2026 Singapore Grand Prix – Race Report

Marina Bay Street Circuit, Sunday, 11 October

Find out what happened during the Singapore Grand Prix, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, as well as Team Principal, Andrea Stella.

The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team ended a tough triple-header with a hard-fought race that saw both cars gain a place on their starting positions, bringing home a decent haul of points for fourth and fifth.

The race was something of a slow burner, with the top six starters pulling away as a block in the early laps. Lando and Oscar, starting P5 and P6 respectively, held those positions through the first stint. They started the race on a Soft tyre, in common with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead. Only Lewis Hamilton of the front runners elected to start with a Medium tyre. While the cars ran close together, the order was static, without any attempted overtaking.

The race became interesting when Hamilton was the first to pit, coming in on Lap 18 from P3, struggling with the Medium, with the Soft runners behind looking like they had the better tyre. After he dropped out of P3, the pace was raised, until Antonelli pitted on Lap 23 and Leclerc on Lap 24 to retain their positions. At this point, Lando and Oscar had no incentive to pit, and instead looked to extend their opening stints, now running P2 and P3 respectively in clean air, hoping for a possible Safety Car to minimise the pit stop time loss.

They took the Soft tyre as far as it would go, pitting for Medium on Laps 32 and 33 respectively, slotting back into P5 and P6, but with a significant tyre delta with which to attack the cars ahead. That would have made the end of the race very interesting indeed, with both catching the cars ahead at a good pace, though that plan was dashed when a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 39 allowed Leclerc and Antonelli a cheap pit stop. Leclerc came out ahead of Lando, with Antonelli slotting in between Lando and Oscar.

Oscar was then unlucky to pick up a slow puncture on his front right tyre. He was forced to pit on Lap 41 to swap back to a set of Used Softs but was far enough ahead of the midfield runners to retain his P6. He wouldn’t have a sufficient pace delta to catch the cars ahead, so his race became one of looking after the tyres, keeping brake temperatures under control, and hoping for a Safety Car, or someone ahead to experience difficulties.

Lando had his sights set on Hamilton, who hadn’t stopped during the Virtual Safety Car. He was catching the Ferrari on older tyres but was in turn being caught by Antonelli on younger tyres. The three cars compressed in a battle for P3, nine laps from home. Lando attempted to pass Hamilton on Lap 54 of the 62, but both ran wide at T1. Antonelli exploited the opportunity and climbed to P3, overtaking Hamilton. This was then imitated by Lando on Lap 55.

The battle had cost the group significant time, and allowed Oscar to close in. Hamilton was clearly struggling on his older rubber, and Oscar, 11 seconds behind, sensed an opportunity. Lando, convinced he could not catch Antonelli ahead, offered to drop back and hold-up Hamilton, but the strategist could see Oscar had enough pace to close the gap without assistance. Oscar caught and passed Hamilton to take P5 on the penultimate lap. A few laps from the end, Lando’s MCL40 started to experience a sensor failure, which he was able to manage to bring the car home.

In the McLaren Driver Development Programme, Grégoire Saucy and the Number 22 car secured the LMP2 title in European Le Mans Series, after winning the final round of the Championship in Portimão. In the Pro/Am, the Number 30 of Richard Verschoor finished in P16. Dries Van Langendonck rounded out his Championship winning British F4 season with a P11 and P7 finish in the final two races. In the E4 Championship, Christian Costoya finished Race 2 in P19 and Race 3 in P31.

“Today’s P4 was the best we could achieve, and I’m pleased we maximised the result. It was a demanding, hot race, and the car was tough to drive - every corner was a fight. Our pace was reasonable and the team did what was possible, but we’re clearly the fourth fastest at the moment. Red Bull have taken a big step, Mercedes and Ferrari were strong, and without upgrades we can’t close that gap.

“So overall, I'm pleased with the result, but a little disappointed in how we got there. I was a bit impatient in my fight with Lewis and I think I’d have passed him eventually without the mistake, and while Kimi was always likely to get by given his pace and fresher tyres, I should have given him a better fight. We need to make the car faster and more forgiving to drive; strategy couldn’t create more today. We’ll keep pushing for upgrades so we can fight for podiums and, ultimately, wins.

“Finally, I also need to apologise to the team for letting them down yesterday. I've apologised to all those that I represent and who work so hard to put everything together and allow me to go racing. I'll work hard for the rest of the season to make up for it, and we will keep working hard and pushing together.”

“P5. That was a hot and tough one. Overall, it felt like a reasonable race. The puncture was a shame, but I think fifth place was the maximum we could have done today. We didn’t quite have the pace to challenge the Red Bull and the Ferraris, although being able to get that final position from Lewis made it worthwhile, and it was a fun way to finish the race. It was a reasonable chunk of points for the team, so thank you for their hard work.

“Across this triple header, I've definitely felt much more comfortable in the car, which has been a real positive, but we need to be honest — we clearly aren't quick enough at the moment. If we want to be fighting for podiums and wins, we need a decent step forward to close the gap to Red Bull and Mercedes. We have work to do, but I am confident we can do it. I’m looking forward to a short break, before we head into the final swing of the season.”

Andrea Stella

Team Principal

“All in all, today’s result reflects the current level of performance of our car: it’s no coincidence that it’s very similar to what we saw yesterday in Qualifying. Perhaps there was a chance for Lando to take third place, but after a challenging Saturday and a few races where we didn’t get the results we’d hoped for, picking up these points is a small consolation. It gives us confidence as we prepare for the next trio of races and focus on introducing updates that, we hope, will enable us to fight for the podium. We know that although Red Bull have taken a step forward, this result confirms that we are right in the thick of the battle with our current main rivals in the championship and that the gap to the front-runners is one we believe we can close.

“As for what happened yesterday in the Sprint race, I said that it was an unacceptable incident, and I was very pleased that our drivers also took this view. So, we’re on the same page about how we want to move this team forward, in a joint effort. We’ll discuss it further, but not because we need to revisit the ‘why’ or ‘how’ of the contact, but to reflect together on what sort of team we want to be. We must be aware that, whether we’re at the factory, in the pit lane or in the cockpit of a car, the team’s interests take precedence over any individual’s interests. There is still a great deal we can do to become an even more united and stronger team. This is what I, and everyone who works at McLaren Mastercard, expect from our drivers. I was therefore pleased with what Lando said during the final laps of the race, and I expect to see more examples of this in the future, whether expressed over the radio during the race, behind closed doors in our meetings, or when we discuss strategies."