Max opens Singapore weekend in sixth

Published on 09 October 2026 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen set the sixth-fastest time in the first and only free practice session ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. At the 5.063-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit, George Russell set the fastest time in his Mercedes, followed by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Lando Norris’ McLaren in P2 and P3. Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren completed the top five. Max’s Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate, Isack Hadjar, set the eighth-fastest time.

This weekend will be Max’s 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix. Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrated the four-time World Champion’s milestone on Thursday by presenting him with a special cake.

At the start of the session, conditions are good, with an air temperature of 32 degrees. The track temperature stands at 52 degrees, and the drivers head out in daylight. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly are the first to take to the track when the pit lane lights turn green. After three minutes, the entire field is out on track. With limited time available to find the right setup during the sprint weekend, every minute counts. Except for Sergio Perez, the entire field opted for the hard tyres.

After a few laps, Max immediately sets the benchmark. His first time is more than 1.3 seconds faster than Hadjar in P2. The Frenchman is busy over the team radio, complaining about a number of issues. The relative silence from Max is likely due to radio problems. His race engineer, GianPiero Lambiase, repeatedly asks for a radio check during the opening stages.

As the track gets faster, the lap times begin to drop. After fifteen minutes, Norris leads the way in his McLaren, ahead of Max’s Red Bull and Russell’s Mercedes. In the minutes that follow, Hadjar, Leclerc and Russell successively take over at the top of the timesheets from the reigning world champion. Like many of the other drivers, Max returns to the pits and climbs out of his RB22, suggesting he may be in for a longer stop.

With 25 minutes remaining, Max returns to the circuit on the same set of hard tyres he started the session on. He has dropped back to P9, more than a second behind Kimi Antonelli, who is currently the fastest. That gap does not appear to be closing over the following laps, as the Dutchman seems to be working through a race simulation with a high fuel load.

Shortly afterwards, Nico Hülkenberg comes to a halt just after the start-finish line with a gearbox problem in his Audi. This triggers a brief Virtual Safety Car. Once the Audi has been pushed backwards into the pits, the field is released again.

With just under fifteen minutes remaining, Russell is the first to head out on a fresh set of soft tyres. Leclerc and Piastri follow suit shortly after. Russell moves up to P1, with Piastri taking second place. Max heads out on a fresh set of medium tyres, as does his teammate Hadjar. Max moves up to P4, behind the top three, who have all set their fastest times on the soft tyres.

Russell pushes again and improves his time once again, reclaiming P1 ahead of Norris’ McLaren. Max also manages to improve his time, finishing the session in sixth place and as the fastest driver on the medium tyres. With that, the first and only free practice session in Singapore comes to an end.

Results first free practice Singapore: