Verstappen's Singapore win signals Red Bull's resurgence as Antonelli extends championship lead

Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay to claim his second victory of the 2026 season, continuing a remarkable run of form that has seen Red Bull emerge as the class of the field across a gruelling triple-header. Kimi Antonelli, leading the drivers’ championship for Mercedes, finished well enough to extend his points advantage, even as questions mount over his team’s direction.

Red Bull’s Baku upgrade changed everything

The turning point in Red Bull’s season can be traced to an upgrade introduced at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “Whatever Red Bull’s upgrade in Azerbaijan was, it was good stuff,” McLaren’s Oscar Piastri said with a wry smile. The improved RB22 is not only faster but also more predictable to drive — a crucial quality on the bumpy, unforgiving streets of Singapore, which had historically been one of Red Bull’s weakest circuits.

Verstappen challenged George Russell for the win in Baku, dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang’s abrasive surface, and then proved a cut above the rest in Singapore. The breadth of that triple-header — three very different circuits — gives real weight to the conclusion that Red Bull has genuinely turned a corner. As Verstappen himself put it simply: “Say no more.”

Red Bull’s resurgence has come too late for Verstappen to mount a title challenge of his own, but it has given him the tools to be his most dangerous self heading into the remainder of the season.

Antonelli does what champions do

Kimi Antonelli was not at his best on Friday at Marina Bay, finishing seventh in both free practice and sprint qualifying. The 20-year-old attributed his struggles to Mercedes’ updated W17 package, which proved difficult to manage and failed to deliver the expected performance step.

But as the weekend progressed, Antonelli grew into the car and produced the kind of measured, points-maximising drive that wins championships. He does not need to win every race — he simply needs to extract the maximum from each grand prix. It is a discipline that Oscar Piastri failed to maintain when he held a sizeable advantage over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris last season. History, it seems, is not repeating itself, and a maiden world title looks increasingly like a matter of when, not if.

Mercedes faces hard questions

For all of Antonelli’s composure, the weekend exposed a deeper concern at Mercedes. The team’s latest upgrade has not delivered what was hoped, and Verstappen’s back-to-back victories since Baku directly contradict his own pre-Singapore prediction that Red Bull’s gains would fade once Mercedes reasserted itself.

With Verstappen carrying genuine momentum and the prospect of a strong 2027 title challenge already taking shape, Mercedes faces important decisions about how to recover the dominant form that defined the early part of this season. The championship lead remains Antonelli’s, but the Silver Arrows cannot afford to stand still.