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Formula One news from Autosport, RaceFans, and BBC Sport.
The 2026 season’s sixth and final sprint race will be held at the Singapore Grand Prix from Oct. 9 to 11. The format remains largely unchanged, with six cars eliminated in each of the first two sprint qualifying sessions.
Mercedes replaced Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s engine during his first full Formula 4 season to check whether his pace came from his car. The test came as he won 13 of 22 races, before a fast rise through the junior categories to Formula 1.
Formula 1 has declared the Singapore Grand Prix a heat-hazard race, allowing teams to install driver cooling systems under the event’s forecast conditions. The race also takes place amid haze from fires in Indonesia, which F1 is monitoring without treating it as a major concern.
The FIA traced the power losses that disrupted the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia to wet-weather engine software and has completed its review. The Sepang configuration will return in Singapore if similar conditions are expected, with a further software update planned before the United States Grand Prix on October 25.
The 2026 Formula One grid features 11 teams, with Cadillac joining and Sauber becoming Audi. Arvid Lindblad is the sole rookie, while several established drivers enter new seasons with teams after contrasting results in 2025.
Max Verstappen passed 100 amateur drivers in 14 laps and 35 minutes during an exhibition kart race on an adapted Silverstone track. The four-time Formula 1 champion started behind the entire field and finished with 21 laps and 40 minutes remaining.
Max Verstappen says Red Bull is focused on finding performance for next season after a difficult 2026 campaign, and that he chose to stay with the team despite talks with Mercedes and McLaren. In a BBC Sport interview ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, he also described his Nürburgring 24 Hours experience and criticized the current hybrid engine rules.
Isack Hadjar will continue with Red Bull for the 2027 season after a strong start alongside Max Verstappen. He is set to return at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix following a broken wrist that kept him out of three races.
The British driver completed 32 laps at Portugal’s Portimao circuit, describing the Formula 1 test as the top item on her motorsport bucket list. Chadwick said opportunities for women are growing, though securing one of the 22 race seats remains difficult.
Kimi Antonelli says a more relaxed mindset and intense preparation helped drive his breakthrough 2026 season. The 20-year-old Mercedes driver leads team-mate George Russell by 81 points ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with eight or nine races remaining depending on the war in the Middle East.
George Russell took pole position for Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, beating Charles Leclerc by 0.837 seconds. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli hit the wall in the first qualifying session and will start Saturday’s race 16th, giving Russell, 81 points behind, a chance to reduce the gap.
Formula E’s chief executive said he watches the start and finish of Formula 1 races but misses the middle, citing the attention span of younger motorsport fans. Formula 1 introduced sprint races in 2021 partly in response to concerns about long-format viewing.
Fernando Alonso is expected to contest the 2027 Dakar Rally in an Aston Martin-branded car based on the Dacia Sandrider, with Prodrive preparing the vehicle. The reported plan has not been officially confirmed, and the rally’s host country remains uncertain amid security concerns in the Middle East.
Automobile Club de Monaco president Michel Boeri says the circuit layout will not change, while a planned building could create options to rethink the grid area and pit lane. Formula 1’s current deal keeps the Grand Prix on the calendar through at least 2035, with a sprint race set for next year.
Alexander Albon will feature durian, regarded by some as the world’s smelliest fruit, in a special helmet design for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The 2026 Singapore Grand Prix will feature the Marina Bay circuit’s first sprint event this weekend. It is the final of six sprint events scheduled for the year, before the series expands to 10 in 2027.
Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, securing his 72nd career victory and avoiding a win-less season for the first time since 2015. The result also marked the first Formula 1 win for a new engine constructor since BMW in 1982, as Red Bull’s Ford-backed power unit ended Mercedes’ run of pole positions.
Lance Stroll finished 12th at the Malaysian Grand Prix after a difficult race in wet conditions, with terse exchanges with Aston Martin engineer Gary Gannon beginning before the start. A Safety Car restart opportunity brought Stroll back into contention, but he did not reach the points alongside teammate Fernando Alonso.
Mercedes will examine why its revised W17 package struggled at Sepang, where track temperature and surface conditions complicated the team’s assessment. George Russell’s late retirement with a powertrain failure cost him a likely podium and the team 15 points.
Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas is cycling 350 kilometres from Malaysia to Singapore, accompanied by professional cyclist Tiffany Cromwell. He began the journey after Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix and must reach Singapore for media commitments on Thursday.
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