Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time, completing a perfect weekend on his 250th Formula 1 start. But third place for Kimi Antonelli moved the 20-year-old 102 points clear, and he can become the sport’s youngest world champion at the next race.
Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, October 11, ESPN reported, citing the PA news agency.
It was his first victory at Marina Bay, and it came on his 250th Formula 1 start.
Race Result
| Pos | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 3 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari |
| 9 | George Russell | Mercedes |
A Perfect Weekend
Verstappen won Saturday’s Sprint from pole and then won the Grand Prix from pole as well, finishing 7.3 seconds ahead of Leclerc.
It was his second win in a row, after his first of the season in Malaysia a week earlier, and confirmed Red Bull’s recent improvement.
It has come too late for the title. Verstappen is 119 points behind Antonelli.
Antonelli on the Brink
Kimi Antonelli took third place after a late charge. His team-mate and nearest rival, George Russell, recovered from the back of the grid to finish ninth.
Antonelli now leads Russell by 102 points with six rounds scheduled.
He can win the title at the next race, at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas in a fortnight, if he is 126 points clear afterwards. At 20, he would be the youngest world champion in the sport’s history.
“Can I? Really?! Well, let’s not worry about that,” he said when told. Later he admitted: “I know it is very close, I know it is there but I need to make sure that I keep doing the best job I can.”
Russell’s Week to Forget
Russell’s challenge has collapsed in the space of a week: a late power-unit failure in Malaysia, then a crash into the barriers during Saturday’s Sprint.
Ferrari’s Strategy Error
Lewis Hamilton lost a likely podium when Ferrari did not pit him under the Virtual Safety Car, dropping him to sixth. He called it a “painful lesson”. Team principal Frédéric Vasseur said: “It was a mistake.”
A Calendar in Doubt
The number of races left is not certain. The penultimate round in Qatar could be cancelled, and the finale in Abu Dhabi replaced by Imola, if Formula 1 decides it cannot race in the Middle East because of the conflict there.
That would remove 25 points from the total available and bring Antonelli’s title closer still.
Image: Max Verstappen holding a trophy on the podium at the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix (file photo). Photo: Steffen Prößdorf / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
