Last updated: 19 Oct 2026 | 15 Views |
Here’s a question for the F1 fans in the back: what do you do when the championship is basically spoken for, and you’re still the most dangerous man in the paddock?
If you’re Max Verstappen, you win in Singapore.
On October 11, Verstappen took pole, won the sprint, and then won the grand prix itself in 1:42:00.785. It was his first Singapore victory, and it came at his 250th Grand Prix start. If a screenwriter pitched that coincidence, the studio would send it back with a note that says “too neat.” Real life, apparently, doesn’t take notes.
It was also his second win in a row, following Malaysia. Let that sink in for a second. A driver who isn’t in the title fight just reminded everybody that he doesn’t need a trophy race to be the story.
The race that nobody handed over
Let’s start with the front, because Verstappen earned it. Charles Leclerc came at him into Turn 1, and Verstappen held him off. From there he managed his tyres through two Virtual Safety Cars, on laps 8 and 39, and crossed the line 7.335 seconds clear of the Ferrari. Kimi Antonelli took third, 24.573 seconds back, which, for the guy leading the championship, is a perfectly fine evening at the office.
But the podium is only the headline. The real movie was happening behind it.
Take George Russell, who started 19th after a 40-place power unit penalty. Forty places. That’s not a grid penalty, that’s an eviction notice. Most drivers would’ve looked at that grid slot and started planning the flight home. Russell instead carved his way through the field and finished ninth. Nobody’s going to put that on a poster, but in a title chase, points are rent money, and he paid some.
Then there’s Isack Hadjar, who started from the pit lane after technical problems in qualifying and still scored a point with tenth. Pit lane starts are supposed to be a polite way of saying “see you next week.” Hadjar apparently didn’t get the memo.
And Oscar Piastri? A front-right puncture on lap 42 should end your day. Instead, he recovered and passed Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to take fifth. The final lap. That’s not racing, that’s a heist.
The strategy call that went sideways
Which brings us to Hamilton, because we have to talk about Hamilton.
On lap 19, he switched to softs. Fine, aggressive, understandable. Then when the second Virtual Safety Car came out, he stayed out on those ageing tyres while others pitted. That’s the part that hurt. Leclerc passed him on lap 46, then Lando Norris and Antonelli both found a way by. Hamilton ended up sixth, and Piastri took fifth off him at the death.
Tyre strategy in Formula 1 is a gamble with half the cards face down. When it works, you’re a genius. When it doesn’t, you’re the guy everyone replays in slow motion. Hamilton has lived on both sides of that coin more than once, and this one landed on the wrong side. The lesson isn’t that he’s lost anything. It’s that even a seven-time world champion has to learn something new every single weekend.
The title picture is getting quiet
Now the math, because I promised myself I’d keep this short.
After round 17 of 23, Antonelli sits on 340 points. Russell is second on 238, which is 102 points behind. Hamilton is third on 229. Before Singapore, the gap between the top two was 89, so it grew by 13 in one night. In the constructors’ race, Mercedes leads on 578, Ferrari is on 444, and McLaren is on 339.
Six races remain, starting in Austin on October 25, then Mexico City, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. A 102-point lead with that much road left isn’t a done deal in theory, but it’s the kind of cushion that makes everyone else need a miracle. Verstappen can’t really turn it into a title fight at this stage, since he’s too far back. But he just proved Red Bull can win again, which makes those last six races a lot less of a procession than the standings suggest.
What a trophy actually measures
Here’s the part I keep coming back to.
We tend to think of a trophy as a prize for the best driver on the best day. That’s true, but it’s incomplete. The best trophies, the ones that mean something, measure other things too. They measure who kept going after the plan fell apart. They measure who adapted when the strategy sheet turned out to be wrong. They measure who got back up after a puncture, a penalty, or a pit-lane start.
Look at Singapore through that lens. Verstappen has the winner’s trophy, and he earned it with a clean, controlled drive. But Russell dragged himself from 19th to ninth. Hadjar turned a pit-lane start into a championship point. Piastri turned a puncture into a final-lap overtake. None of them left with a trophy that night, and honestly, they all deserved a round of applause.
That’s what the best awards are really about. Not just who crossed the line first, but who refused to quit before the lights even went out.
So what happens in Austin?
If you’re a Thai F1 fan who’s setting an alarm for a late-night or early-morning race, you’ve got plenty to watch for. Will Antonelli protect his lead? Can Russell turn another bad grid slot into points? How does Hamilton respond after a strategy call that cost him places? And can Verstappen make it three wins in a row?
I don’t know the answers. Nobody does. That’s what makes the sport worth watching.
What I do know is this. In a sport built around speed, nobody is safe from a bad day, and nobody is ever too late for a comeback. Verstappen showed that in Singapore. Piastri showed it. Russell showed it. Maybe the real question isn’t who wins the title this year. Maybe it’s which of us, the next time life hands us a pit-lane start, decides to race anyway.
Go start from 19th. Then tell me how it went.
