Singapore.

Gasly started seventh but lost out to Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg's Audi and two frontrunners recovering from the back of the grid, George Russell and Isack Hadjar, so ended up 11th.

"We lost the position at the start, we had no power off the line, so we need to review it because this year we've had really good starts," Gasly said after the race.

"On a track with a lot of low speed, a lot of traction, we just ran out of tyres after three laps.

"While they're cold tyres, over one lap they don't have time to heat up so much. In the race, out of the box it feels good \[for\] two laps, \[but on the\] third lap our tyres are over the roof and we have no traction.

"I know it's a limitation of the car, but I was a bit more hopeful."

With Lawson netting Racing Bulls six points for finishing seventh, it leaves Alpine 32 points adrift of fifth place in the constructors' championship - in fact Lawson alone has more points than Alpine right now!

That gap can still be overcome but Alpine's now probably going to need some big scores in attrition-laden races to do so. **\- JS**