Verstappen chases first Singapore GP win after Malaysian triumph
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 7, 2026
Verstappen’s Singapore push
Max Verstappen heads to Singapore with a fresh win and a clear target. He won the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, his first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season, and he did it in style by turning pole position into a comfortable result. That puts him on the move again as the paddock shifts to Marina Bay, the one track victory he still needs to finish off his Formula 1 list. Verstappen has never won the Singapore Grand Prix, and Singapore is one of only two current Formula 1 venues where he remains winless, along with the Madring. Helmut Marko said Verstappen believes he can win in Singapore, and Verstappen himself called it unfinished business. That is the tone around Red Bull’s trip into a race that has long stood apart from the rest of the calendar for him. The Malaysian win gave him momentum. The Singapore challenge gives him a chance to convert that into something bigger.
The shape of the weekend adds to the pressure and the opportunity. Singapore is not another stop on the schedule for Verstappen. That makes the circuit the most important one on the board for him right now. The setting also fits the way Verstappen and Red Bull have framed their recent progress. Marko said the team’s upgrades have opened up more of the car’s potential, and that matters at a circuit that asks for precision, patience and control over a street layout that leaves little margin for error. Verstappen described the weekend as a very different challenge because of the circuit’s conditions. That is why the weekend means more than a routine stop. It tests whether the momentum from Malaysia can carry over to a track where he has not yet finished the job.
Red Bull’s street test
Red Bull goes into Singapore believing the RB22 should be competitive, and that confidence starts with the upgrades that Marko said have unlocked more of the car’s potential. He also pointed to earlier problems on tight street circuits and said the chassis sat at the center of those issues. That detail matters in Singapore, where the demands are built around narrow margins, low-speed direction changes and a surface that punishes any weakness in the package. The Malaysian race offered one kind of proof, but it came in very different conditions. Marko said Singapore should be a better test of Red Bull’s progress than the wet, chaotic race in Malaysia. That makes Marina Bay a more direct measure of where the team stands now. If the car works there, the upgrades will carry more weight. If it struggles, the earlier talk about progress will face a sterner check.
Verstappen’s own comments match that view. He described Singapore as a very different challenge because of the tight, bumpy layout, the heat and the humidity. Those conditions make every lap feel like a consequence of the one before it, and they tend to reward the teams that get the setup right from the start of the weekend. Red Bull enters the event with belief, not certainty, and that distinction keeps the focus sharp. It also knows the weekend can confirm whether the car’s recent step forward carries into a street race that has exposed flaws in the past. Singapore is the clearest test in front of them because it combines the pressure of the missing win with the physical demands of the circuit itself. That is why the paddock will watch Red Bull so closely once the weekend begins.
McLaren and Mercedes pressure
The Singapore Grand Prix also arrives at a difficult moment for McLaren and Mercedes. McLaren comes in under pressure after back-to-back disappointing weekends in Baku and Sepang, and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both struggled in qualifying and race pace across those events. That combination leaves Singapore as more than a routine stop for the team. It becomes a chance to reset after two weekends that did not meet expectations. The street circuit should demand more from the field, and that puts a spotlight on whether McLaren can find a cleaner run through the weekend and get back to the level it showed earlier in the season. The facts from Baku and Sepang point to the same problem from two different angles, lack of speed in qualifying and lack of strength on Sunday, and that makes Singapore an important benchmark for the team’s response.
Mercedes faces a different kind of uncertainty. The team goes into Singapore unsure whether its latest upgrade has helped or hurt. That leaves the weekend open as a test rather than a confirmation. Singapore is already a benchmark for several leading teams, and that status only grows because it sits as the final event in a triple-header that began in Baku and continued in Sepang. It also includes the final sprint race of the 2026 season, which adds another layer of importance to the weekend. For Red Bull, the race offers a shot at a track it has not yet conquered with Verstappen. For McLaren, it is a chance to recover from a rough stretch. For Mercedes, it is a measure of whether the latest changes moved the car in the right direction. That mix gives Singapore weight across the grid, and it explains why so much attention will settle on Marina Bay when the lights go out.
