Verstappen sweeps Singapore as Hamilton apologises for one-stop call — SkimNews
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- Max Verstappen won both the Singapore Sprint and Grand Prix from pole, making it three consecutive victories including Sepang, and climbed to fourth in the standings — 8 points behind Lewis Hamilton and 17 behind George Russell.
- George Russell crashed into the concrete barriers at the end of the Sprint's opening lap after a strong start had given him the lead, an exit Brundle called "a fitting summary of his season so far."
- Lando Norris lunged down Oscar Piastri's right-hand side into Turn 5 on the final Sprint lap, making contact and sending Piastri into the wall; Norris recovered only to eighth, with McLaren team bosses "extremely unhappy."
- Lewis Hamilton declined a cheap pit stop under the VSC to stick with a one-stop that required running 44 laps on the same soft tyres, then apologised to Ferrari for the call after dropping from contention to losing fifth to Piastri.
- Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead by passing Hamilton and Norris in the closing laps after a scrap triggered by their battle, taking third in the Grand Prix and finishing third from seventh in the Sprint.
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) was the highest-placed driver outside the top four teams across the demanding stretch, with a fifth in the Singapore Sprint and sevens at both Sepang and the main Singapore race.
- McLaren are now in a constructors' fight with Red Bull for third rather than chasing Ferrari for second, with Brundle noting the 2027 prize-money and sponsor implications that made the Norris-Piastri contact costly beyond the lost Sprint points.
Why it matters: Antonelli's 119-point championship lead with just 150 points remaining leaves almost no realistic path for a title challenger, while Ferrari's apparent expectation that Hamilton would pit under the VSC — contradicting his own one-stop call — exposes the live tension between driver autonomy and team strategy that will follow the team into Austin.
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