Verstappen wins Singapore for first time, leaving one calendar circuit still to conquer

Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time in his 10th attempt, leading every lap after taking his first pole at Marina Bay. He has won at 27 circuits and needs victories at three returning venues in 2027 to complete a clean sweep of the calendar.

RaceFans has reported:

Max Verstappen claimed his first Singapore Grand Prix victory on Oct. 15, winning at the Marina Bay circuit on his 10th attempt and recording the 73rd victory of his career. The Red Bull driver started from pole position for the first time at the circuit and led every lap, continuing a run in which the Singapore race has been won from pole for four consecutive years.

Verstappen did not set the fastest lap, so he missed out on a seventh grand slam, which combines pole position, leading every lap and the fastest lap. Other drivers changed to the preferred soft tyres during the final stint. His victory came after he became the fifth driver to reach 50 pole positions the previous weekend, doing so in his 250th race start.

Only four drivers had reached 50 poles before Verstappen: Ayrton Senna, in 108 starts; Lewis Hamilton, in 168; Michael Schumacher, in 177; and Sebastian Vettel, in 196. Verstappen has now won at 27 different circuits, a total surpassed only by Hamilton, with 31.

The Singapore result leaves Verstappen with one current calendar circuit still to win at, the Madring, which held its first grand prix this year. But the calendar will change next season. To achieve victories at every track on the schedule, Verstappen will need to win at three new rounds in 2027, including two venues where he has raced in Formula One but has not previously won. Hamilton will face the same challenge.

Hamilton was the last driver to achieve a clean sweep of victories at every circuit on the calendar, completing it when he won the French Grand Prix in 2018. He maintained the record over the following two seasons, including in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic added races to the schedule. His run ended in 2021, when he did not win at Zandvoort.

The scale of next year’s task will exceed the one Hamilton faced in 2018. There were 21 circuits on the calendar when he completed his clean sweep; the 2027 schedule is set to have 24. Verstappen’s pursuit will therefore involve more venues than Hamilton’s did, while both drivers will be aiming to win at the new rounds returning to the calendar.

Verstappen’s Singapore win was also significant for Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. The team began the season just one victory behind Mercedes, but Mercedes built a strong campaign and Red Bull’s wins in the last two rounds have left it 10 victories behind. Red Bull did, however, end Mercedes’ streak of leading at least one lap in every race this year.

The race was the fourth in five years at Marina Bay to produce a lights-to-flag winner, meaning the driver led from the start to the finish. Sergio Perez won in 2022 after starting second, while Carlos Sainz Jnr won in 2023 and Lando Norris in 2024. Verstappen’s pole-to-flag result extended the circuit’s recent pattern of dominant wins.

Racing Bulls reached 100 points, more than the team scored last year and its highest total since 2021, when it competed as AlphaTauri. Alpine, by contrast, failed to score for a third consecutive round. Pierre Gasly finished one place outside the points in both the sprint race and the grand prix, making it a frustrating weekend for the French driver.

Williams also left Singapore without points. Carlos Sainz Jnr put his car inside the top 10 early in his 250th appearance at a grand prix weekend, but finished 14th. The result added to the team’s scoreless weekend as Verstappen secured his first win at the circuit.