2026 Singapore Grand Prix – Sprint & GP Qualifying Report

Marina Bay Street Circuit, Saturday, 10 October

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

A disappointing day for the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team, which saw the team garner only a single point in the Sprint, following that up with Lando in fifth and Oscar in seventh in Qualifying, which becomes fifth and sixth on the grid for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix.

The start of the Sprint was delayed as a cell of torrential rain began falling on the Marina Bay Street Circuit shortly before the start. We eventually got going half an hour late, with the rain stopped but the track still very wet. The treacherous conditions caused several first-lap incidents, and the Safety Car was subsequently deployed. When the Sprint resumed, Oscar and Lando were running in their grid positions of fourth and fifth.

The Sprint was processional, with no opportunities to overtake. The key concern was the state of the Intermediate tyres with which everyone started. While the first three corners remained very wet, the rest of the track was drying rapidly, overheating the rears.

Heading into the final few laps, Charles Leclerc in P3 was backing up Oscar, Lando and Kimi Antonelli behind him. Lando attempted to overtake his teammate at Turn 5, but the pair collided, causing both to spin. This collision caused Oscar to retire from the race, while Lando finished P8. The incident breached a very simple but fundamental principle of the team – two McLarens must never come together on track. This was briefly discussed with the team after the Sprint before attention turned to Qualifying.

The coming together gave the crew a huge amount of work to complete in the interval between Sprint and Qualifying. Lando required a new front-left corner and Oscar had a gearbox change, but both cars were ready for the start of Qualifying.

Q1 was an unusual session, more akin to what might be expected on a wet track. Both McLaren cars were fuelled for the full session and ran exclusively on used Soft tyres. Both did three push laps, with single cool-down laps between. Oscar set his best time on his second push, Lando on his third. Both pitted to take another set of used tyres in the pit box, but both were told they were safe before completing their laps.

The plan changed for Q2 and the drivers were split. Oscar did a single push lap at the start of the 15 minutes, while Lando did push-cool-push, going quicker on his second attempt. They reversed that in the second attempt, both going out on a used tyre with Lando planning a single push lap, and Oscar push-cool-push. In the final analysis, Oscar’s first attempt was sufficient, and he was able to bail out of his second lap. Lando did not go quicker, but his first run time was also sufficient.

There was debate about the best way to approach Q3, but both opted for two single lap runs. After the first runs, Lando lay P5 and Oscar P7. They were at the front of the field for the second attempts. Lando could not improve, a tenth down on his previous attempt, but remained P5. Oscar did improve, finding three-tenths, but remained P7, which becomes P6 when George Russell takes a grid penalty for power unit component changes.

Away from Singapore, McLaren Driver Development's Dries Van Langendonck clinched the British F4 Championship, with two races to go in the final round at Brands Hatch. The 16-year-old Belgian takes the win as a rookie in the series with a commanding points lead. Elsewhere in the team’s talent pipeline, in the Portimão round of ELMS, Grégoire Saucy’s Number 22 qualified P1 overall, with the Number 30 of Richard Verschoor in P2 in the LMP2 Pro/Am category, and P13 overall. In the final round of the E4 Championship in Monza, Christian Costoya finished Race 1 in P9, having started P27.

“A frustrating day. Firstly, during the Sprint, that is never the way we want to end a race, and obviously none of us are particularly happy about it. I apologised to the team as that's not the outcome we wanted and it of course created additional work for everyone. We've discussed it and taken learnings from what happened, and we've moved on.

“Today’s Qualifying was undoubtedly a disappointment. We came here expecting more, and while there were flashes of potential where the car felt quick in certain sectors, it was ultimately too tricky to drive and we simply couldn’t put a clean lap together. Qualifying P5 and P7 is a fair reflection of where we are on pace, and it’s not where we want to be.

“Looking ahead, we know it's going to be a challenging race on a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult. Track position and strategy will be paramount. We have to be prepared to react and make smart decisions as the race unfolds, because a lot of the outcome will be decided on the fly. It's a long race and anything can happen, so we will fight for every opportunity.”

“P7. We wanted a bit more from today. The end of the Sprint is never something we want as a team, but we've reviewed and moved on together. Thank you to the mechanics for getting the car back together in such a short amount of time.

“Getting clean laps in this afternoon was tougher compared to yesterday and the track conditions weren't as good as they were in Sprint Qualifying. The result reflects the pace of the car we have, so we have a lot more work to do. I've made a lot of progress in how I need to drive these cars, but getting the most out of it was tricky in the conditions we had this evening.

“For tomorrow, let’s see what we can do and what progress we can make. There is plenty to learn overnight.”

Andrea Stella

Team Principal

“It was a very long, tiring and challenging day, and things certainly didn’t go our way on track. The Qualifying result reflects our current level, which sees us fluctuating between third and fourth place in terms of performance. On this track, clearly, Red Bull and Ferrari are ahead of us and we’re battling it out with Mercedes. We must continue to work on improving the MCL40 and we still have a few developments, which have been finalised over the past few weeks, that will be progressively introduced starting from the Austin round.

“Tomorrow though, we must try to make the most of any opportunities that may arise on a track like this, but we must be realistic and recognise that a podium finish will certainly not be easy to achieve.

“As for what happened on the final lap of the Sprint, very simply, it is unacceptable that two McLarens ever come together on track. This is a fundamental principle of how we go racing, and something both drivers are very well aware of.

“As always, we discuss these incidents as a team in a constructive and productive way as there is always something to learn and take forward to emerge stronger. These are not conversations we need to have in public, but we have reminded our drivers that the interests of the team must always come first, and that did not happen today.

“I’d like to highlight the work done by the team to repair the damage caused by the collision between the two drivers in the Sprint. The team in the garage led by Charlie Hooper did an exceptional job in ensuring that Lando and Oscar could make the most of their chances in Qualifying with a car in perfect working order. This is the team spirit that characterises the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team.

“Away from Singapore, I would like to congratulate McLaren Driver Development Programme member Dries Van Langendonck for his impressive Championship victory in British F4, winning the competition in his rookie year."