Max Verstappen seals perfect weekend with comfortable Singapore Grand Prix win

Kimi Antonelli finished third to lead nearest challenger George Russell by 102 points with six rounds remaining

Max Verstappen won in Singapore for the first time. Pic: David Davies/PA

Max Verstappen sealed a perfect weekend with victory at the Singapore Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli moved to the brink of clinching the world championship.

The Dutchman won Saturday’s sprint from pole and again triumphed from the front of the grid during Sunday’s main event under lights, on his 250th Formula One Grand Prix start.

The four-time world champion’s first victory in Singapore came in dominant fashion, crossing the line 7.3 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc to claim back-to-back wins after his first success of the season in Malaysia last weekend.

It confirmed Red Bull’s recent step forward, albeit too late for the 29-year-old to have any hope of halting Antonelli’s march to his maiden title.

The 20-year-old claimed the final step on the podium at the Marina Bay Circuit, while nearest challenger George Russell recovered to ninth from the back of the grid.

Lewis Hamilton was undone by Ferrari strategy, first angered by being stuck behind team-mate Leclerc before failure to pit under the virtual safety car dropped him to sixth. Lando Norris finished fourth ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Antonelli now leads nearest challenger Russell by 102 points with, as things stand, six rounds of the championship remaining.

The Italian is now able to secure his place as Formula One’s youngest ever world champion at the Circuit of the Americas in a fortnight – he needs to be 126 points clear following that race.

It also remains a possibility that the penultimate round in Qatar could be cancelled and the season finale in Abu Dhabi replaced by Imola – if F1 bosses decide they cannot race in the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict.

If that happened, 25 available points would be off the table, moving the Italian ever closer to the championship.

Russell’s title challenge to his Mercedes team-mate has firmly hit the buffers over the last week, with a late power-unit failure in Malaysia followed by him crashing into the barriers during Saturday’s sprint here in Singapore.

The 28-year-old also had to start this race from the back of the grid due to an engine change.

Pole-sitter Verstappen fended off a strong start by Leclerc on the run down to turn one, with Hamilton – from third – also having to watch his mirrors for Antonelli.

But the top six remained as they were. Russell moved up to 13th by lap 10.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to start on medium tyres but was the first to pit, on lap 19, to switch to softs.

He remained ahead of Antonelli when the Italian had pitted and Leclerc emerged just ahead of his team-mate when he too had stopped for mediums.

Hamilton was immediately unhappy behind his fellow Ferrari, saying: “We lost two seconds that last lap.” His race engineer responded with: “We saw.” The radio tussle continued, Hamilton adding “I need to use this speed, mate”, only to be told to manage his tyres.

Lance Stroll broke down to trigger a virtual safety car, under which Leclerc and Antonelli pitted for a cheap stop while Hamilton and Norris did not.

That lifted Hamilton to second and Norris to fourth. Russell, meanwhile, may feel if he did not have bad luck he would have none at all, as the VSC ended as soon as he entered the pit lane. He rejoined 10th.

The decision for Hamilton not to pit appeared strange and proved to be a major misstep from Ferrari. Leclerc soon blasted past and Norris – on fresher and more durable medium tyres – also reeled him in.

As Norris tried to make the move into turn one, Hamilton cut the corner and the McLaren man had his pocket picked by the ever-opportunistic Antonelli.

Suddenly the Italian had Hamilton in range and charged through to claim third and with it move to the brink of history, with Norris soon through for fourth with seven laps remaining and Piastri doing the same on the final lap.