7 October, 2026

AUTHOR: Star Sports Content

STAR F1 PREVIEW: 2026 Singapore Grand Prix

Formula 1 heads straight from Malaysia to Singapore this week for one of the toughest and most spectacular challenges of the season, with the Marina Bay Street Circuit hosting a Sprint weekend for the first time, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

The famous night race has been a fixture on the calendar since 2008, but the addition of the Sprint means drivers will have just one practice session before competitive action begins. With the walls close, temperatures high and little margin for error, getting up to speed quickly will be more important than ever.

2026 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore
All coverage live on Sky Sports F1, Sky Go & NOW – times in BST
1️⃣ Practice One: 10.30am Friday
⚡ Sprint Qualifying: 2.30pm Friday
🏁 Sprint: 10am Saturday
⏰ Qualifying: 2pm Saturday
🏆 Race: 1pm Sunday

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The Story from Sepang

Far too much to ever write. Just enjoy again, below:

Standings 📊

Driver / Car / Points:

1. 🇮🇹 Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes / 320 pts (7 wins, 12 podiums)
2. 🇬🇧 George Russell / Mercedes / 236 pts (3 wins, 8 podiums)
3. 🇬🇧 Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari / 214 pts (1 win, 7 podiums)
4. 🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc / Ferrari / 191 pts (1 win, 5 podiums)
5. 🇬🇧 Lando Norris / McLaren / 188 pts (2 wins, 5 podiums)
6. 🇳🇱 Max Verstappen / Red Bull Racing / 188 pts (1 win, 8 podiums)
7. 🇦🇺 Oscar Piastri / McLaren / 128 pts (0 wins, 3 podiums)
8. 🇫🇷 Isack Hadjar / Red Bull Racing / 96 pts (0 wins, 2 podiums)
9. 🇳🇿 Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls / 65 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)
10. 🇫🇷 Pierre Gasly / Alpine / 41 pts (0 wins, 1 podium)

🏎️ Constructors:

1. ⚪ Mercedes – 556 pts (10 wins, 20 podiums)
2. 🔴 Ferrari – 405 pts (2 wins, 12 podiums)
3. 🟠 McLaren – 316 pts (2 wins, 8 podiums)
4. 🔵 Red Bull Racing – 298 pts (1 win, 10 podiums)
5. ⚫ Racing Bulls – 90 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)
6. 🔷 Alpine – 68 pts (0 wins, 1 podium)
7. ⚪ Haas – 27 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)
8. 🟢 Audi – 17 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)
9. 🔵 Williams – 12 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)
10. 🟢 Aston Martin – 7 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)
11. ⚪ Cadillac – 0 pts (0 wins, 0 podiums)

Standings correct after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

Track Guide 🚦

Marina Bay is one of Formula 1’s most demanding street circuits, with 19 corners packed into a 4.927km lap and very little room for error between the barriers. Sunday’s Grand Prix is run over 62 laps and 305.337km.

The circuit is dominated by slow and medium-speed corners, repeated heavy braking and traction zones, making mechanical grip and rear stability crucial. The 2023 layout changes produced a faster final sector, but Singapore remains one of the slowest circuits on the calendar and rewards confidence under braking and traction out of its numerous low-speed corners.

Unlike Sepang, outright aerodynamic efficiency is much less important than generating downforce and giving the driver a predictable car through the constant sequence of corners. Qualifying is particularly important on a circuit where passing remains difficult and the walls punish even small mistakes.

The Sprint Factor ⚡

Singapore hosts a Sprint weekend for the first time in 2026, giving the teams only a single hour of practice before Sprint Qualifying on Friday evening.

That should make FP1 unusually important. Teams need to establish ride height, tyre behaviour and a workable set-up almost immediately, while drivers have very little opportunity to build confidence around one of the most unforgiving circuits of the season.

Any lost running could therefore be particularly costly, and the compressed format creates an obvious opportunity for teams and drivers who arrive with a strong simulator baseline.

Tactics

Pirelli have selected the softest three compounds in their 2026 range for Singapore, with the C3 as the Hard, C4 as the Medium and C5 as the Soft.

Track position traditionally carries a premium at Marina Bay, making qualifying and the timing of pit stops especially important. However, strategy can quickly be turned upside down by Safety Cars or red flags, with incidents particularly costly on a street circuit surrounded by barriers.

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Managing rear temperatures and maintaining traction will also be important through the long sequence of slower corners. The Sprint format adds another complication, as teams will have much less conventional practice running in which to understand tyre degradation before Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The track surface and layout (especially in the cooler race conditions on Sunday evening) favours the soft end of the spectrum when it comes to tyres, but on sprint weekends teams only get six sets of softs for the weekend (rather than the eight they get with the normal format).

This means they are going to have to not burn through them too quickly, whilst in sprint qualifying, use of the medium in SQ1 and SQ2 is mandatory, meaning that tyre set-up will be critical and track position for a clean run will be even more important. Pirelli have reportedly claimed that the softer compounds could be a raceable option due to expected “minimal degradation”, but the sprint will take place in hotter day time temperatures – so tyre management will be tougher than in the normal race.

Weather 🌦️

Friday – FP1 and Sprint Qualifying:

Warm and humid conditions are expected, with temperatures reaching around 32°C and a 30% chance of rain during the afternoon and early evening. Track temperatures could reach 55-56°C during FP1, making tyre management particularly important, before cooling considerably for Sprint Qualifying under the lights.

Maximum temperature: 32°C
Minimum temperature: 26°C
Chance of rain: 30%

Saturday – Sprint and Qualifying:

Another hot and humid day is forecast, with temperatures around 32°C and a 40% chance of rain during the afternoon. Track temperatures could again approach 55°C during the Sprint, potentially increasing thermal degradation, before conditions cool significantly ahead of Qualifying.

Maximum temperature: 32°C
Minimum temperature: 26°C
Chance of rain: 40%

Sunday – Race:

Race day is expected to remain hot and humid, with temperatures reaching around 32°C. There is a 40% chance of a pop-up shower or thunderstorm during the afternoon, although track temperatures – potentially as high as 54-56°C earlier in the day – should fall considerably before the Grand Prix begins.

Maximum temperature: 32°C
Minimum temperature: 26°C
Chance of rain: 40%

OUTLOOK 🏁

Upgrades have played a massive part in this year’s championship and they were arguably race-defining in Sepang, with Red Bull’s final major upgrade hitting the sweet spot whilst Mercedes’ backfired, according to Toto Wolff and Bradley Lord. Max Verstappen was the driver of the weekend and his first win of the season was hugely deserved, for all that a battle with Lewis Hamilton could have been epic if Ferrari had decided to start on intermediate tyres, continuing a fine run of form where he has matched the best available position if finishing.

The Baku upgrade package – which introduced a changed floor, diffuser, sidepods, cooling louvres, mirrors and halo fairing in order to increase the stability of their platform and give Verstappen a more predictable rear end – has confirmed sustained progress through the year to arguably make the RB22 the fastest car in Malaysia (along with Verstappen’s dominance, Isack Hadjar qualified third and was fifth in the race after a five-place grid penalty), making Verstappen a victory contender for the rest of the season given the circuits coming up.

His position as pre-race favourite with starsports.bet is most fair here, especially with questions over Mercedes’ upgrade package. The championship leaders were left baffled as to why a substantial revision of the W17 didn’t lead to performance gains but possibly a performance deficit of 0.5 seconds from their estimated baseline, with high speed cornering gains impacting on their low-speed and, crucially straightline performance.

Working out how much of a problem Sepang’s abrasive tarmac and high temperatures were – championship leader Kimi Antonelli pointed out that McLaren had a pace advantage over older tarmac at Zandvoort, whilst George Russell had similar thoughts – will be crucial for this weekend where low-speed performance, traction, mechanical grip and confidence over bumps and kerbs are key to success here, a weakness for the RB22 earlier in the season. George Russell’s miserable luck continues with a new power unit, meaning he has to start at the back here, which will make life difficult given the difficulties of overtaking at this track (possible but tricky, with tire and pace deltas needed).

McLaren didn’t have the pace they’d hoped for last week, with straight-line speed issues – especially for Lando Norris, who is apparently losing two tenths a lap – compromising them, and they didn’t find the best working window either. Both Norris and Oscar Piastri have fine records here, Norris especially, but low-speed weaknesses and a struggle to understand new upgrades added since Malaysia reduce their appeal.

Ferrari had a nightmare start at Sepang with both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on slick tyres (whilst Leclerc damaged his front wing on the first lap) but they showed remarkable resilience and pace to come through and take third with Hamilton and fourth with Leclerc, albeit helped by George Russell’s retirement. With Russell starting at the back here, their chances of another podium finish have increased and significant parts of the Marina Bay circuit, which has the second lowest average speed of any track on the calendar, should suit them. Both Hamilton and Leclerc are of interest for a strong result.

In the midfield, Racing Bulls – aided by fine drives from Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad – scored a fine 7th and 10th in Sepang, yet another double points finish. Lindblad is on a streak of four points finishes whilst Lawson has three in his last five, albeit with three for Red Bull (having been unluckily taken out at a safety car restart in Baku before his fine drive in Sepang). Both look to have the best form of the midfield drivers at the moment bar Fernando Alonso and the hardware to exploit that – more points could well be in the offing.

Fernando Alonso took a deserved eighth place in Sepang, with the Aston Martin reaching a season-high peak of performance. Singapore ought to be better for their package than Sepang, so Alonso might be a value option for points.

This weekend’s sprint format means only one practice session, which will make finding an ideal setup tricky for teams with questions to answer – namely Mercedes, who are considering a back-to-back comparison test using its old and new car specifications, Red Bull, who often take large steps through practice with setup, and McLaren, in need of plenty of data to understand the working window for an MCL-40 that has dropped back – in so small part due to drag and straightline speed – since their excellent performances on return from the summer break.

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It would be no surprise if Ferrari started quickly – which has been a trademark of their performances this year. Their sprint form has been of their strengths in 2026, with five podium finishes from their 10 starts across the five Sprints so far. Charles Leclerc has finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 5th and 2nd, while Lewis Hamilton has gone 3rd, 7th, 6th, 2nd and 7th, with Hamilton also taking Sprint pole at Silverstone to boot. In all but one round, they’ve managed a sprint podium, so backing Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc each/way for the sprint could give two strong podium chances.

The race conditions will be different to the sprint – teams will learn an awful lot, but not everything, from the shortened race – but if Red Bull continue at their new level (and there’s no doubt there’s been an all around improvement in the RB22) then Isack Hadjar is a podium player and he could easily go off shorter than 12/5 with starsports.bet . He was overwhelmed by the Ferrari pair in Sepang but had a five place grid penalty and a battery issue late on and if avoiding the same issue this time around, should prove to be very competitive indeed.

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PROFIT/LOSS (OCTOBER 2026): -4.10 points